p.s. Hey. Today’s an awesome day on the blog because it gets to help usher into the world the new, long-awaited book by Paul Curran, one of the most exciting writers on the planet and author of the still young but already legendary novel ‘Left Hand’. Paul has put together a total knock-down-drag-out post for the occasion, and I’ll leave you all to it. And do score the book if you know what’s best for you. Thanks, and thank you mega, Paul. ** h now j, You are indeed! Thank you, and, yes, she’s fungi-headed, a surprising but sensible choice. I hope I’ll get to read your Warhol piece somewhere. Will you publish it? No problem: the blog and I are disappearing for 3 1/2 weeks starting on Tuesday, so enjoy your off-time, as will I, I hope. ** Tea, Hi, Tea! Okay, scary!!!! Thank you. (I’m not easy to scare). ** Dominik, Hi!!! I agree about us playing Cupid for love and the Scuba boy. Maybe we should bring some rophynol just in case. I’m happy the zombies lead you to imbibe some acoustic guitar. An acoustic guitar is sort of like a zombie electric guitar? Or, wait, maybe the opposite. Love reversing all of Cher’s cosmetic surgery just to see what she really looks like, G. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hey, Ben! Oh, wow, I remember reading that interview. Let me share the wealth. Everyone, Before we leave the topic of zombies entirely, here’s a last related goodie from the one, the only _Black_Acrylic: ‘ My own claim to fame is that back in 2009 on Yuck ‘n Yum duties, I interviewed the Scottish actor Ian McCulloch from Zombie Flesh Eaters aka Zombi 2 at the DCA. I think the audio file from that is now sadly lost to history, but he was a nice guy and he makes a living as a posh farmer these days.’ I’ve read it. It’s a blast. ** Steve Erickson, Inch by inch. No, we fly to LA on Monday. Yeah, making that thematic post non-boring and predictable, if I did, was no small task. I have a bunch of those C-cassettes back in LA. Back when the NME was actually something and not just a version of the usual. Nice of that site to do that. Everyone, Steve has a potential treasure trove alert for at least some of y’all: ‘Between 1981 and 1986, the NME released 36 cassette compilations to its subscribers. C81 (somewhat of an extension of WANNA BUY A BRIDGE?) and C86 are the most famous, but they also put out primers on world music and jazz, among other genres. Back in 2010-1, this blog digitized them and made them all available for download, and you can still get them there.’ ** David Ehrenstein, Yes, RIP Angela Lansbury. She had a great run. ** Robert, Hi, Robert. Do people call you Rob or Bob or Robby or Bobby? ‘Woodcutters’ is so great, yeah. I can’t remember what my first Bernhard book was. Maybe ‘Correction’? I saw him in person once in the mid-80s. I was living in Amsterdam, and my boyfriend took me to see a play by him, and I had no idea who he was at that point, and he came out and took a bow, and it was only later after I read him that I realised how lucky I was and tried to remember the moment which I was sort of whatever about in the moment. Obviously, pushing the originality further with your book is no bad thing, as long as it doesn’t drive you crazy and/or make you feel less sure about what it is your have accomplished. In my experience, both with my own stuff and with the work of writers I know, the fear that you’re imitating other writers you’re influenced by is a phantom. The influence is automatically transformed and backstaged by your own voice. The only problem is that it’s easer to recognise a known writer’s voice than your own, so you can think its presence is too strong when it actually isn’t. I wouldn’t let that worry you enough to think twice about forging ahead with confidence. I’ve never worried about reading too narrowly, if that helps. You’re being influenced by all kinds of things you’re intaking that aren’t books, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with chasing whatever it is that excites you as concentratedly as you like. ** Brian, Hey, B. I wonder if that guy you mentioned in Tennessee is the same guy who used to do the most extreme haunted house ever, ‘McKamey Manor’. I think he was from there? Yeah, the title ‘Gothic Lit’ portends substance or range at the very least. Oh, well, it’ll be over soon enough, I guess. Oh, wow, I highly recommend you get into Godard. I think someone could make the case that he’s the greatest director ever and be pretty persuasive about it. Oh, mm, I might need a day to think of a good horror suggestion. I’m always pretty vague at this time of the morning. Sounds fun! ‘Lost Highway’ has some flaws here and there, I think, but it’s still really great. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ essay, yikes. You have enough of an angle to pleasure yourself? Today I have to really start preparing for the LA trip, so that’s my day. Unfun but need be. Have a Wednesday of righteousness. Uh, did you? ** Right. Glory in the glory that Paul Curran has wrought for you today, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
____________ Jillian McDonaldHorror Make-Up, 2006 ‘I transform myself from normal to zombie in the midst of a daily subway commute. Instead of improving my features, like the woman who steadily applies makeup en route to work or play, I become gruesome. This work takes cues from the legion of women who perform beauty rituals on the subway in a curious private zone where they seem unaware of anything outside their activity, and the rising cult of zombies in popular culture, where zombie gatherings and zombie lore flourish. Locating the audience physically in the subway performance space positions them as both voyeurs and potential victims.’
