____________
Klaus Pichler Rotting Chocolate Cookies, 2012
dough, sugar, chocolate, mould
____________
Janine Antoni Gnaw, 1992
600 lb chocolate cube gnawed by the artist
____________
Mathijs Hunfeld BABY FACE IT, 2024
Chocolate, acrylic, 9x11x7 cm
_____________
Irène Kanga Forced Love, 2020
Six chocolate sculptures
____________
Henry Taylor Chocolate Lover, 2006
Oil and graphite on canvas
___________
Nel-14512 Amuse bouche, 2014
spoons, chocolate
____________
Vik Muniz Anthropometries, After Yves Klein, 1997
chocolate
_____________
Donald Baechler Chocolate Cones, 2007
33 color silkscreen
_____________
Doug Aitken Foundation, 2007
chocolate fountain
_____________
Paul McCarthy Chocolate Silicone Blockhead, 1999-2000
Cast silicone & chocolate
_____________
Andy Warhol Candy Box, 1980
Synthetic polymer paint, silkscreen ink and diamond dust on canvas
_____________
Peter Anton Milk Bar, 2008
Resin and wood 53.5 x 19 x 8 cm
_____________
Camille Teo Anastacia, 2020
treated photograph
_____________
Salvador Dalí Retrospective Bust of a Woman, 1933
painted porcelain, bread, corn, chocolate, feathers, paint on paper, beads, ink stand, sand, and two pens
_____________
Adam McEwen Chocolate Bar, 2012
Graphite sculpture
______________
Dieter Roth Schokoladenmeer, 1970
‘For this particular work, Roth shredded the manuscript of an unpublished novel and used the strips of paper and squares of chocolate to make a composition.’
_____________
Erwin Wurm Untitled, 2010
chocolate
_____________
Kelley Walker Black Star Press, 2007
Digital print with silkscreened white, milk, and dark chocolate on canvas mounted to wood panel
____________
Renzo Martens A New Settlement, 2015
‘These busts were originally made by Congolese plantation workers, and then rendered into 3D models using the highest quality Belgian chocolate to make the sculptures on display, each Congolese artists’ name labelled on the wall amongst them Djonga Bismar and Mbuku Kipala.
‘Small chocolate heads in pristine boxes are on sale “special exhibition price £39.95” all proceeds go straight back to the plantation workers. In this work, Martens takes on the role of narcissistic, white journalist in the Congo. It is a dark and provocative work in which he encourages the plantation workers to sell the only resource they have – poverty itself.’
______________
Richard Combes SLICE OF BREAD WITH NUTELLA, 2017
Canvas, Oil
_____________
Minerva Cuevas Feast and Famine, 2015
‘In this exhibition, Cuevas uses cacao as a material to reveal the colonial processes inherent in global trade and commerce. Chocolate is used to transform and distort images of quotidian consumption in order to question the notions of value, exchange, and property that rule the capitalist economy.’
_____________
David Shrigley Chocolate Is Not The Problem, 2020
paint & felt tip on paper
______________
Anya Gallacio Stroke, 2024
‘There is an empty shop on the high street of Paisley, Scotland, that has walls painted entirely in melted dark chocolate. It’s not far from the hospital in which the painter of the chocolate, Anya Gallaccio, was born in 1963. Famous for her sculptural explorations of decay, Gallaccio has created Stroke, a multi-sensory experience of chocolate, using the vacant shop as a comment on the post-industrial hollowing out of a town with a proud manufacturing past. It stands as an example of how art can positively transform disused spaces into places of immersive exploration.’
_______________
Wayne Thiebaud Dark Cake, 1983
Woodcut in colors
_______________
Rose Wylie Various, 2015
‘Whilst she is far from being an ‘outsider artist’, Wylie never allows the gestures in her own work to become too deft or elegant. She will often erase parts of a painting, sticking canvas or paper scraps over these areas and starting again. “I’ve always liked children’s painting and untaught artists”, she says. “They are doing something real for them.”’
