_____________
Sally Mann Untitled (Maggots), 2000
Gelatin silver print with varnish
____________
Marc Swanson Untitled (Black Fabric & Wreath), 2012
Wood, fabric, artificial flowers, flexible slip, and paint
____________
Salman Toor Dead Dad Puddle, 2024
Charcoal, ink, and gouache on paper
____________
Eugenio Merino Aqui Murio Picasso, 2017
‘Picasso’s lifeless body forms the basis for a work by the Spanish artist Eugenio Merino, titled Aquí Murió Picasso (Picasso Died Here). Rather than being based on Picasso’s actual corpse, it draws inspiration from the image of the artist that many associate with him: the blue-striped Breton shirt, white linen pants, espadrilles. The work is also quite literally larger than life. Picasso was said to stand 5 feet 4 inches tall, whereas the sculpture is just over 6 feet long.’
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Stuart Brisley Arbeit Macht Frei, 1973
‘The words Arbeit Macht Frei were wrought in iron and placed on or above the entrance gates to some if not all Nazi Concentration Camps in the period of Nazi rule in Germany and its conquered territories between 1933 and 1945.’
____________
Caroline Kampfraath A day in the Woods, 2019
Herbs and food cans, wax and animal skin
_____________
Līga Spunde When Hell Is Full the Dead Will Walk the Earth, 2019
‘Līga Spunde focuses on the ruthlessness hidden behind forms of everyday communication and information exchange on the internet. She analyses “hate culture” not just online, but in various forms where users exchange chillingly inhuman texts, images and videos that can sometimes also turn into real, horrifying acts.’
______________
Mark Dion The Life of a Dead Tree, 2019
‘Appropriately sourced from a cemetery, the dead tree will be the central host for a “live” and sensory experience. Visitors can observe and participate in a kind-of autopsy of the tree that will unfold over the course of a two-month exhibition period. This shared investigation will remove, preserve and document all the various life forms the tree continues to support.’
_____________
Mladen Stilinović Exploitation of the Dead, 2007
‘The “Exploitation of the Dead“ Collection by the self-educated neo-avantgarde artist Mladen Stilinović was compiled in socialist Croatia in the period from 1984 to 1990. It is a cycle of paintings dealing with the theme of dispersal or disappearance of symbols, both those widely accepted, such as the Christian cross, as well as the symbols of the Yugoslav socialist period, such as the red star. The author detects changes that affected the socialist system at the symbolic level in the 1980s and puts them in the context of art in a subversive way by using ideological and political reality.’
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David Fathi Wolfgang, 2017
Photo, manipulations
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Ed Ruscha Rusty Signs – Dead End 3, 2014
Mixografía® print on handmade paper
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Calvin Marcus Were Good Men, 2019
‘On uniformly ochre backgrounds, smears of green grass blades loll in flat clusters and fields. On some lay the mangled carcasses of decorated soldiers, each in a casually rendered uniform. Their tongues fall from gaping mouths. Their skin is mottled and discolored; blood seeps from bullet wounds, crushed skulls, peeling flesh.’
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Robert Smithson Dead tree, 1969
Installation
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Qiu Anxiong The Doubter, 2010
‘Qiu Anxiong’s The Doubter replaces the subject of Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat (1793) with a synthetic chimpanzee, which lies limp in a bathroom-cage with a (fake) gun on the tile floor.’
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João Paulo Feliciano Deface Dead, 1994
Ink on paper
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Steven Shearer Fuck I’m dead, 2004
Oil on paper
___________
Sun Yuan & Peng Yu Honey, 1999
Bed, old man’s face sample, fetus sample, ice
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John Miller The Corpse, 2006
Mirror, plastic fruit, wood, synthetic materials
___________
Artem Loskutov Belarus, 2020
‘On Friday, the Russian protest artist Artem Loskutov held an auction on his Facebook page for a work he created with a nightstick (police baton) instead of a paintbrush. He used red paint on a white background (the colours of the Belarusian flag). The sold for 3m rubles (about $41,000).’
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Ron Mueck Dead Dad, 1996-1997
Silicone, polyurethane, styrene, synthetic hair
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Tatiana Leimkueller Death of Caligula, 2023
mixed media
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Rashid Rana Dead Bird Flying, 2006
C-print
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Aki Onda,Charmaine Lee, Zach Rowden A Letter from Souls of The Dead, 2021
‘The soundtrack for Aki Onda’s exhibition “A Letter from Souls of The Dead” at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) from July 10 – September 4, 2021.’
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Lawrence Carroll Donald Judd is Dead, 1987
mixed media collage on paper and chair
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Isabelle Frances McGuire Sleeping Vampires, 2024
‘Rather than trying to crack some hidden cultural code, in the end McGuire is playing a more unscripted game, intent on conjuring up possibilities or following new forking paths. As digital source materials are given embodied form, something unexpected is born.’