____________ ChuvabakWips, 2017 ‘Some tests I made for the video I will not finish.’
____________ Kim DorlandZombies, 2013 – 2020 Oil on canvas
_____________ Liu ZhengSurvivors, 2002 Thermal transfers on canvas
_____________ Huang YanBrother and Sister No. 3, 2006 ‘Posed as if for formal portraits – indeed, recalling ancestor portraits – two young children stand against a blank white background wearing their school uniform of crisp white shirt and red ‘Young Pioneer’ scarf. Their faces have been painted a startling dead white, obliterating any hint of individuality, and overlaying their features appears imagery from Song or Yuan Dynasty literati painting: on the boy, a typical shan shui landscape scene of mountain peaks receding into the distance, and on his pigtailed sister’s face a bird and flower painting. The paintings are made by Huang Yan’s wife, Zhang Tiemei, an accomplished and classically trained artist. These children are masked by their Chineseness, their national identity worn like a uniform.’
______________ Christophe de Rohan ChabotBritney/Skull, 2020 ‘Recent outings from singers or hit-girls like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, or Lady Gaga provide a glimpse – for whoever wishes to read between the lines – of a classic process of zombification aimed to propagate a substance to control populations, via mass media channels: ‘just like the zombification of a subject, who the boko relieves of their soul in order to submit their body to his will and transform them into a docile and economically viable slave, the state of artificial somnambulism is provoked through a staging that involves a relationship of domination and constraint, which can go as far as death or erotic possession.’3 Possibly derived from the MK Ultra project, secretly undertaken by the CIA between 1953 and 19734 whose initial goal was to experiment with methods of behavioural modification for the purposes of espionage within the context of the Cold War (using drugs, psychological harassment, physical abuse, and so on), these practices and knowledges apparently later spread into civil society, and more specifically into the nebulous show business, in order to make use of the personality of stars as an effective mass broadcast medium for ideological content, reproducible archetypes and subliminal messages.’
_____________ DAY6Zombie, 2020 ‘I feel like I became a zombie / Not alive, but I’m still walkin’ / When the sunrise is upon me / I’ll be waiting for the day to pass by, oh why? / I became a zombie / And there’s nothing that can cure me / So tomorrow I know I’ll be just the same / You’ll see me wishin’ to stop and close my eyes’
______________ Cao FeiHaze and Fog, 2013 ‘Zombies have long been an important metaphor in Western popular culture but not so in China. Often violently blank they allow for evil motives to be projected onto them. In the western zombie film the zombie’s brain is dead but the body is alive. In ‘Haze and Fog’the ‘walking dead’ are people with something dead inside only not their brain but their soul. The artist has departed from the like of U.S. TV show ‘The Walking Dead’, or the horror adventure game ‘Silent Hill’, and their protagonists’ search for equilibrium. Instead of strong violence and shock, or a tense atmosphere through the unseen, Cao Fei’s ‘Haze and Fog’ examines people up close, slowly and in detail. Zooming into the international modern cells of new immigrants moved from traditional housing areas, we see people whose daily rituals have changed and traditions lost.’
_______________ Jevgeni ZolotkoSacrifice, 2018 ‘Sacrifice is one of Zolotko’s eeriest works. An abandoned horse trailer painted light grey that includes a startling sound was first exhibited at the first Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art. This was the artist’s childhood memory from when he saw a metal container with dead horses locked inside.’
_______________ Manuel LobartzDog from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1978 Dog and silicon mask
_______________ Manuel PomarThe living dead, 2006 ‘Series of slideshows in stop motion and fixed images where the members of a collective are inert image after image.’
