DC's

* (restored)

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Quentin Dupieux Rubber (2010)

‘Rubber tells the simple and often humorously demented tale of an ordinary car tire that magically comes to life in a junkyard, only to roll its way into a nearby populated desert town and kill various people who confront it through what seems to be a kind of telekinetic power.

‘This very simple yet fascinating and funny concept is played out in a fairly realistic, deadpan way but with a heightened sense of theatricality for its most violent moments. The tire kills several policeman in a similar way that Rutger Hauer’s nameless character in The Hitcher manages to rampage through the landscape with no remorse.

‘But while Hauer is clearly a human being who acts like a soul-less killing machine, the tire, on the other hand, is obviously not human, yet strangely enough when it uses its telekinetic powers to kill the viewer’s impulse is to somehow project an idea of human emotion onto it. Is it angry? Does it seek revenge for being dumped in a junkyard? No real explanation is given.’ — Michael Okum

Trailer

Opening scene

Watch the film here

 

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James Quinn Flesh of the Void (2017)

‘Flesh of the Void is a terribly disturbing experimental horror film about what it could feel like if the act of dying truly were the most horrible thing one could ever experience, instead of the peaceful fading many think of. It is intended as a trip through the deepest fears of human beings, exploring its subject in a highly grotesque, violent and extreme manner. Shot entirely on 16mm and Super 8, including an entire segment (Act I) that was shot on Kodachrome. Written and directed by James Quinn.’ — Sodom & Chimera Productions

Trailer

Watch the film here

 

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John Parker Dementia (1955)

‘Dementia is the only film of obscure director John Parker. The shooting ended in 1953 but the premiere did not take place until 1955. In order to skip censorship they made four different versions of the film.

‘For several reasons, this little jewel has become a cult film. There is not need to take present day indie cinema seriouly, Dementia was produced with the director’s mum’s savings and most of the cast were amateur actors or just non-actors, as is the case of protagonist Adrienne Barrett who allegedly was the director’s secretary and did not perform in any further films. The film is fascinating and upsetting with a photography that takes us to Edgar G. Ulmer’s low cost noir cinema, German expressionism and Buñuel and Dali’s surrealism.

‘Bruno VeSota seemed Ordon Welles’s doppelganger and was the most experienced member of the cast. Allegedly, he even had a deep influence in the final result of the film. In 1955 he directed a noir, Female Jungle, with Lawrence Tierney, Jayne Mansfield and John Carradine. Later on, he used to work for Roger Corman and directed The Brain Eaters (1958) and Invasion of the Star Creatures (1962), two essential works for psychotronics film lovers.’ — Molins Film Festival

Trailer

The full film

 

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Jon Rafman Mainsqueeze (2014)

‘Honestly, I could not recommend that you watch Mainsqueeze, a short film made out of collaged YouTube-Instagram-et-cetera videos and screenshots by the hip and genuinely talented Jon Rafman. I can say that it remains one of the purest and most visceral expressions of a very modern —standing in for Reddit-savvy — kind of horror that I’ve ever seen. I should admit, too: there are parts of it I’ve never seen, due to the fact that Rafman cuts in clips from online fetish videos for “crush” fans, in which crayfish are unkindly and unethically destroyed by high heels. That you can’t “unsee” is, for a horror fan, an occupational hazard. Faked-up pseudo-violence, I can take; real violence — even on crustaceans fated to be eaten — I refuse to.

‘Otherwise, this is a cruel and clever sewer-slew of web memes, ugly images, and deep web junk. It makes a broken washer-dryer into something out of hell. It adds a drone to passed-out sharpie pranks, and makes the prankees look like casualties of war. A fat man in a frog suit, hogtied in Shibari style, is seen to writhe against a sound-scape of dogs barking, ticking clocks, and car alarms, which would be funny if it were not so unsettling and I-should-not-be-seeing-this surreal. “Do you ever wonder,” asks a dreamy, electronic voice, “if rocks are actually soft, and tense up when we touch them?” This sounds existential — actually, it comes from Tumblr. Maybe both things are not, per this artist, mutually exclusive.’ — Horror Bakers Dozen

The full film

 

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Graham Reznick I Can See You (2008)

‘While I Can See You is a challenging experience due to its lack of a clearly defined narrative or any palpable sense of clear motivation for many of the characters’ actions, there is still a healthy measure of mischievous fun and playfulness to what little story it does engage the viewer in.

‘It seems that many indie filmmakers see the vague plot template of “bad things happen in the woods” laid down by so many slasher films from the 80s as a blank canvas for them to unleash their unbridled creativity and I Can See You is no exception. Little explanation is given for the spiral into hallucinatory madness that the viewer is privy to here, but Reznick and his game cast and crew certainly are willing to boldly experiment with the horror genre.

‘Wild psychedelic visuals, creative lighting, sound design and editing choices as well as a generous bit of theft from David Lynch’s bag of strange cinematic tricks set this film apart from your average “no frills” indie horror exercise which makes I Can See You even more of an exceptional viewing experience to be had.’ — Taste of Cinema

Trailer

Excerpt

Watch the film here

 

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Peter Tscherkassky Outer Space (1999)

‘Using scenes from Sidney J. Furie’s infamously nasty 1982 film The Entity as a starting off point, Tcherkassky uses film as a screen, re-projecting the fragment over itself in stark overlays. The Entity (based on the factual Doris Bither case that is every bit as disturbing as the film) presents the story of a sexually abusive apparition in a woman’s home in 1980s America in the mode of other slick phantasmagorical thrillers of the time and, perhaps unsurprisingly, plays out like Poltergeist manifested at a back street porn cinema: grimily smutty, arguably exploitative, and genuinely nasty in its presentation of violence (sexual and other) — a point that’s only exaggerated in the polish of its relatively high production values.

