Doing the Leftover Things: Notes on Robert Melee’s After-Party Camp
Art

Doing the Leftover Things: Notes on Robert Melee’s After-Party Camp

In Susan Sontag’s seminal, often quoted and equally maligned “Notes on ‘Camp,’” Sontag composes a list of examples of camp including Tiffany lamps, Swan Lake and “stag movies seen without lust.” While Sontag’s list is certainly limited, she surely would not have hesitated to include opulent lamps, gaudy glass chandeliers, shining streamers, clashing ribbons, dangling … Continue reading

Barfing On The Declaration Of Independence: Mike Kelley’s ‘Reconstructed History’
Art

Barfing On The Declaration Of Independence: Mike Kelley’s ‘Reconstructed History’

Can you imagine anything more patriotic than an illustration of the Forefathers’ signing the Declaration of Independence emblazoned with the word “BARF,”? How about the Statue of Liberty covered with crudely rendered breasts, bush and armpits spewing with waves of stink? Well, I don’t know about you but I’m just about ready to start feverishly singing about those “amber waves of grain.” Continue reading

Conrad Ventur Remembers Original Underground Superstar Mario Montez
Art

Conrad Ventur Remembers Original Underground Superstar Mario Montez

Before Andy Warhol even heard the term, queer underground filmmaker and aesthetic genius Jack Smith anointed legendary drag actress Mario Montez a “Superstar.” Named after Smith’s favorite campy Hollywood starlet Maria Montez, Mario Montez’s exquisite beauty and attention-grabbing acting style made him an underground film sensation, starring in Smith’s controversial Flaming Creatures, Andy Warhol’s uncannily … Continue reading