‘Chocolate Selection: Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate & Plain Chocolate’
‘Chocolate Ghost’
_______________
Nayland Blake and AA Bronson Coat, 2001
‘Across the three-channel video installation Coat, artists Nayland Blake and AA Bronson smear chocolate, then vanilla frosting across one another’s face. The two men are shown in a long kiss, chocolate on vanilla, then vanilla on chocolate.’
_______________
Stephen J Shanabrook Chocolate Suicide Bomber, 2008
chocolate
*
p.s. RIP P. Adams Sitney ** Steeqhen, Hey. I wish I was in LA to join the protests there. I only have a ‘must finish’ thing with food, and where that derives from, no idea. Well, I go to the West Coast on Sunday to show RT at a festival, and I’m working on the new film script, and those are my projects at the moment. I’m going to see Destroyer live tonight, unless the doctor I’m seeing about my fucked up toe today has to operate or something, and I’m excited about that. About the gig not about the doc, duh. ** Misanthrope, Good, rested, good. The age difference problem and its root in the presumption that there’s some inherently right and wrong kind of relationship involves a kind of control freak weirdness that is bewildering to me. How far is the drive to Virginia? Sorry, my geography is weak. I don’t have a clear memory of the ‘Ugly Man’ launch. Hm, was it at some average looking bar in the East Village with pool tables? I’m blanking. Strange. ** Malik, Hi, Malik! Always a real pleasure. This year has been especially weird, time passing-wise. I feel like all the Trump stuff has made it seem like an eternity in a blink. Making or thinking up weird queer art is the only way I know how to get through everything too. Anything you’re making that’s especially pleasing to you? Well, I had to fish through the Brakhages that were online basically, and there aren’t a ton. But maybe more than I had expected. Lovely to see you. Any catch up you want to provide would be highly welcome, but take care no matter what. ** julian, Hi, julian. Reading ‘ASiH’ at 15 kind of invented me, I think. I love ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’. I was disappointed when I found out that Ballard’s other stuff wasn’t like that at all. Thanks for the definition of that term/phrase. Haha, it’s true, I can proselytise about psychedelics at the drop of a hat. But luckily very few people wear hats these days. At least in my circles. ** Hugo, Ah, cool, about the coincidence. I just know too many people who look at me in horror when I say I haven’t read Proust and insist that I will not have lived a full life if I don’t read him and it’s all just way too fanatical Christian-style for me. Haha, a DC self-help book, but yes. I love talking about medium and craft, no worries. I’ve had conversations with way more than one conventional novelist who’ve told me that they had a really good idea for their novel but it wouldn’t have been easy to adapt into a movie so they nixed it. I wonder if there are filmmakers whose main goal is to have their film adapted into a video game. Paris! There are lots of things I could recommend. Let me know if you decide to pop over here. Wandering is a great way to be here. It’s the most amazing walking city. But, yeah, I can come up with suggestions or even do a coffee and tell you face to face if you want. Unfortunately you do need to worry about getting through the US border at the moment. Most of my friends over here are cancelling their US trips until further notice. Such ugliness. Happy that my blog is a secret passage out of your room, but of course I hope you can get physically out of there asap. ** Alice, Hi, Alice! I’m 100%+ in favor of your exploration obviously. Kathy’s work is so powerful if you let it be. American lit would have been so flat without her. I keep hoping the Warhol Foundation will make Warhol’s films more accessible, and I’m not at all sure why they haven’t. I think his films are by far his greatest work. Favorites … ‘Chelsea Girls’ was major for me. It really opened a lot of possibilities I didn’t know existed, even as a writer. I love ‘Lonesome Cowboys’. It’s basically impossible to see, I think, but ‘****’ (Four Stars) is incredible. I just did a Gregory Markopoulos here the other week. Let me find it. Here. There’s a lot about his films in the post, if that’s helpful. Any goodies in those random DVDs? Have a lovely week’s beginning. ** Steve, Sounds like an exciting week, for sure. East Village Radio sounds like a really great context. I wish I’d known of it before. Yeah, 1975 was when I did my college radio show. It was great timing