Someone was taking a dump in The John Waters Restrooms at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Was it an art-inspired intestinal emergency or a dedicated tribute to the filmmaker whose major public stink involved Divine sampling some doggy-doo in the filthy finale of Pink Flamingos? Or perhaps, this intrepid museum-goer previously devoured John’s chapter “Act … Continue reading
Category Archives: Art
A Session of Porn Therapy in Dean Sameshima’s “Being Alone” at Queer Thoughts
Can you write an essay about porn theaters that doesn’t cite Samuel R. Delany’s Times Square Red, Times Square Blue? Similarly, can you look at photographs of queer spaces and not immediately start flipping through Jose Muñoz’s Cruising Utopia to find a relevant quote? These two texts have done a number on criticism and critical … Continue reading
Having a Moment in André Leon Talley’s Collection at Christie’s: A (Mostly) Photo Essay
In Hilton Als’s at once heroic and damning 1994 portrait of then-Creative Director of Vogue Magazine André Leon Talley in The New Yorker, entitled “The Only One,” Als details Talley’s unwavering attachment to having “a moment.” “He finds moments in other people’s impulses (‘I can tell you were about to have a moment’), work (‘What Mr. … Continue reading
I Found It: The Worst Art Job Listing Ever Created
Art World Family. That’s the phrase that inspired me to click on the listing for an Executive Assistant position on NYFA’s classified listings (UPDATE: As of Friday, February 17, the listing has now been deleted, but good thing I kept this PDF as proof), curious about what this mysterious organization Art World Family was. I … Continue reading
Boy, Don’t You Know You Can’t Escape Me?: Carrie Schneider’s “I don’t know her” at CHART
Emily Colucci, Filthy Dreams. That’s how I signed the guestbook for Carrie Schneider’s exhibition I don’t know her at CHART. I don’t usually bother to write in exhibition guestbooks. The only major exception is the book for Stranger Than Kindness: The Nick Cave Exhibition in which a placard assured us fanatics that he would receive it. … Continue reading
To Be Gorgeous: A Conversation on Thierry Mugler and Jimmy DeSana at the Brooklyn Museum
“To be Gorgeous, strictly speaking, is something in itself. To be Gorgeous therefore is admirable, to be Absolutely Gorgeous most desired.” So begins an essay in one of the many zines in the Brooklyn Museum’s Jimmy DeSana: Submission exhibition, which is joined by the museum’s concurrent Thierry Mugler: Couturissime show in advocating for skin-deep/skin-tight beauty. … Continue reading
Puppy Love (But No Doggystyle) In Vassilis H.’s “Must Love Dogs” at The Hole
I once saw Mary Boone make out with her dog. I should preface that I’m not a puppy hater, doggie-spit phobic, or even an anti-face- or lip-licker. Bring on the slobber! However, there was something alarming about voyeuristically staring at the typically stoic stalwart gallerist, the woman who fostered the careers of mega-art stars, was … Continue reading
Shitposting on Canvas: Can Cumwizard69420 Save Us From the Scourge of Self-Serious Political Art?
Scrolling through a list of recently opened exhibitions, one name gave me pause: Cumwizard69420. A name that reads as if birthed—or shat—straight from the bowels of the Internet. Cumwizard69420. A name that seems as if typed by a snickering teen signing into a chatroom in 1997. In fact, that name would not be out of … Continue reading
Lo! A Monster Is Born: “The Horror Show!” at London’s Somerset House Is Everything an Exhibition Should Be
“Everywhere I seem to go on this island seems to me I find degeneracy. There is brawling in bars. There is indecency in public places. And there is the corruption of the young. And now I see it all stems from here—it stems from the FILTH taught here in this very school room!” So spits … Continue reading
Maxo Vanka’s Murals at St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church Are Pittsburgh’s Hidden Radical Masterpieces
On New Year’s Eve, the electricity in my family’s home in Pittsburgh flickered ominously and then, went dark. In the distance, orange and pink lights flashed vibrantly like strobe lights in the sky, as a buzzing sound, reminiscent of Dean Hurley’s ever-present static bursts in Twin Peaks: The Return, echoed furiously. If the impromptu disco … Continue reading