Frank Moore (1946–2013) was a polymathic American artist whose work spanned performance art, poetry, painting, and digital media, yet his most profound creation was his own existence. Born with severe cerebral palsy that rendered him unable to walk or speak normally, Moore transformed what society labeled a "disability" into a "stroke of good luck," asserting that his spastic body was the ideal vessel for a performance artist. He lived as a "wounded healer," a term he used to describe the shamanic tradition of using one's own vulnerability and physicality as a channel to unite the spiritual and material planes. Moore’s philosophy, centered on the concepts of cherotic magic, eroplay, and the Combine Plot, challenged the fundamental structures of modern Western culture, aiming to dismantle the isolation and fragmentation he believed were enforced by a "fear machine network".
In the early 1970s, Moore’s artistic and spiritual path was significantly shaped by a series of channeled communications from entities known as Reed, Wandbua, and Shad. These "lectures," collected in The Art of Living (1974), established a framework for understanding the human spirit’s evolution. Reed described seven progressions of spiritual growth: (1) animal reflexes/survival, (2) the sexual, (3) the emotional, (4) the intellectual, (5) love, (6) wisdom, and (7) enlightenment or "at-onement". Moore’s channeled texts argued that modern humanity is currently stuck at the Intellectual Progression, often using its powers negatively to create "law-dikes" and illusions. The goal of Moore’s work was to usher humanity toward the Fifth Progression (Spiritual Love), which requires a "willingness to melt" with others. This "melting" is a practical "human closeness" that dissolves individualistic pride. Reed warned that "having awareness but not being able to live it in your daily life is not only fruitless but also very dangerous". Consequently, Moore viewed his communal experiments as "bubbles of spiritual existence" where the laws of relationship could be lived.
Moore identified the primary obstacle to freedom as the Combine Plot (or "Wasichu," the "Fat Stealers"). Borrowing the term "Combine" from Ken Kesey, Moore described it as a pervasive network that installs "pacemakers of fear, doubt, and mistrust" in individuals from childhood to make them easier to control. The Combine operates by fragmenting reality into "boxes of fear," dividing dying from living, and sex from both living and pleasure. The Combine uses "life denials"—a "demonic fear reality" generated within instincts—to keep humans powerless and isolated. These denials manifest in "credit card morality," a system of rules that abstracts humans out of the direct experience of life, pushing "payment" for "wrong" actions into an impersonal future. Moore argued that this system is designed for personal failure, as it creates standards impossible for humans to meet. Moore’s art was a "battle" and an "underground war" against this fragmentation.
To combat the fragmentation of the Combine, Moore developed Cherotic Magic. He defined "Chero" as the physical life energy, combining "chi" and "eros". Magic, for Moore, was the "science/art of nonlinear change" used to reshape reality into more humane forms through relationships. The primary tool was eroplay, a term Moore coined to describe intense physical play and touching between adults intentionally released from the linear goals of genital sex and orgasm. Eroplay is "innocent and childlike," focusing on physical enjoyment for its own sake. By taking nudity and acts typically considered sexual and placing them in a nonsexual context, Moore sought to create a "leap into newness". This "erotic friction" was intended to release a healing energy he called "ontonse"—a high plateau of chero that stays within the body to calm and heal, rather than being "shot outward" as it is during orgasm. Moore argued that eroplay connects individuals with their bodies, increases self-trust, and makes them "harder to be controlled".
Moore’s career as a performance artist evolved from "Nonfilms" to 48-hour rituals. Early work involved "street series" where he sat on plazas "selling newspapers" to find models for paintings. He realized art provided a "frame of permission" allowing people to do what was normally forbidden, such as undressing for a stranger. This led to "Nonfilms," erotic scenes rehearsed with participants but never filmed, used to build intimacy. In Berkeley, his work matured into the Theater of Human Melting and the Outrageous Beauty Revue (OBR). The OBR used "bad taste" and "trance-inducing images" (including "crip rockstars") to distract the audience while a deeper magical trance took over. Moore emphasized a module structure, allowing shows to evolve organically without becoming "polished," as he believed polishing killed the "evolving magic". He conducted 48-hour processes, creating a "liminal state" around a single "pilgrim" where anything was possible and "anyone could be a conspirator in this dream production".