because while I was doing it was when punk’s dawn was occurring and brand new things like Television’s ‘Little Johnny Jewel’ and Patti Smith’s ‘Piss Factory’ and the first Ramones and Suicide albums, etc. were fodder I could work with. I never made playlists, I wish I had. The ‘rave’ was just a shitty dj and the ‘sinister’ drag show was a bit of a chore unfortunately. Your weather sounds like Paris on an almost daily basis. ** Carsten, Man, thanks about the blog. That’s my hope. And creating a space where one can step out of the hell of the current political momentarily and use the other and important parts of one’s brain. Or something. ** _Black_Acrylic, My pleasure, of course, pal. I would love that Day about Little Sparta. That would be amazing if you feel like making it. Thanks so much for the offer, Ben. ** Uday, You sound better, more relaxed, more … what do the say … centered, good. Good old friends. God love them. I head first to LA on Sunday then upwards to SF on the 19th then back to LA on the 22nd and then back to Paris on the 29th. That’s the plan. ** pancakeIan, Hey. If Mr. T has his way, which he won’t, the whole USA will be like Florida with alternate terrain. I drove through Montana once on a road trip the summer I graduated from high school, and all I remember is it was much prettier than the state I had just driven through (North Dakota, I think) and the one I drove through next (Idaho, I’m pretty sure). I like winter, but, yeah, that’s many temperature degrees too far. ** HaRpEr //, Me too. I discovered his films in high school and, obviously, they were a way forward. It was nice to be indoctrinated to them via the psychedelia light shows I was used to seeing at rock shows. ‘Oh, you can do that and think at the same time!’ That ‘bum … blond’ speech is one of the great all-time film moments, I think. Biopics always suck, don’t they? Is there one that doesn’t? (I’m sure there must be). I hope that fever was just a rush of passion. You feeling ok? ** horatio, Hi h. Thanks for sitting through that Ryan/me convo. I think it was a bit rambling, but … And thanks for foisting my stuff onto your roommate. Tell him I thank him for his eyeball time. I checked, and the festival doesn’t happen for a while, but we’re going to submit when the time comes, for sure. Listen, as a massive amusement park devotee, it’s insane that I’ve never been to Cedar Point. Or King’s Island. Zac, fellow devotee, and I are always trying to figure out a way to do that. I think we’ll make a stop over there on one of our trips to LA, although we can’t this coming time. But, yes, it is the great mecca of US amusement parks at least in our lexicon. Nice: your paper about the degrading ‘Blue’. That’s beautiful. I saw an email from you when I woke up and was insufficiently coffee-d up to open it, but I will, and thank you! I’ll watch the film as soon as I get the chance. Thanks so much! ** Bill, Hi, Bill. We’ve basically sorted our SF time, and I’ll write to you soon so we can plan a meet up. Zac would really like to meet you too. I need to see ‘Coma’. Noted. ** Right. Pretty simple: chocolates in mostly unconventional forms for you today. That’s it. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
Hey Dennis, Jay here as usual. Chocolate is a cool form for sculpture, I think. It’s got a personal incentive for destruction, which is so much more interesting than something like an ice sculpture – which decays without human input. Hope you’re doing alright. It’s all been a bit hectic here with me – one of my friends, who I previously really liked (and still do, but in a more confused way) has turned out to be a bit of a predator (feels like the wrong word, but I guess it fits) to some pretty vulnerable early teenagers, so that’s been a little awful. Kind of a nightmare, for me and all of his many friends, particularly given how ironic/shameless he is about the whole thing. It’s not really a surprise, but it’s also shocking in a strange way that he’s actually gone over this boundary I assumed he only joked about transgressing, or found interesting to imagine transgressing in an edge-lord way. I’m grateful your books have managed to prime my reaction to this situation into something less kneejerky, so I’ve been brewing it over in my head for a week or so rather than instantly discarding a friendship that’s important to me. On that note, I’ve been re-reading Guide, and it really is even more amazing than I remembered. I don’t know if its in your own personal canon of your best writing, but it must be one of my favourite books ever written. Hope you’re doing well, love from here!