‘Passing through into Tscherkassky’s non-space of obsessive reflection, actress Barbara Hershey re-enters a house that’s been turned into a weapon against her — supposedly a familiar and safe space that is benign in its domesticity — only to find it expand around her, casting off an infinite mirror-world of generational decay. Through his process, Tscherkassy doubles-down on the feelings of everyday isolation and fear, and frees the film from any diegetic sense of meaning, insisting the viewer confronts both its dissolution and ultimately its integral parts with a stunning force, and moving the source material into the purism of the avant-garde.’ — Thogdin Ripley and Philippa Snow

Trailer

The full film

 

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Bill Gunn Ganja & Hess (1973)

‘The opening scenes of most films intended for commercial distribution tend to ease viewers into their fictional worlds, introducing protagonists, defining the context in which these protagonists exist, hinting at experiences they will subsequently undergo. Bill Gunn’s Ganja and Hess (1973) does precisely the opposite. By the time its opening credits finish playing, we will already have read a series of onscreen texts referring in the past tense to events which have not yet occurred, heard a voiceover narration from a minor character (which also evokes future situations retrospectively), listened to a ballad which outlines the film’s supernatural mythology, encountered novelistic chapter headings, seen close-ups of paintings, watched documentary-style footage of a church service, and been subjected to a barrage of disjointed editing techniques which obscure rather than clarify – at least, that is, if we believe the clear exposition of narrative to be a sine qua non for works ostensibly outside the experimental or avant-garde traditions.’ — BFI

Trailer

The full film

 

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Adam Wingard Pop Skull (2007)

‘Pop Skull takes the general shape of a revenge thriller but filters it through the drug-distorted point of view of its main protagonist Daniel. Inevitably we’re given an up close and personal view of Daniel’s descent into madness while he pops all manner of that help to distort his already crumbling reality. Along the way he also seems to be influenced by ghostly visions of prior violence and murder that happened near his home.

‘Pop Skull is a film that again demands a certain amount of open-mindedness from the viewer. But anyone willing to let its dark brooding mood seep in will be rewarded with an experience that really does get under the skin and feel like an authentic downward spiral into insanity. Plus the film boasts some impressive camera work and psychedelic visual distortions while Daniel trips out on drugs. And there’s also some really great music tracks from the experimental noise-punk group “The Liars” filling out the background.’ — Parasite

Trailer

The full film

 

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Shin’ya Tsukamoto Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

‘Before addressing Shinya Tsukamoto’s fierce cyberpunk horror Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) in detail, a warning. Despite its family-friendly title, parents should take great care not to confuse this modern Japanese classic with the similarly titled Marvel superhero film. Almost every scene of Tsukamoto’s 67-minute lunacy involves graphic depravity completely unsuitable for children. And more power to it for that.

‘Tsukamoto wastes few seconds of his greyhound-lean runtime before showing us the ‘metal fetishist’ (played by Tsukamoto himself) inserting lengthy iron rods of substantial girth into his body. When maggots congregate around the noxious wounds, he goes insane and sprints from his grim industrial hovel along a desolate road, where he’s run over by the ‘salaryman’ (Tomoro Taguchi) out driving with his girlfriend (Kei Fujiwara). The pair hide the corpse, but the salaryman is soon tormented by demented dreams and, far more seriously, a gradual metamorphosis into a living heap of scrap metal.’ — Lou Thomas

Trailer

The full film

 

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Ronny Carlsson Regissören (2011)

‘Shot mostly as a first person shooter film, we come into the story as the director is trying desperately to get his low budget film made. Actors keep flaking and dropping out, and he gets more angry and frustrated as time goes on. The director so wants to finish what he feels will be his last project.

‘This is Mr. Carlsson’s first feature length film and is described by the director as an experimental film. That it is, to be certain. It’s hard to grasp at first. To be honest, I was halfway through it before I finally realized what I was watching.

‘It took me a while to figure it out, but there are actually three stories going on here. Each vignette relates to something in the previous vignette, creating a connected story. Then of course, there are the in-betweeners following the director’s story in trying to get this thing made. Then there is an overall story being told by both the vignettes and the video diaries together that follows the themes of the prequel short films. It’s really genius, and amazingly clever.

‘I don’t see this as a horror film as much as it might be a phsychological exploration of some sort. Yes, there are horror elements in it. But viewers should be prepared for some really uncomfortable and disturbing scenes. I don’t think this film is for everybody.’ — HNN

The full film

 

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Jordan Harris, Andrew Schrader Fever Night aka Band of Satanic Outsiders (2009)

‘I have not seen Band of Outsiders, the Godard film from which Fever Night obviously derives its subtitle, and thus it would be very difficult for me to compare and contrast the two. And yet what I know of Godard films definitely strikes a chord when I watch Fever Night; there’s the same general plotlessness, the same overacting, the same feeling of discontinuity from scene to scene. And I have to say that I like it better here than I do in Godard, but not much.