Moore rejected the label of "disabled artist," fearing it limited his work to a "tragedy" narrative. He told anthropologist Russell Shuttleworth, "I have always ducked being classified as a crip... it limits the art". Instead, Moore viewed his body as a powerful "tool" and "medium" that forced people to slow down and project their own fantasies onto him. His dialogue with Shuttleworth revealed a disagreement with the mainstream Disability Rights Movement regarding independence. While the movement championed a "professional" model (relying on paid attendants), Moore advocated for "interdependence". He argued that relying on friends and lovers for care was the "real independence," rooted in mutual "melting" rather than transactions. He dismissed the fear of "burdening" friends as a symptom of the Combine, stating, "friends take care of each other... that is real independence". He often used himself as a "radical model" of a "full person," refusing to be "integrated" on conservative terms.
In 2006, Moore announced his candidacy for 2008 President of the United States, becoming a qualified write-in candidate in 25 states. His platform focused on radical openness and reforming voting procedures, viewing the campaign as a "performance" aimed at expanding the national "interview frame". Moore’s public notoriety was cemented in the early 1990s when he was targeted by Senator Jesse Helms and the General Accounting Office for receiving NEA funds for art labeled "obscene". Moore responded by embracing the "witch-hunt" as a platform, stating the attack was a "war on the misfit function of art". He argued that "sexual obscenity" was a fictional concept designed to promote the established order. Throughout the controversy, he refused to "tame down" his work, asserting that the strength of art comes from staying committed to a single vision.
In his later years, Moore became a pioneer of the digital underground. He founded the webstation LUVeR (Love Underground Visionary Revolution) in 1999, providing 24-hour "no-limits" content. He also hosted "Frank Moore’s Shaman’s Den" (1998–2013), a multi-hour streaming show featuring band performances, poetry, and "in-depth conversations about politics, art, music, and LIFE with extremely dangerous people!". Moore used a laser-pointer strapped to his head and a board of letters and words to communicate, which his long-time partner, Linda Mac, would read aloud. This slow method was intentionally "shamanic," as it forced his audience to slow down into a "softer, smaller, more focused reality". Moore embraced the internet as a way to "melt" isolation between people across the globe, eventually amassing an archive viewed by millions.
From 2009 until his death in 2013, Moore held a residency at the Temescal Art Center (TAC) in Oakland. This period was characterized by "The Uncomfortable Zones of Fun," a series of improvised "participation performance" experiments. Moore’s posters carried a "Warning": "This piece may be threatening to your everyday reality... leading to restlessness, and even to radical change". The Temescal performances were designed to "expose, expand, [and] trespass boundaries". Moore often began by asking the audience what had attracted them, sometimes labeling himself a "free agent" or a "channel for both God and the Devil". Participants were encouraged to engage in eroplay and "ritual melting" on floor mats. He observed that modern audiences were increasingly paralyzed by fear—a phenomenon he attributed to the Combine’s tightening grip.
A central tenet of Moore’s philosophy was "Reality Shaping". He argued reality is not fixed but a "frame" over an "ultimate web of all possibilities". By focusing one's will and acting as if something were true, an individual could "shift" reality. Moore cited his own life: at age 28, he stopped viewing himself as an "ugly cripple" and acted as if he were beautiful; within two weeks, he received feedback that he had "physically changed". This extended to his theory of the "Healing Web". He believed the body extends through a "force field" of thoughts; the skin is the "eighth center" for "melting" and "relating". Moore saw the whole web of ultimate reality as a single living organism, and the role of the shaman was to take in "life denials" from the universe and transform them into "life affirmations" by living them out.
Frank Moore died of pneumonia on October 14, 2013. His death was viewed by his "tribal body" as a transition into the "merge core" of the web. His archives were delivered to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, ensuring his work remains accessible to future "historians and humans". Moore’s final philosophy was the "Dance of No Dancers". He posited that reality creation is a "dance" in which there are no individual "dancers"—only points of personal responsibility within a web of relationships. By surrendering individual control and "melting with the dance," one could live "extensically"—lustfully and without limits. This "extensic" life dance was Moore's ultimate weapon against the Combine. He remains, in his words, "always here"—a node in a myriad of connections and an endless extension of creative potential.
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