Forever grateful that you introduced me to Guide, Jay- it’s without a doubt my favorite book I’ve ever read. Maybe I should follow in your steps and revisit it. Remember to take care of yourself in times like these.
Dennis, The drive to VA is about 20 or so miles. Over the Potomac. It’s not that far, just a lot of traffic lights until we get to a certain spot and then it’s straight driving. Takes maybe half an hour.
Yeah, not just presumption but assumptions. There’s got to be something nefarious, right? “I wouldn’t date someone that much younger/older, so there must be something WRONG going on there.” Most assume the younger is after money and the older is after a trophy/crazy sex. And that there is some sort of power/abuse dynamic going on. Of course, none of that is the case and certainly isn’t here. We’re equals and have always been and will always be. It’s just something that happened, and so far, it’s really good.
The “Ugly Man” launch was at the Boiler Room, a little gay dive bar. Yep, pool tables and all that. And some woman doing a burlesque show. It was kinda weird. And we all went out to eat afterward and Statictick, God bless him, was so drunk that he fell into a trash can and I had to hold him up the rest of the way, hahaha. Still, a good time. 🙂
Happy to learn that Anya Gallacio is looking to revitalise the town of Paisley via the medium of chocolate, which seems an admirable endeavour. I do recall that Scottish folk have an insatiable appetite for sugar. She might just be on to a good thing there.
My own chocolate cravings are currently being satisfied by the nearby branch of M&S, where they sell a chocolate fudge thing that is basically the crystal meth of the sweet counter. Thankfully I’ve always been a skinny person so I don’t count this as being a problem right now.
Little Sparta Day is coming together very well. Dunno how this will fit in with your upcoming travel schedule but let’s just wait and see eh.
Hey Dennis,
Nice chocolate post; mom got my a Toblerone from the airport on her way back from her holiday, so was chowing down whilst looking at this.
It’s interesting, I somehow have only heard about the LA Protests today because my friend who is in California at the moment visiting family was talking about Trump sending in military or something; the rest of us were so confused cause we hadn’t heard anything about it…
Did your parents force you to eat food as a child, or make you feel bad for not finishing food? I have a bit of that from being forced to finish to food, but I also had obsessive issues surrounding food as a child so it would just make me gag and feel sick, and probably made me more likely to avoid eating altogether.
I hope you get to see Destroyer tonight, and that your evil doctor (or evil toe) can’t hold you back! My night? Well I’m staying the night over with my family so I’m going to watch some tv whilst cleaning my camera roll, or organizing notes on my phone and computer: I’m all about doing a bit of spring(summer) cleaning, as I’m moving into a bigger room in my house on Wednesday, with a double bed and hopefully room for a beanbag or cheap couch/lounge stuff.
Been thinking a lot and I’m considering moving to England before Paris, just as a stepping stone. Might make it easier as I can transfer my disability over, and maybe find it easier to find a job. Then move to Paris for the rest of my 20s.
I’ve recently discovered why people think of Skyrim as the greatest game ever. I’m having so much fun finding caves to explore and wandering around the world. I love cooking in it, I love trying to discover recipes for potions, and reading every book in game in the hopes it’ll give me info.
I talked to someone who only recently found you did this blog (didn’t know the films but did know the books and said “transgressive” like they’d heard that a lot), and they said, Wait, how does he do that with everything else going on, and I said, I have no idea. He’s just at work more than anyone else I know.
Much luck in California. The situation in LA is so dire. It seems like there’s only two ways this can go: Stephen Miller gets his way, and Americans are shot by masked thugs who don’t even have a real federal mandate, and the whole area is under military occupation; or the administration had badly misjudged what they can get away with. Already some reporters are dropping the fiction of covering up for the government in the name of objectivity, and calling out lies and illegalities, and courts are showing more willingness to step in. The horrible thing is that current laws do allow a lot of this rounding up protestors, shutting down a neighborhood, etc., so we’re in very bad shape unless people start moving from protests to the kind of concerted action that has a real effect–especially general strikes, inciting military to deny orders, putting children and old people at the front lines . . . And Americans don’t do that kind of thing much. It feels like we have about 3 days to find out if we have a real fascist dictatorship.