_______________ Richard Hawkinsdisembodied zombies, 1997 Ink-jet print. 47 x 36 in. (119.4 x 91.4 cm)
_______________ Aziz AnzabiAbove Water Level 1, 2020 Canvas, Oil
______________ Frank ToveyThe Loopy, 1978 ‘While studying the Fine Arts at Leeds Polytechnic between 1975 & 1978, Frank Tovey (Fad Gadget) was guided by tutor Jeff Nuttall to embrace the art of performance with his special blend of dark, gothic literary influence. A product of this challenge was The Loopy, based off of the Richard Matheson short story “Dance of the Dead,” and BERG, Anne Quinn’s 1964 novel. Tovey used his studies in mime and interest in electro-acoustic soundscapes, masks, and puppets to realise these projects in full.’
______________ Markus LüpertzZombie, 1995 painted plaster
_______________ Oleg VdovenkoLast Breath, 2018 ‘As part of his “Last Breath” project, the Russian artist Olev Vdovenko paints paintings whose universe brings life through his creations to abyssal creatures that are solely the fruit of his imagination. Faceless, toothless zombies with cadaverous faces with prominent skulls and whose protruding eyes literally come out of their sockets. Oleg Vdovenko knows how to exploit all these attributes in order to create real evil and apocalyptic beings which seem to come from the flames of hell.’
_______________ David Wojnarowicz Untitled, 1984 collaged paper and acrylic on cast plaster
______________ Joseph OlandCarl Grimes Loses An Eye, 2018 ‘This is an illustration inspired by own of the most memorable scene from the popular television series The Walking Dead where Carl Grimes catches a bullet in the eye.’
_____________ Thomas SchütteZombies, 2007 ‘Many years ago, my Paris gallerist Philip Nelson came to see me with a frequent flyer, and they wanted a design for the headquarters of a fashion company. While we were drinking coffee, I downloaded a Großer Geist sculpture of 1997 and chopped off its arms and legs. You can have this, I told them, but they didn’t want it. I made it anyway, but just one. The leftovers, the arms. legs and heads, became the Zombies.’
_____________ Jacques Tourneur I Walked with a Zombie, 1943 ‘Okay i like this film it very good, but I will always be shocked when watching the girl walking becoming a zombie because it Shirley Temple book a men grabbed her hand it pulled it down to his private area Gross they had to move to another seat, in the theater. 55.20 when the white girl sees the black zombie was creepy this might have been the scene that Shirley Temple was talking about as it very scary.’
_____________ Ewa JuszkiewiczZombie Girl in Blue, 2013 oil on canvas
______________ Tom FriedmanZombie, 2008 newspaper and wheat paste
______________ NubyTechResident Evil 4 Chainsaw Controller, 2006 ‘The chainsaw peripheral both come packed in stylized boxes. The box looks exactly like a set of three-paned, double windows from one of the dark and dreary cabins so commonplace in the villages of Capcom title. Clearly viewable through the windows is the chainsaw controller, which actually protrudes from one side of the box, revealing a saw blade splotched in fake red blood. The backside of the package shows a gruesome drawing of the Chainsaw Man cutting off Kennedy’s head. However, the device’s plastic blade serves no control purpose which does not move though it resembles its in-game counterpart.’
______________ Raymond PettibonNo Title (Mormon Secrets), 1985 ink on paper
______________ Eliza DouglasLiving Dead, 2019 ‘Surely the most famous model from the art world, artist Eliza Douglas, recently dressed up as a zombie for an exhibition at the Francesca Pia Gallery in Zurich. Performing in front of a screen presenting excerpts from the series The Walking Dead in which only the zombies appear, she exposes herself as one of their number that has toppled from the screen. But it is well and truly Eliza Douglas – with her attributes (she wears a Balenciaga t-shirt) and her recognisable style – as a zombie, dragging herself along the floor, reproducing their gestures, codified by show business: taking advantage of a personal presentation, the artist poses both as subject and object of this performance, using self-reflexivity to signify the zombification at work on her person.’
_____________ Wayne TullyHow To Draw A Zombie Head, 2010 ‘I do all this from my imagination, I just set my sketch pad up and start filming me drawing, I’ve never been a fan of any sort of time lapse videos, as I like to split it up into 3 or more parts and I like the spontaneous sketching to generate new ideas and drawings – Quick sketching is the name of the game!’