‘I think there’s a plot, kind of, and I think it goes like this: three Satanists, Elliot (Peter Tullio in his first screen appearance), Warren (Doilie’s Diner’s Philip Marlatt), and Terry (Poker Run’s Melanie Wilson, also debuting), head out into the woods to conduct some sort of ritual. (The director’s synopsis on IMDB says they actually go through with it; if so, it’s a very subtle ritual, because I didn’t even notice.) Then Terry disappears. While Elliot and Warren are trying to figure that out, they see a dim light through the trees and pursue it, hoping to find some help (or Terry, maybe).

‘…and the majority of the movie is Elliot and Warren following this light and arguing with one another. If that’s not Godardian, I don’t know what is. Horrid memories of forcing myself to sit through Pierrot le Fou, but if both of the main actors were male. And not in a car. Wilson is cute, though for obvious reasons she doesn’t get a great deal of screen time, and there are some mildly amusing bits (which is better than I can say for Godard), but overall, this one will confuse you while boring you senseless at the same time.’ — Robert Beveridge

Trailer

Buy the DVD here

 

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Karim Hussain Subconscious Cruelty (2000)

‘A couple of days ago, the censorship did not allow the exhibition of “A Serbian Film” in Rio Fan Festival 2011 in Rio de Janeiro. A friend of mine mentioned that “Subconscious Cruelty” was another polemic film and I decided to watch it.

‘”Subconscious Cruelty” is indeed gruesome, gory, sick and disturbing, and one of the nastiest and pointless films I have ever seen. The film is divided is segments and it seems that the only intention of the director is to shock the audiences with a confused narrative and disconcerting impressive images. Paradoxically, the music score is very tender and beautiful.

‘Ovarian Eyeball – In the first segment, a naked woman is sliced by a sharp blade and an eyeball is removed from her belly. This surrealistic short is absolutely senseless. Human Larvae – in this second segment, a deranged man that hates his sister that is pregnant kills her newborn offspring and she during the delivery. This short is one of the sickliest films I have ever seen. Rebirth – in this third segment, a group of naked people rolls around mud and blood in another pointless segment. Right Brain/Martyrdom – in this last incomprehensible segment, there are the visible intention to offend the Christians with religious symbolism associated with gore and sex.’ — claudio_carvalho

Trailer

Watch the film here

 

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Ivan Zulueta Frank Stein (1972)

‘Zulueta’s peculiar singularity of vision points ultimately toward the digital dream of instant access to all components, as he doubly reconfigures James Whale’s 1931 classic Frankenstein by playing it at speed — reducing the runtime to under 4 minutes — and crossing the boundary between the televised and the filmed. In demolishing both form and narrative in such a well-known film, Zulueta transforms it, transposing the lumbering creature feature into an exploration of time and the authenticity of the camera’s gaze.’ — The Quietus

The full film

 

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Calvin Lee Reeder The Oregonian (2011)

‘This is an unheralded masterpiece that came and went sadly enough and is as anonymous as any other surreal experimental film. But I imagine the director Calvin Reeder not expecting to get rave reviews anytime soon. Sure, like many reviewers point out here on Letterboxd you can make reasonable comparisons between “The Oregonian” and the works of Brakhage and Lynch but Reeder still manages to chisel out a movie that is perhaps better described as a surreal essay with its own artistic merits.

‘”The Oregonian” is decidedly unconventional, impressionistic (I’m using the more apt literary term here) and drenched with unpleasant, buzzing and squeaking sounds and unsettling, hypnotic visuals. In other words: elements that are perhaps not uncommon in art-films but rarely utilized in horror movies. “The Oregonian” doesn’t shy away from being inaccessible and bewildering. I must admit though that the lo-fi soundtrack greatly explains my affection for this weird little movie. I just love the music.

‘It’s hard to summarize this movie plot-wise but a woman is introduced early on that presumably has been the victim of a horrible car accident. (I’m recounting this from memory) The woman that I suppose is the titular Oregonian staggers out of her demolished car with a large wound on her forehead. She sees two bodies lying on the ground, in front of the wrecked car giving indication that she might be responsible for the accident. Moving further into the isolated landscape she finds herself in she encounters a bizarre old lady, all sorts of menacing individuals and a man dressed in a furry green monster costume. Yes I know, this all sounds ridiculous but it works.’ — Nicolas @ letterboxd