When I taught a kind of ” How to Read a Film” course, I used Brakhage, Maya Deren, and Michael Snow for one kind of avant-gardism, and Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, Curt McDowell, and Andy Warhol for another. Clips to just get the point across to folks who had never seen such things. Brakhage got a lot of “please don’t make me watch stuff like that again” responses. Heh. Did I tell you I got to see about 90 minutes of Christian Marclay’s The Clock at MOMA a while back? Riveting. Disappointed I could not see more.
I almost never check out biopics; they really are dreadful. I haven’t gotten to the film about Emily Dickinson, A Quiet Passion, but I can’t see how a film by Terence Davies could *not* be good. I’m a fan of Before Night Falls, and I think the best part is Javier Bardem reading a Reinaldo Arenas poem over a montage of the character riding in a cab from the hospital back to his apartment. Beautiful poem. I’m a little prejudiced because when Julian Schnabel came to the Corcoran, we hit it off and he wanted to hang out with me telling stories to the annoyance of administrators who wanted him off taking to donors. But his stories of shooting the film were so moving, his devotion to Arenas was so sincere . . he and Javier Bardem sometimes would have a good cry together after a shoot. The Corcoran gave Schnabel an honorary degree and he was so pleased because his dad was there. It was really quite sweet.
Speaking of . . . I’m sorry, I never remember if I’ve told you something here–end of June I’m going to be on a panel on DC poets lost to AIDS, talking about Tim Dlugos for maybe ten minutes. Other poets are Essex Hemphill and Reinaldo Arenas, whom I don’t remember having a DC connection at all, but I really feel I met him at Tim’s apartment. I know Tim turned me on to his work. Do you remember meeting him?
Carsten and I did have a nice chat via FB and I hope I can meet him next year when I hope we visit Spain. Trying to work out some Paris time, then a few places in Spain. We’ll be in oaxaca for a week in November, and I’m trying to conquer Spanish before then. Maybe even search out residencies in Mexico.
Hey Dennis.
Lovely post about chocolates. I appreciate it. Weirdly, the only books that someone has ever gotten mad at me for not reading were the Harry Potter books in elementary school. A teacher said they were “so good” and that I couldn’t consider myself a reader without them. I don’t know what it is about those books that made a whole generation cringingly lose their mind, even before Rowling’s transphobia.
I used to tell my friends my ideas for video games, and they would always tell me that my ideas would work better as a comic book or a film. But I always thought video games were cooler. I think my obsession with medium comes from wanting to just do a ton of crazy shit. But it’s sometimes hard to work with, a lot of people tune out emotionally if they see something they think is just “weird.” – I found “Eraserhead” very emotionally compelling when I first saw it at 13, and I got angry whenever people just called it “weird.” – I suppose I was a pretentious child, but it really meant a whole lot to me. I would still like to make/work on a videogame one day, but I lack ideas and the know-how.
As for Paris, I would be down for whatever you suggest, and I also wouldn’t mind talking to you in person. I should warn you that if I do go and meet you, it would likely be a two-for-one deal, since the friend I will be taking along is Alice (who comments here as well after I said she could just ask you about Kathy Acker). — and that I’m a bizarre, lanky thing who’s no good at looking people in the eye. Alice is very charming, though, and would likely offset this issue of mine.
Shame about the USA, I have so many friends who I love over there, my partner lives in North Carolina and visits me all the time. I wish I could repay the favour more, but oh well. I’m technically Canadian, so I suppose I could just go there sometime. But it wouldn’t be the same without seeing my old counselor from New York. She got me into Todd Solondz and Crystal Castles way back when. My first novel is really dedicated to her and her influence on me, I suppose. I dunno, most of what I do is for other people.
