“Over the past year four more of my most beloved friends have died of AIDS. Two were artists I had selected for this exhibit. One of the writers for this catalogue has become too sick to write. And so the tone of the exhibition has become less theoretical and more personal, from a show about … Continue reading
“…desire is a product of lacking knowledge,” writes Thomas Mann in his sensual novella Death In Venice. Mann’s description of desire not only details the allure of the unknown and unknowable, but it also defines desire in terms of production, lending a perhaps unintentional mechanized overtone to lust and longing. Two current painting exhibitions–Andreas Schulze’s … Continue reading
Last night, the Guggenheim Museum released a statement announcing that they would pull three rage-inducing works from their upcoming show Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World. The three inclusions–Peng Yu and Sun Yuan’s Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other, Xu Bing’s A Case Study of Transference and Huang Yong Ping’s Theater of … Continue reading
“Then comes pancake factor number one Eyeliner, rose hips and lip gloss, such fun You’re a slick little girl, you’re a slick little girl Rouge and coloring, incense and ice Perfume and kisses, oh it’s all so nice You’re a slick little girl, you’re a slick little girl Now we’re coming out, out of our … Continue reading
Asked by prosecutor Charles Gills to define the “love that dare not speak its name” during his infamous trial for sodomy and gross indecency, Oscar Wilde responded, “It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an … Continue reading
“I feel kind of bad for AbEx…It’s vulgar, it’s the phallocracy, it’s nothing but an empty trophy, it celebrates bourgeois subjectivity, it’s a cold-war CIA front, and well, basically expression’s really embarrassing. A dandy wouldn’t be caught dead doing something as earnest as struggling, or channeling jazz with his arms. An old-style dandy, at least,” … Continue reading
“Utopia can never be prescriptive and is always destined to fail,” writes José Esteban Muñoz in his chapter “After Jack: Queer Failure, Queer Virtuosity” in Cruising Utopia. The chapter traces the queer utopian legacy of filmmaker Jack Smith through the work of contemporary artists and performers like Dynasty Handbag, Kalup Linzy and My Barbarian. This … Continue reading
Immediately after walking out of the Carnegie Museum of Art’s 20/20: The Studio Museum in Harlem and Carnegie Museum of Art, I glanced down at my phone to read the news that a homicidal alt-right-er mowed down a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, killing Heather Heyer. Not only a terrifying, sobering moment, it also brought … Continue reading
“My fellow Americans it’s that time of year to celebrate our country by drinking massive amounts of beer. Let’s stand together as one, live the American dream. Take shots, pass out & wake up with our pants ripped open at the seams,” declared starlet Nicole Richie in a Memorial Day BBQ invite that rivals the … Continue reading
“I watch the moon hang in the sky/I feel the traffic rushing by/Freight train engine in the night/I’m still here waiting for you/I feel the cold breeze in the air/My eyes blind by headlight’s glare,” sings Chromatics’s Ruth Radelet in their song “Headlight’s Glare.” Mimicking the wistful lyrics, the music is dreamlike, imbued with both … Continue reading