Trailer

Watch ‘The Oregonian’ VOD here

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** Adem Berbic, Italicizing is my only godlike option. Conquering the ‘great penis novel’ is a noble goal. I’m rooting for you. ** Carsten, Hi. Paul Bowles’s work is just being recalibrated, which is natural. He’ll be fine. ‘Landscape Suicide’ is highly worth seeing, for sure. It must suck being an actor who lands an amazing, dream role and then the director botches it. Must happen all the time. ** _Black_Acrylic, I miss the days when the Turner Prize dominated water-cooler talk. ** Larst, It’s actually rather difficult to find ass-centric art that isn’t just obvious and predicable. My honor on the steering, of course, sir. Big weekend I trust. ** jay, Hi. Haha, yeah, I almost didn’t put Anna Uddenberg in there because I feared obviousness, but she eventually won me over. I guess even 20% stranger is a victory these days? Hence the ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession’ phenomenons. The heat didn’t end up breaking yesterday miserably enough, but I do detect a wee bit of coolness seeping through my windows this morning. I hope your weekend provides the option of hopping, skipping and jumping. ** Bill, Oh, it’s online. How did I miss that? Thanks! Everyone, if you want to see Cheryl Donegan’s butt piece from yesterday in motion, Bill found a way for you to do that. And it’s here. Someone posted a very nice photo of you performing at that event on Facebook yesterday. It looked terrific. ** James Bennett, The fog sculpture is fantastic. It’s still up at Pinault for a while longer if you want to see for yourself. No storms last night, obviously, but maybe just maybe it’s just a little more liveable today? Have fun with your pals irregardless. ** Ferdinand, Hi. Well, then they should sue her, goodness knows. I do intend to start living somewhat normally again this weekend if it takes pity on me. Do yours up. ** Steve, Hm, I would think John would have jumped at the chance to direct the final ‘Jackass’. Huh. Signs are that the heat is possibly going to faint later today or at least show signs a la Rod Stewart and Lionel Ritchie. Thank you whatever happens. ** Shea, Hi, Shea! Wow, that’s crazy, thank you. I’m honored. I’ll go blast that when I finish these ‘duties’ here this morning. Okay if I share? Hope so. Everyone, Shea who makes beautiful music under the rubric MAKESHIFT KINK recorded a song a couple years ago after reading my novel ‘Try’, and you can listen to it right here. Amazing, thank you! I think preparing for the worst has to become second nature, you know? I think we’re about to ease up here. But I wish I was in Portland. Seriously. ** Laura, I do have and treasure Charalampos’ book, of course. Your disfavoring of J Bowles is duly noted. I wonder if any work of fiction could survive that kind of fact checking? The meet up with Matt Wolf was very nice. I hadn’t realised until I met him that he directed that interesting documentary about the Biosphere. I would rather make films with my iPhone for the rest of my life than make a film that got me invited to show myself off at Fashion Week. Funny and great how a novel in progress will just eat everything. ** HaRpEr //, You could probably find those videos on one of the edgier porn sharing sites like motherless or ThisVid. Luck galore, pal. Do you want to share where you submitted, or, wait, maybe that would be bad luck? Amazing about the centrepiece. Dude, you don’t sound pretentious. Ambition above all. I think … I hope we might both get a weekend that doesn’t intend to commit a felony, but let’s see. ** Thom, Hey, Thom! Oh, shit, about the vomiting, although I suspect I’d feel a lot better over here if I did. Awesome that you like ‘Malina’ so much. Yeah, right? I think today is still going to suck heat-wise, but slightly less, and that tomorrow might just might occasion a certain liveliness. Max out your weekend on Parsians’ behalf. ** laura w, Yesterday Instagram suddenly decided that I am ravenous to see as many posts about Clavicular as humanly possible. Why? Their illogic is almost fascinating. Gary and I were friends when ‘Rent Boy’ came out, so I was touched. Later when we weren’t really friends anymore, he got very drunk one night and called me at 3 am and said he was going to make his publisher pull that book off the market so he could delete the reference to me. Quite a character. The weekend is now here in Paris, but I hesitate to get too excited yet for the obvious reason. ** Okay. Some years ago a blog reader who called themself TheNeanderthalSkull helped the blog miss Halloween a little less by guest-curating a Halloween post in June, and it’s June yet again, and the missing is still operable, so there you go, folks. See you on Monday.

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Cheryl Donegan Butt Print, Kiss My Royal Irish Ass (1993)
Performance July 3, 1993, synthetic polymer paint on paper

 

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Seymour Dog Butt (2013)
‘‘Dog’s Butt’, pleasingly symmetrical black and white photographs on iridescent ‘special’ wedding-invitation paper, give criteria of aesthetic judgement a work out. A rally between formal propriety and irreverent smirks, it’s a tail-end challenge to good taste. Aesthetic principles are demoted below economy of materials and efficiency of process. The desktop laminator, with its A4 constraint and auto-framing effect, is the freedom of restriction. Seymour locks down the process to free up the channels of decision-making.’

 

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Young Boy Dancing Group @ Chapter 10 (2017)
‘Young Boy Dancing Group challenges gender and sexuality with lasers in their anal sphincters whose performances are a mishmash of queerness and techno-futurism that could only exist in our digital age.’

 

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Arson A Beautiful Ass (1995)
‘Enter my world, where the curves of the buttocks become an ode to sensuality, freedom, and pop art. My sculptures don’t just provoke; they caress the eye, awaken the senses, and invite abandon. The voluptuousness, the gluttony, the sweetness, or the impertinence of Pattes en l’air—this entire period of my work is an invitation to explore desire, poetry, and perhaps humor, by taking a step back from who we are.’ — Arson

 

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Toilet!? – Human Waste & Earth’s Future (2014)
‘Donning special shit-shaped caps, children line up to get flushed down the toilet.’

 

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Katarina Janeckova He is interested in her Butt and all she cares about is Art (2013)
‘For me, the bear is a perfect substitute for a man. Sometimes I depict the bear as a lover, voyeur, playful cub, perverted old bear or as a symbol of protection. It’s also for my own amusement. I love to create stories and relationships between the figures I paint. I paint those bears as simple, strange dark figures, because it allows you to fantasize. The monolithic black surface of the bear also gives the eye a place to rest among all the colors and wild brush strokes of the painting. Sometimes, I give them glasses or eyes and blushing cheeks to outline a little more about their character or mood.’

 

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Melani de Luca Post-Butt (2018)
‘Melani de Luca’s book Post-Butt looks beyond a good looking arse focusing on the “virality of images in our mediated society”. It’s a book that started from personal curiosity after noticing the “omnipresence of the butt on different channels, especially Instagram and music videos,” she tells It’s Nice That. But what Melani particularly noticed was how much the image and placement of butts had altered over the last 20 years. “The camera got lower, the frames that show the butt last longer and the face is often cut or even completely out of the picture,” she says. Research followed and a theory developed: “the rise of the butt in media was not accidental”.