Anyway, I hope you have a lovely day. The weather is slightly bleak up here in Brussels, so I suppose it’s similar down there.
Reply to Jay:
Just popping in because I couldn’t not express a very profound reverence for that second sentence ! A really very beautiful thought regarding chocolate sculpture ! Thank you 🙂
In regards to your friend, he sounds really rather repulsive. I think I’d find it quite difficult not to break his nose et al.
If I believed more in prescriptivist perspectives of art I’d express in detail how irksome I think that softening of knee you describe- if the cooper canon has any effect on me, I think it’s a hardening of my knee in regards to this subject.
Again, however, that comment on chocolate sculpture is divine !
Thank you, Diesel Clementine! Your name has always really interested me, so I’m very happy to return the favour. Thank you for the lovely words! I am sort of in agreement with you re: my friend, so thank you for your opinion (genuinely). Haha, and you’re right about the Cooper-knee thing – I suppose I moreso just mean that his writing has helped me develop my own un-dogmatic ways of thinking about situations like this – I maybe just mean my opinions have been made more complex by our generous host. And, if it isn’t too personal/unremarkable… could I ask what a “Diesel Clementine” is – or at least what the origins of the term are. My operating theories are that it’s a oilier version of a Clockwork Orange, or perhaps a perfume range? Thank you again!
Hello ! Unfortunately it isn’t actually that terribly interesting – both pieces of the name are just more dynamic options from a short list of names before I picked my legal one. There are a few flotsam personal connotations that explains my picking both;
Diesel: the fluid equivalent of cloaca for a car (simultaneously being the automobile’s piss, blood, semen, wine), mechanics turn me on, I always wanted a diesel scented perfume for this reason, I have a v nice Diesel branded belt,
Clementine: someone actually guessed this name was mine when I couldn’t tell them for a boring and specific reason, I’m very fond of Clementines- they’re sold 3 for a pound surrounding me, and I would often say “eat three Clementines, you will certainly not regret eating three Clementines”, Christmas stockings, a more petite nod to Wendy Cope’s saccharine but irresistibly lovely orange poem, I’m an easy peeler !
In honor of this day, I was tempted to post a documentary about the making of SALO.
The radio training session has been pushed back to Thursday, due to electrical problems at the station.
It seems easier to do a radio show covering a broad range of music now than it must’ve been in the ’70s. Albums are generally released worldwide immediately now, and even music that’s not commercially available is readily accessible on YouTube. Back around 1980, IRS Records charged college stations $25/year to service them with albums! Considering the role college radio played in the label’s rise, that’s absurd, but back then, labels did have to take hundreds of physical copies to the post office instead of making files available to everyone.
Yesterday felt like a turning point in America’s history, and there’s only a small chance it could eventually be a positive one. I expect a nationwide declaration of martial law at any time. In New York, protests are taking place daily outside ICE’s office.
I’ve found myself craving chocolate more often lately, so I’m taking this as a sign to have some. I’m usually more of a fruit flavored candy person. The other day I bought the complete works of Rimbaud and I’ve been reading a bit of that, which is really fascinating. He was really exceptionally talented, to have written all his masterpieces while still being a teenager and then quit writing forever. I don’t know of anyone else who’s done that. I’m really enjoying the Atrocity Exhibition so far. I want to read Crash by Ballard, because I really love the movie. The idea of our minds and bodies being reshaped by technology, and therefore sex being redefined, really stuck with me and it’s something I keep coming back to. Of course, you proselytising to me about psychedelics is different from hearing it from some random guy at a party. You’ve actually taken the experience and done something with it.
Hi ! Chocolate is something I have never stopped being a fan of . I like ‘Milk Bar’ a lot, but you can probably guess that my favorite is the Pinocchio inspired ‘Blockhead’ one .
Yeah, DeSantis is one of many Trump clones/zombies that have apparently overrun the country . Generally, I try to stay out of politics, but Mr T is making that really hard, these days. Case in point, what’s going on this week. But, at least I’m not in a major city .
