Welcome to Filthy Dreams
Well hello there! Welcome to Filthy Dreams, a blog that analyzes culture through a queer lens. Rather than jumping right into new content, we thought it best to introduce ourselves and our aesthetics with our Trash Manifesto
Latest Entries
Smoking In The Girls’ Bathroom in Honor Of Codie Leone And The Art School Girls Of Doom
The New York transgender and drag world lost another important figure this week with the passing of Codie Leone, otherwise known as Codie Ravioli, who was a transgender activist, nightlife hero, stylist at Patricia Field Salon and most importantly those of us who with a deep love of camp and bad acting, part of the MTV duo The Art School Girls of Doom. Continue reading
Gone But Not Forgotten: Every Visible Absence in Sophie Calle At Paula Cooper Gallery
Art on art; this autonomous and masturbatory stage of art making has been pronounced especially since 1960s, while the foundations of Today’s Art was mostly being built. Starting with artists like Hans Haacke, Marcel Broodthaers and many others, a different leg of art making, mostly referred as Institutional Critique, emerged in an attempt to investigate, … Continue reading
Role Models: Kembra Pfahler
Just in time for HALLOWREEN, I’m resurrecting (rim shot) Filthy Dreams’ Role Models series celebrating the filth elders who led the way for us to realize our own “filthy dreams.” Keeping with the theme of horrifying Halloween camp, our next filth-spiration, Kembra Pfahler, is the role model for all those little girls out there who … Continue reading
More Demonstrations and Less Memorials In ‘Why We Fight: Remembering AIDS Activism’
Scrawled in black pen in one of his many journals in the New York Public Library’s exhibition Why We Fight: Remembering AIDS Activism, artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz wrote, “If I die of AIDS, don’t give me a memorial, give me a demonstration.” Continue reading
Good Intentions vs Dark Intentions: A Look at Two Masters of 20th Century Painting
Some artists’ talents come from a place that is raw, instinctive and purely untamed. Their magnificence and artistry lie in their natural urge for the simplest yet the most essential modes of expression. An artist can religiously present us one certain act throughout his career and each time prove the craftsmanship that he naturally owns. … Continue reading
Andrea Mary Marshall’s Hunka Hunka Burning Gender Trouble at “Sacred/Iconic”
Playing with the iconic masculinity of Elvis Presley and combining it with its polar opposite–the idealized femininity of a geisha, artist Andrea Mary Marshall’s new work in Sacred/Iconic, a two-person exhibition at Garis & Hahn, open until October 19, highlights gender as a performance, troubling the binary of masculine/feminine. Continue reading
Filthy Dreams’ Horrible Hallowreen Playlist
At long last, Hallowreen has arrived! Time to polish the plastic pumpkins, febreeze the glow-in-the-dark cobwebs, and set up the howlin’ werewolves to greet the neighbors! Wait, what about the music, you say? Not to worry: Filthy Dreams has done that work for you! So sit back, relax, have a glass of our WORLD FAMOUS Pumpkin … Continue reading
The Brightest Of The Flaming Creatures: A Tribute To Mario Montez
One of queer film forefather Jack Smith’s “flaming creatures,” Andy Warhol’s “superstars” and Charles Ludlam’s “ridiculous,” underground drag actress Mario Montez sadly passed away this week in Key West. Continue reading
Losing Ourselves In The Language Of Movements At ACT NOW: Perspectives on Contemporary Performance and HIV/AIDS
Last week, the New Museum, in collaboration with Visual AIDS, hosted an engrossing and important panel ACT NOW: Perspectives on Contemporary Performance and HIV/AIDS, tackling questions about the role of performance and the artist’s body in preserving, discussing and embodying the history, legacy and the current AIDS crisis. Continue reading
Lost Paintings: A Look at the Recent Taner Ceylan Exhibition
In today’s art dynamics however figurative painting is somewhere between ‘post-contemporary’ and ‘old skool’. The recently opened exhibition of Turkish hyperrealist painter Taner Ceylan at Paul Kasmin Gallery offers viewers a post-Oriental journey among some voyeuristic yet fashion photography-esque paintings. Continue reading