‘However rather than just posing this as a topic for discussion, Melani developed a book on the subject from her urge to open a platform on the subject. “The images of the butt are embedded in our culture and therefore have a huge influence on society and individual behaviour,” she explains. “Even though music and dance are primarily seen as entertainment, they have an indirect or sometimes direct political function. We could think that the phenomenon of the butt-selfie, also known as ‘belfie’, might be absurd, but the analysis of recent history make it suddenly appear logical. The virality of the buttocks starts from the digital domain but it has repercussions in the physical world.”’

 

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Wang Haiyang Party in the Anus (2018)
‘In Wang Haiyang’s video work, Party in the Anus, an ambiguously gendered figure gyrates and dances with reckless abandon in what appears to be the fleshy vortex of an anus. Echoing the anal spiral into nothingness, the dimly-lit room is carpeted in a whirling black-and-white optical illusion. Ensconced in a full-body suit that masks even their face, the figure appears to relish the debased, scatological environment, embracing what Leo Bersani might perceive as the body’s receptacle of death and disease. For Wang, partying in the anus at the end of the world is a productive proposition.’

Trailer

 

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Nicole Eisenman Procession (2019–2020)
‘The giant in “Perpetual Motion Machine” has gone fishin’, his tuna catch (a bunch of old Bumble Bee cans) dangle heavily from a pole as he tugs a trolly with his free hand. But its wheels are square, a playful detail which might get overlooked, though it means missing the greater point Eisenman is trying to make about societal square pegs in proverbial round holes. In the ultimate act of public humiliation, a naked form adorns the trolley, head bowed while on his hands and knees, wearing only a pair of New York Giants socks. Brightly knit with red, white, and blue (Rangers team colors), the scandal of Eliot Spitzer as Client 9 immediately comes to mind. The figure’s ass, overgrown with sheared wool fleece, lets out a loud, smokey fart every few minutes. (A fog machine has been installed in his anus.) The fart plume is every fifth-grade boy’s laughing delight, and it seems to work well in a room of art snoots, too. If you find yourself unimpressed by the literal butt of this joke, the trolley’s bumper sticker conveys a message direct from the artist: HOW’S MY SCULPTING? CALL 1-800-EAT-SHIT. (The bumper stickers are for sale in the museum’s gift shop.)’

 

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Odd Nerdrum Twilight (1981)
‘I had seen some of his paintings in the beginning, I didn’t really like them, I was not very interested. But then I meet him by accident on a street in Oslo. And he tells me where he is living and it was just a five minute walk from my hotel. And he invites me to come to his house. I go to his house, and we go to the garage. And there he had a huge painting which at that time was called “A Woman Shitting in the Woods.” Life itself is a kind of realism. And life itself is very cruel. Every man goes to the toilet, once a day, he sits down and he shits. Like an animal, you know. Then he cleans, washes his hands, and walks out and he is no more an animal. Then, I really discovered him. Then I started to connect with his painting and understand what he was doing.’ 

 

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Kurt Vonnegut Asshole/Asterik (1973)
‘I have seen people with Vonnegut asterisk tattoos. There is a restaurant with the symbol as its name, and there have been bands named after it too. I doubt Vonnegut knew quite the extent to which his drawing of an asshole that appears at the beginning of Breakfast of Champions would tunnel its way into the culture. But this drawing is a good example of how his images embodied more than what they appeared to represent. As an image, that asshole drawing was not lewd or provocative, and it was not meant to offend or excite. It was matter-of-fact. On the other hand, as a gesture, its aims were less than charitable. The asterisk in the novel had the effect of undercutting literary hubris, and by unleashing it in the text toward the close of the preface as an example of what is likely to come, he drew a line in the sand. With it, he was announcing, “If you are too squeamish or too sophisticated to stomach this asshole-in-the-abstract, then leave off here, worse barbs lie ahead, and if you go any further, deeper cuts would no doubt be in store for the likes of you.” In the late ’60s, members of the band the Sex Pistols swore on live TV and sent half of the UK into uproar. If viewers were shocked by a handful of expletives, there would be no point in them listening to that band’s music or any other punk music for that matter. It would only get more real from there on in. That instance of profanity during the moment of the band’s introduction to the world stage also served as a line in the sand, and like the asterisk, hovered like a warning to all ye who may come.’

 

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Cary Leibowitz (“Candy Ass”) Bird Talk (and butt) (1989)
‘Since his emergence in the 1990s (when he went by the moniker “Candy Ass”), Cary Leibowitz has styled himself as a self-loathing, reluctant artist. Through this cleverly crafted persona, he critiques the pretentiousness of the art world and the commodification of art. He also foregrounds his gay and Jewish identity, exploring how it places him outside of mainstream American society. His work—which encompasses prints, paintings, sculpture, and installation—is full of humor and pathos. He often incorporates such everyday items as mugs and knitted caps into his pieces, altering them with pointed text and arranging them into unlikely forms.’