Driving through Montana *was* incredibly gorgeous. Right near the border to N Dakota, there was the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which had these amazing land formations and canyons , all visible from the highway. I only wish the rest of my time in the state was as fun as the trip there.
I’ve been meaning to say…….I read ‘My Loose Thread’ last year, and really appreciated it. Something about the plot really got to me in that one. I know it’s not officially part of your cycle, but to me, it felt like Larry’s younger brother Jim was another George Miles surrogate . Or maybe I’m just reading into it too much. I found Jim as a character really empathetic . I even argued about that with an acquaintance of mine, who felt pity for Jim, but not sympathy . Do you happen to remember if you had George in mind with him at all ?
later….
You did indeed succeed in creating a wonderful art space away from the hellish realities. But unfortunately it isn’t bulletproof, because what’s happening right now makes it impossible to look away.
June 14 looks like a potential day zero to me. Massive protests planned all across the country while the wannabe dictator gets his big birthday nazi military parade. He’s testing martial law out in LA before applying it everywhere to crack down on dissent.
Massive strikes are necessary to oppose this. Protest may not be enough.
Look after yourself when you’re out in the States, Dennis.
Sorry to be so grim today. All I can say about the above right now is that I’m possibly the only person I know who doesn’t like chocolate.
Food sculptures are probably some of my favorites. Like turning something practical into art. Things are scary lately. I’d like to leave, of course, but they’ve been trying to fuck with trans citizens’ passports and I don’t know how that’ll play out. You know how things are, I’m sure, with the protests. I’m hoping things will get better before they get worse. But they’re already worse. All we can ever do is hope, right?
Evening Dennis! Her depiction of the body has resonated with me in ways I haven’t found in other artists. I can see how my relationship to dysphoria informs that bond. There are some harrowing descriptions of how gender expression can feed into the restriction of the body. When dealing with my gender dysphoria, I found comfort in the writings I’ve read from her. I’m very curious about breaking against the gender binary to discover a sense of expression beyond it. Experimentation in that field is something I was aware of since my early teens. I found myself in groups that rebelled against normative ideals of gender and found something for themselves. It’s a shame to see an ever-expanding transphobic environment within the UK. The curiosity I’ve grown and benefited from in my transition is a lens I wish others adopted.
I used to have a fixation on the topic of lost media. As a ten-year-old, my first exposure to Warhol’s work was a video discussing Batman Dracula. There are works like that which have gained a mystical status in specific circles. I find it to be a shame as it often directs away from meeting the art where it is. Instead, it grows a status beyond it where it’s known for its illusiveness. I’d love to see more of Warhol’s work. Not long ago, I was reading about some of his harder-to-find work. Couch seems like such a fascinating project. His eye for naturalism is beautiful. I know that Jack Kerouac appears in it. Unfortunately, I don’t think an online copy is available. I’ll have to keep in mind Chelsea Girls. It’s one that I’ve wanted to see for a long time. I’m curious to see if you have a favourite from his Screen Tests. I’m especially fond of the Edie Sedgwick recordings. Such a captivating subject.
It’s funny you mention Lonesome Cowboys. On one of my recent trips to London, I visited the bookstore Gays the Word. There’s a couple of shelves filled with DVDs. I picked up a bootleg copy of Lonesome Cowboys. The cover was torn up and seems to have been hastily put together. I don’t know about the quality of the recording. I may test it out tomorrow though. Our conversation has reminded me of it lol.
That was a lovely post about Markopoulos. It made me reflect on the harmonious approach to his editing style. There’s a continuous correspondence with the delicacy of a frame’s subject that is focused on. Some of what I feel is apparent relates to the early portion of this response. I’m enamoured by his juxtaposition of ambiguity and the stillness of the body. There’s a sense of power that speaks to me in his work. Again, it’s a struggle when a good amount of his work is inaccessible.