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p.s. Hey. ** h now j, Hi. Thank you, and my pleasure about the post. Like Dulac, huh, very interesting, I can see that. Is it difficult writing about Warhol with so much having been written about him? Or maybe that just provides more impetus? ** Dominik, Hi!!! Thank you for the Haunted McMansion. I fear I would be like Sarah Winchester with her Winchester House and just keep adding new haunted wings forever. Well, I don’t fear that, actually. There are worse things one could devote one’s life to doing. Professional diving is one of love’s bugaboos, eh? Interesting. I just yesterday found a slave guy who’s thing is putting on a scuba diving suit and fighting with another scuba diver underwater until he loses and drowns. Maybe hooking up with him would change love’s mind, ha ha? Love quitting his job at Starbucks to become a zombie coiffure, G. ** Mieze, Hi, Mieze. Very, very sad indeed. I don’t think I ever tussled more or even at all with anyone ever here than I used to do with Joe, but I really valued that and him. I’m happy I got to see him IRL albeit briefly a few years ago, and it was a warm meeting. Hang in there as best you can, and lots of love from your neighbor, me. ** David Ehrenstein, Yes, indeed. I think that was discussed in the post even. ** Jeff J, Hi, J. Yes, the doc on her is disappointing, for sure. The Lannan Foundation, that funded Bookworm, pulled its funding, and that’s that. Patrick Lannan, the foundation’s head, retired recently, and his kids, who took over, don’t think Bookworm is worth it. Bastards. Agree with you of course about ‘CG’ and ‘WN’. I’m guessing the lesser status of those two novels has a lot to do with the more heft = more important bullshit that leads to the Franzen, et al = genius syndrome? I love the new JC EP! I think it’s my favorite of you guys’ stuff yet. The tightness thrills me. I like all three tracks. ‘Property is Theft’ is like some unholy merge of X and Fad Gadget meets Wire or something. My favorite is ‘King Blank’, which won’t surprise you. Awesome! ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Having seen Joe and your dad and of course you in Glasgow is very precious. ** Sypha, Hi, James. Yes, the news about Joe is very shocking and hard to reconcile. Death is truly hateful. ** Misanthrope, Warmest hugs galore, man. All I’ve seen is stills from ‘Bones and All’ but they look kind of fun if maybe a little overstyled. ** Jamie, Hi, Jamie. Really happy you liked your first dip into Menken. Wait, you’re coming to or already in Paris? Holy moly. Sure, I’d love to see you. Do you have my cell#? If not, write to me at my email — [email protected] — so we can figure out a way to hook up. This afternoon is good. I’m free until around 5 pm or so. Mm, there’s a show of experimental Italian film/video from the 60s -> at Jeu de Paume that I want to check out and maybe you would too? Anyway, here’s to hoping I see you as soon as today. Love over double espressos, me. ** Prince S, Hi. Oh, wow, that does sound like a challenging week, pal. I hope you enjoy the reading at the very least. My week is basically just kind of getting things together for the trip to LA next Monday. A deleted scene from Zac’s and my film ‘LCTG’ is in a gallery show here that opens on Saturday, and that might be fun. Huh, a friend of mine here is reading ‘The Loser’ right now, and it’s his first Bernhard too. Odd/cool. I trust you, of course, on the situation in Iran. It’s so, so rare that revolutions anywhere actually bring down authoritarian regimes, but their impact is not erasable at least. I’ll dream of an overthrow. Yes, the film is ‘Room Temperature’ at long, long last. Lots of week-ahead-easing love, me. ** Paul Curran, Hi, Paul. Just saw your email. I’ll get to it in a sec. Thank you! Tomorrow’s the big day! ** Brian, Hi, B. One less hole thanks to my blog, yay. There are haunts that don’t use the overused jump scare technique and are more about weird architecture and tone and stuff, but unfortunately I think all the haunts in the NYC area are more traditional scare-chasing types. Oh, I didn’t know CUNY had a campus up there. From what you describe, even titling that class a Gothic Lit class seems pretty flimsy and click bait-y. Your take on ‘The Damned’ sounds super interesting and fresh. I want to read it. Good for you, man! Starting to get ready for the LA trip is starting eat everything else, but … I rewatched Godard’s ‘Vivre sa vie’, which is so insanely great. Zac and I dug through our archives and found a deleted scene from our film ‘LCTG’ that we like enough to put in a group gallery show here. Mostly just trying to see friends and some art before I split. Not bad. Things okay. Did Tuesday start any parties in your skull? ** Okay. On behalf of Halloween, I decided to challenge myself to come up with a zombie-themed post even though I think zombies are a pretty exhausted trope at this point, and you can either tell me if I managed or silently judge the post, your call. See you tomorrow.
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