 

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Básica TV Hemorrhoids: The Movie (2018)
‘In their longest, most prodigious work to-date—totaling over forty minutes, spanning fifteen screens, and accompanied by an installation—the Uruguayan-born art collective first questions our cultural preoccupation with butts, but more than this, asks why this is as far as we go. Katie Couric famously aired her colonoscopy on national television in 2000, but the colon was never sexy. Asses are undeniably so, and as such, are inherently linked to capital, and ultimately power. Why else would we see an onslaught of products and trends come to prominence during the same period as the rise of the ass? Juice cleanses, Activia, colonics, anal bleaching, tapeworm diets, and coffee enemas are just a few of the recent fads that oddly allude to inner workings of a sexualized exterior, but never go further. Basica goes deeper, though, making hemorr- hoids the focal point of their film. This asks us, as viewers, to come face-to-face (literally) with the highly taboo topic, urging us to question our discomfort with it.’

Excerpt

 

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EPSRC The Robotic Rectum (2016)
‘A robotic rectum may help doctors and nurses detect prostate cancer. The technology, which consists of prosthetic buttocks and rectum with in-built robotic technology, has been developed by scientists at Imperial College London. The idea is the device helps train doctors and nurses to perform rectal examinations by accurately recreating the feel of a rectum, as well as providing feedback on their examination technique. The device contains small robotic arms that apply pressure to the silicone rectum, to recreate the shape and feel of the back passage.’

 

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Judie Bamber What Do You Say? (Chrome Egg Butt Plug with Leather Thong) (1989)
Oil on canvas stretched on board

 

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Keith Boadwee Various (1995 – 2019)
‘Boadwee simultaneously pokes fun at the language of art history while paying homage to it. The works cover a wide spectrum, from the somatic brutality of Viennese Actionism to the primary simplicity of De Stijl. There is an ambiguity in the fabrication of these paintings hinting at past performances for which Boadwee first gained recognition in the 1990s. Often using his own body as tool, medium, surface or subject, each work obfuscates the artist’s engagement in his studio—they could stand as autonomous pictorial renderings or possible documentation of a transgressive action. The viewer is invited to draw his or her own conclusions.’

 

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Forrest Bess Various (1947 – 1967)
‘Bess arrived at painting incidentally. Following a psychologically scarring gay bashing and subsequent nervous breakdown during his service in the camouflage division of the US military, he resumed earlier artistic endeavours on the advice of an army psychiatrist.

‘Increasingly Bess was haunted by night-time visions, which he began to record in a book by his bedside. From 1946 onwards he painted principally according to these visions, rendering tense internal conflicts on sex, gender, and sexuality as obscure, oneiric forms, ones that often eluded even the artist himself. He wrote, “the canvases I paint are statements – each one is a statement of what I don’t know. I am only a conduit through which they pass and there are times I suffer because I don’t know.”

‘During the 1950s, Bess divided his time between fishing, painting, and the compilation of a ‘thesis’ centred on a proposition for the unification of the male and female sexes within a biologically male body. Bess’s ideas were inspired by numerous sources, including the traditions of Aboriginal tribespeople, Egyptian, Greek, and Chinese art, and the writings of Havelock Ellis. Around 1955, his own writings distilled in an operation he performed on his perineum, during which he created an orifice intended to receive a penis. Bess’s motivations – the prospect, he claimed, of everlasting life – were likely spurred by an emergent discourse on transsexuality that was catalysed in 1952 by the public disclosure of Christine Jorgensen’s sex reassignment surgery, the first such operation reported in America. In 1954, Bess had declared hermaphroditism “the perfect state of man”.’

“Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle” (Preview)

 

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John Waters Haunted (2006)
‘Haunted involves a rephotographed video title. It reads MY ASS IS HAUNTED, snapped from a skin flick starring adult-film star Belladonna. That particular movie was not intended to entice gay male fans, although when frozen in Waters’s viewfinder, the disengaged title becomes a cheeky declaration of homosexual longing and loneliness, of mysterious anal-retentiveness.’

 

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Riikka Hyvönen Various (2016)
‘In the competitive sport of Roller Derby, a bruise is a badge of honour to show off to your fellow team members trackside. What look here like photos are actually massive 3D leather canvasses, which artist Riikka Hyvönen layers with wood, paint and lashings of glitter, working from real images of these ‘derby kisses’.’

 

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Manfred Erjautz Anus Tempus (2016)
Radio controlled clock Junghans Mega, brass, glass, synthetics, touch-up pen.

 

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Veloso, Caio and Dallas Macaquinhos (2016)
‘What is it that the ring of bodies perform in Veloso, Caio and Dallas’ Macaquinhos (little monkeys). Their asses? Yes, but this word is also the slang for a woman who prefers anal over vaginal sex. For the Brazilian artists, the anus is the southern hemisphere of the body, and has the potential to function as its own democratic and collectivizing site, and as the opening of de-colonizing explorations of bodies, desires, anxieties, privacy and exposure.’

 

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Scott Donahue Untitled (2008)
‘The City of Berkeley last year paid artist Scott Donahue $196,000 to install two sculptural groups at either end of a new pedestrian bridge across the freeway on the city’s waterfront. The two installations mostly feature large human figures doing “typical Berkeley” activities. But the artist recently added a series of small bronze bas-relief sculptures around the base of each statue. The new sculptures around the base of the westernmost statue depict, among other things, dogs going shit, fucking, and sniffing each other’s butts. You decide: Is this the best way to spend Berkeley’s taxpayer dollars?’

 

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Claire Lambe LazyBoy (2012)
‘A pair of gold lamé disco pants placed on the floor has plump buttocks as if harbouring a body beneath. The oscillation between the alternate reading of discarded clothing or a prostrate body makes for a disturbingly compelling form. Added to which is the sexual innuendo of the title, meaning much more than a comfortable reclining chair.’