We had bad luck with the DVDs haha. From random choice, we saw 17 Again, Get Shorty, and The One. None of them was that fascinating to me haha. Still, I like the idea of throwing myself towards films I otherwise would not have seen. Gives me an excuse to expand the horizons of what I’ve seen.
Hope all is well for you during the week! I have some concerts towards the end of the month. I’m seeing the bands Have a Nice Life and Deftones. There’s a lot of shows ahead of me through the rest of the year. Take care!
Been a while since commented!
Re: Warhol films, a few are on Ubu (I was actually watching Nude Restaurant there this morning), though mostly suboptimal in terms of sound/image, and someone has just recently uploaded a bunch of the Morrissey-directed ones to Archive. Jed Johnson’s Bad, which was impossible to see for a long was just recently uploaded there. But yeah, Warhol as primary director, those really don’t seem to be able to see outside of the Ubu selection, even people who go deep for torrents of that stuff.
Yeah, I’m okay. I wasn’t feverish due to some kind of temporary insanity, I meant that I’m literally unwell. But generally I do get sick following fairly stressful or unpleasant periods, so I think that my body just refused to co-operate suddenly. Feeling relaxed today after taking it easy though.
Yep, biopics generally suck, one of Hollywood’s most vapid tendencies is to churn one out after the other. There are some good ones, though, the obvious one that people bring up to defend biopics being Schrader’s ‘Mishima…’. My personal favourites include Derek Jarman’s ‘Wittgenstein’, David Lynch’s ‘The Elephant Man’, Todd Haynes’ ‘Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story’, and I do have a soft spot for Tim Burton’s ‘Ed Wood’. Oh yeah, and ‘Mommie Dearest’ of course haha. Also ‘The Colour of Pomegranates’ is sort of a biopic isn’t it?
Just found out that ‘Pavements’ is coming to MUBI next month, I think basically everywhere. Can’t wait! I’ve been revisiting all of their albums and forgot how great they are. ‘Brighten the Corners’ and ‘Wowee Zowee’ are my favourites. I was actually one of those idiots who refused to listen to them for years because someone told me they ripped off The Fall, but then I heard ‘Stereo’ and it blew my mind and I actually listened to them and felt like such a fool for buying into those kinds of assumptions without making up my own mind.
RIP Sly Stone as well. I lay myself down on the floor and put on ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On’. Being feverish and all I totally spaced out. People say that music is best when you’re high but albums like that are so fascinating that they prove that music is a drug in itself.
That graphite sculpture of the chocolate bar is so neat… I’m laughing at myself for wondering what it would feel like between my teeth before I even considered how it would feel in my hand as a drawing utensil. Passed your thanks along to Ross, and they were very happy to hear it :^) (oh yeah! Ross is nonbinary and goes by they pronouns, sorry I forgot to mention it).
Thanks again for your interest in my short film! I told Jay I sent it to you, and instead of my capstone film he thought I sent you a short I made for an experimental film class. It was a strange “video zine” that was extremely vulnerable and autistic (not using this word disparagingly but literally to be clear). I attempted to have a sense of humor about it in the short, but I think I often underestimate how differently I engage with my interests than your average person so I’m not sure if it landed. I think its really funny that Jay does not see the pseudo-snuff diy surgery film as the “weird one” of the two hehehe. I do hope to incorporate some of the ideas I was trying to explore in those experimental assignments (obsessive interests, the emotional reality of them, & the shame they might induce) into that screenplay WIP I mentioned a while back… I’m optimistic the absence of a 3 week deadline will allow me to make something more coherent. I’ve started over a few times, so I’m thinking of making an art book for the project to get all my thoughts in one place. I’ll let you know how that goes…
Oh I forgot to say this in my first comment, but I remembered this just the other day. Part of the reason why I asked if you had ever met Steve Albini was because I had found playlists of your favorite songs and of his favorite songs, and I noticed “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement” was on both of them. I’m not sure how accurate the playlists are since they were on spotify (though I did find an old twitter post by Steve that had matching songs), but it made me smile so I wanted you to know. :^)