 

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Art Workers Coalition Art Workers Won’t Kiss Ass (1969)
‘The Art Workers’ Coalition (AWC) was an open coalition of artists, filmmakers, writers, critics, and museum staff that formed in New York City in January 1969. Its principal aim was to pressure the city’s museums – notably the Museum of Modern Art – into implementing economic and political reforms. These included a more open and less exclusive exhibition policy concerning the artists they exhibited and promoted: the absence of women artists and artists of color was a principal issue of contention, which led to the formation of Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) in 1969. The coalition successfully pressured the MoMA and other museums into implementing a free admission day that still exists in certain museums to this day. It also pressured and picketed museums into taking a moral stance on the Vietnam War which resulted in its famous My Lai poster And babies, one of the most important works of political art of the early 1970s. The poster was displayed during demonstrations in front of Pablo Picasso′s Guernica at the MoMA in 1970.’

 

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Patrick Henne Various (2016 – 2018)
‘Patrick Henne adopts the motifs of old masters such as Guido Reni, Caravaggio and Jacques-Louis David. Through the expressive and surreal colouring, along with the alteration of some details and titles, which have nothing to do with the original context, Henne transforms the paintings into grotesque, partly blasphemous and whimsical picture worlds. The paintings are the result of a lengthy process: the work of the artist and his study of art history and the examination of the respective documents form the foundation of his work. By sketching and editing the selected templates in Photoshop, he slowly approaches the desired results; color, contrast, details and background are greatly altered, varied or removed.’

 

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Anthea Hamilton Project for Door (After Gaetano Pesce) (2016)
‘If the Turner prize had been decided by Instagram, then Anthea Hamilton’s Project for Door (After Gaetano Pesce) would be a shoo-in to win on Monday. Since mid-September, the UK’s favourite spot for a selfie has been beneath this pair of large, splayed buttocks. Hamilton’s photogenic piece is actually a re-creation of a 1970s proposal by the Italian architect Gaetano Pesce for a building in New York. The buttocks in question were modelled on Pesce’s friend and collaborator Ulderico Manani, who was, Pesce says, delighted to help. “Ulderico was a homosexual and also a bit of an exhibitionist, so he was quite happy to do what I asked,” says Pesce. “When you have an idea and are convinced of its quality, you have no problem communicating it.”’

 

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Arwe Back Buttocks Stool (2016 – )
‘At the height of a successful business career, a burn-out caused Arwe to reconsider what was truly important in life.’

 

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Salvador Dali The Enigma Of William Tell (1933)
‘Depicting Vladimir Lenin half-naked, and with a huge protruding buttock, this Salvador Dali painting seriously offended the surrealist community when it came out. This association was made worse by Dali’s appendant note. He wrote that “the buttock, of course, was the symbol of the revolution of October 1917.” When it was unveiled in 1934, many of his contemporaries tried to physically damage it, without much luck.’

 

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Ronald Ophuis Various (1995 – 1997)
‘Two men in combat uniforms are playing with a ball in a filthy toilet,
disregarding the man crouching on the ground at their feet and bathed in a pool of blood. In a cloakroom, three teenagers hold a fourth one down on the ground and sodomise him with a (large) Coca-Cola bottle. Note that all of them are wearing the same football team uniform. These works by Ronald Ophuis are part of a series of paintings done between 1995 and 1997 and exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam in 1999 under the title ‘Five paintings about violence’. They won the artist rapid fame in the country of Vermeer, especially when he went to court to oppose the state’s demand that a child abuse scene (‘Sweet violence’) be withdrawn from a public exhibition – and won his case.’

 

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Lloyd James Toilet Rolls (2011)
Oil on canvas

 

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Lari Pittman Spiritual and Needy (1991)
acrylic and enamel on mahogany panel, 82 x 66″

 

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Jonathan Monaghan Escape Pod (2015)
‘Jonathan Monaghan’s Escape Pod is an epic, seamlessly-looping 20 minute 3D animation. This magical journey follows a golden stag with a baroque anus from birth to the moment he conceives himself (?) by pooping out a cyborg penis to inseminate …something. That something is a giant set of testicles attached to an equally baroque, flying mansion with a minimalist Scandinavian penthouse. The cycle begins again with the baby stag exploring a world of stunning landscapes and duty-free shops that look like the Miami airport.’

 

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Sarah Lucas I SCREAM DADDIO (2015)

 

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Aline Bouvy and John Gillis The anus, in relation to the penis, the hand, the face (2013)
‘Belgium artists Aline Bouvy and John Gillis are contemporary artists who worked together to produce an unorthodox body of drawings that are a collage of body parts that reference the anus and other private areas of the body.’

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Personalized Anus Sculpture (2012)
‘Nothing says “I love you” better than an actual sculpture of your anus. Each sentimental token is created by making a physical cast from your anus – displaying your unique beauty through the intricate detailing. $1,900.00.’

 

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Carissa Rodriguez Symptomatic / What Would Edith Say (2015)
‘A service top is one who tops under the direction of an eager bottom. A versatile top is one who prefers to top but who bottoms occasionally. Starting at the top, the artist’s tongue—muscle of conceptual articulation and arbiter of aesthetic disposition—is more simply, the locus of language and taste; while accordingly at the bottom, the filth of distinction gathers in the anus. Pornography sanitizes anuses by cosmetically bleaching them for the screen, rendering natural flesh “more uniform with its surrounding area,” similar to the way art galleries light and fluff their spaces to achieve the cold, fluorescent-white installation shot that emits an ambience akin to the sweatshop—an artwork at its maximum efficiency. Between tongue and anus are the organs, situated midway, or Midtown, much like the art advisor’s position between the artist and the collector. Practitioners of Chinese medicine diagnose the conditions of internal organs as its symptoms appear on the tongue’s surface, which is read and appraised like a rare map, rug, vase, or painting, and although it is too overwrought to liken the tongue to a screen (mirroring the artist inside) or to a ‘mood board’ in the case of the branding consultant, the liver and spleen are nevertheless dutifully at work scripting messages to the moist upper surface.’

 

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Anna Uddenberg Journey of Self Discovery (2016)
fiberglass, aqua resin, windjacket, synthetic hair, paint, crocs, fabric, selfie stick, rubber strings, terrace puf, wall tattoo

 

*
p.s. Hey. ** Adem Berbic, Hi. It was so hot here yesterday that it was truly shocking. It might descend a little today. ‘Prayers’. Bob Flanagan is a wonderful poet. That was his main form. His S/M performances came later, and the glare that created around his poems is  unfortunate. I never watched ‘True Detective’, but yeah. ‘Twin Peaks’ really spoiled me. ** jay, HI, jay. Thanks. Okay, I’ll try to find a copy of ‘DtP’ on a shelf somewhere and skip around/skim. ‘To the point of incoherence’ … now you’re making me interested. Gosh, dare I? The heat is supposed to start breaking a little today, and it kind of has to because everyone here is kind of going insane. I hope yours is vaporising too. ** James Bennett, Hi! Right, you’re in the middle of this too. Adem made the event seem quite successful. Congrats, sir. Yes … Everyone, Our own Adem Berbic’s first new book ‘Two Stories’ published by Ssnake Press aka our own James Bennett is gettable and you seriously want a copy, I feel utterly confident in saying. You can score it here. So important to concentrate on your writing, so that sounds like a very sane plan. And your modus operandi re: rebuilding your voice does sound quite exciting. Wow. Luck with the apartment hunt. I’m not versed in such things, but if I can help, give a shout. I like ‘Resentment’, of course. I’m a big fan of Gary’s, although I do think non-fiction was his best form, the one he absolutely mastered. Gary was very, very jealous of Kathy, and he did feel compelled to write and say things that let that be known quite frequently. This week? Honestly, mostly hiding out in my shitty air-conditioning. I’m going to see a Fujiko Nakaya fog sculpture with live score by Kali Malone at Pinault this morning. And Zac and I have some work to do. But I’m kind of saving my plans until atmospheric sanity returns starting on Monday. You? You actually getting out and about? ** Carsten, JB is pretty special. Interesting that she’s become almost more admired than Paul at this point. ‘Landscape Suicide’ is great. It’s Benning’s most narrative film by far. It’s not really reflective of his main, structuralist film work. I heard that Celine/Lavant film was terrible, so I never saw it. Terrible not due to any fault of Lavant’s, I understand. ** Steeqhen, Hi! It wouldn’t shock me if some director ends up shooting the ‘Ronnie Rocket’ script, and, yes, what a horrible idea. It’s supposed to go down to 27 degrees next week, which, under the circumstances, is going to feel like winter, I suspect. ** _Black_Acrylic, Here too. Every plan is being delayed for next week. Yesterday being outdoors here was like walking in the Sahara desert. You gotta believe, man, you bet. ** Steve, Matt talked about his current and upcoming projects, but he didn’t mention Louise Hay. Redesigning public space here is such a massive project costing such a massive amount of money, and, given France’s beleaguered economy, my guess is, no, they won’t, or very fitfully. ** Ferdinand, Well, hi there! Terrific to see you. I don’t know about that newer J Bowles book, and I’ll try to find it. Thanks. How are you? ** beaujolais, Hi. Cool, I haven’t checked Instagram yet today, but I will. That’s interesting: When we were in Chicago for the ‘RT’ screening I distinctly remember that a lot of people we met were sporting that exact look/style, which I hadn’t seen elsewhere in such proclivity, and which was very effective, if we’re any indication. ** HaRpEr //, Yeah, she’s so cool. She and her hubby would surely be very surprised by the ongoing strength of her work’s and her following. Yeah, I feel like I’m the living embodiment of ‘A Voice Through a Cloud’. But more like through steam. Your approach to the pitch sounds very labor intensive, yeah, but right. But again, I seem to be better at dashing possibilities. ** laura w, Hi. Yeah, she wasn’t a one-trick pony, although ‘TSL’ is her big pony. Oh, maybe I’ll try to watch that Christmas episode. I don’t mind being narratively lost. I think the last ballyhooed TV show that I ended up thinking was ok at least was ‘Wednesday’, but I only watched the first season, and I’m sure it fell way off. I think it is fashion week here, yes. Horrible/satisfying timing. Instagram is so weird. Last week it somehow decided I wanted every possible far right MAGA/fascist site output in my feed, andI I had to spend days blocking hundreds of them. Now it seems to think I want non-stop videos of people rescuing sea turtles and prying the barnacles off of them, which is of course infinitely better, but still. Oh, the thought of queers everywhere reading ‘Castle Faggot’ in hopes of having their pride in themselves reinforced. ** Okay. Very self-explanatory post for you today. See you tomorrow.