____________
Ben E. Ward Come From The Four Winds O Breath, and Breathe into these Slain, that they may Live, 2007
Oil on canvas
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HAA The Dead Are Still Alive, 2003-2006
computer assisted
*
p.s. Hey. ** jay, Triple hey, jay! Well, yeah, I’m an anarchist so I tend to think power relationships/dynamic is at the root of virtually everything. That was Duvert’s experimental novel. Later he adopted a more straightforward, romantic-ish way of writing, and I’m not as interested in that work. Things became a little too plain for me. No, I love writing even more than constructing things with gifs, and I think my talent, such as it is, is really to do with using language — the gif novels are me trying to turn looping visuals into language basically — so I’m sure the Cycle would have been word-based at whatever point I might have started it. Good about ‘Bring Her Back’. I’ll try to finally dig in today maybe even. Thanks! I’m aiming for a good day. I trust you are as well. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Yes, I like some of Almodovar’s earlier films too. Good question about ‘bristling pinecone’. I can’t remember where I saw that phrase used or heard it spoken but it obviously popped up yesterday for some weird reason. Curious what love thought of ‘Jurassic World’. I thought that last hour was fun and that the first, whatever, hour or ninety minutes was mostly a slog. Love dreading the predicted return of normal summer weather starting here tomorrow, G. ** Sypha, I think there must be a number of my 50 fave books that you wouldn’t get through if you tried. Just a semi-educated guess, haha. Right, you and cat abuse. I never have a problem distinguishing between harmless fiction and harmful non-fiction. When I read something objectionable in fiction, I see it as an opportunity to try to understand it safely, I guess. ** Dr. Kosten Koper, Hi, Dr. I’ve been known to try to make people uncomfortable with my output, yes. Don’t know the Mieli book (yet), thank you. My take on that topic is quite complicated, and varies considerably depending on whether it’s a fictional construct or reality-based, but it’s true I’m not a Dworkin guy. Thanks! ** Tosh Berman, Thanks, Tosh. Everyone, Tosh Berman alerts you to two Durvert books in English that are totally gettable: ‘District’ and ‘Odd Jobs’, both from the always very valuable Wakefield Press. And of course Semiotext(e) has published two or three Duvert books that I think are still in print? ** _Black_Acrylic, My pleasure. Interesting. I should try to do a fragrance-oriented post even though I know little about such things, but then again there’s the reason. ** julian, Hey. lotuseatermachine discovered that ‘Strange Landscape’ is on InternetArchive and, thus, readable, and I’ll put the link down below. Don’t know of smartschoolboy9. I’ll see what’s still out there, thank you. Oh, yes, please try your hand at gif fictioning if the inclination sticks. ** Carsten, Thanks, man. The Spanish festivals I’ve found are not in their submission periods, so I’ll have to wait. A couple of them seem possible maybe. ** Steeqhen, My day was seeing my friend Thomas Moore and accepting a disappointing film opportunity rejection and this and that. Yes, that sounds like ‘Stray’. Seems to be fun and peaceful. Hope to find out pronto. ** Hugo, That Duvert novel is on InternetArchive, it turns out. Link below. I think if your friend got into writing, it would probably help? I had a fairly horrendous growing up and dedicating myself to writing pretty much saved me. I’ve been in Toronto twice and it didn’t make much of an impression. But we’re going to show the film there this fall, so I’ll have another chance. Mm, I think the script probably should stay private until we’ve finished it. It needs to settle. Thanks for asking though. ** Steve, Okay, well, may the hematologist sort you out asap. Yeah, so spooky, death of a parent. It’s huge. ** Mari, Well, hi! You’re like I am with art and music. I had what seemed like such good ideas, but then my hands wouldn’t cooperate. But absorbing is just as important as outputting, I think. Yes, I do revisit my work sometimes in the way you describe, but I would never actually try to change anything in my old work. I suspect that one of the reasons they worked was because of my naivete and mistakes. There’ve been times when I told a writer how much I loved some particular thing they did in one of their books and they’ve gotten all embarrassed because it was something they now thought was dumb or primitive or something. Interesting to think about. Thank you! Same to your day. What did you end up doing? ** HaRpEr //, Gotcha, but if you’re not mediocre, you’re not, you know? It’s like a part you couldn’t play convincingly if someone had a gun to your head. Yes, and I guess it’s some definitive version of ‘The Tunnel’ that Gass intended but his publisher at the time wouldn’t implement? Ozzy was very charming. Maybe too charming sometimes. I saw Black Sabbath a few times in their heyday, and they were incredible, but I always did wish that Ozzy wasn’t running around amidst all that powerful doom like a cheerleader flashing the peace sign all the time. ** Charalampos, It is a book that disappeared permanently into a friend’s hands. Do I wish I still had it? Sure. Punctuation would ruin it, I think. Will do once I watch ‘Lily Chou-chou’. Buzzcut. Well, it is the summer. Well, for only a bit longer. Love from the predictable locale. ** horatio, Haha, yes. Hierarchies are the root of all evil. As the innumerable shitstorms currently going on the world prove. Really smart read on Duvert and the novel, thank you. I’m going to look further into pixmix. I think it might be beyond my abilities, but it’d be nice to learn something. Fingers very crossed about AIFVF, yeah. Ooh, make elephant ear crafts. Might be hard to make them the right kind of droopy? But I don’t know. Wonderful day right back at you! ** lotuseatermachine, First, very ace for finding that ‘SL’ online availability. Everyone, lotuseatermachine directs you to a way to read ‘Strange Landscape’ without undo burden. It’s on InternetArchive and, more precisely, right here. I don’t recall ‘Odd Jobs’ having anything that would strike authorities as being controversial unless his name is generally flagged. Please do try re: the gif fiction making front if the mood strikes. I write the same way you write and try to make music. I had no formal training as a writer at all. It took quite a while to figure out my own system of writing fiction, but then it got not only easier but endlessly fun and adventurous. So, obviously, hang in there. Makes sense: what you say about Jarman, yes. The Abu Dhabi hotel was literally in the airport. I think that stopover thing is pretty standard there because they had a bunch of hotels inside the airport building. But, yeah, a loud alarm clock is still necessary. ** Okay. Today you get the third entry in the blog’s ‘Deads’ franchise. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
Hi Dennis, yay dead! How have you been? Just checking in, but I’ll maybe try sending that day over today or tomorrow? Got to give it one last edit and format but looks good and need to figure out a date for both halves to go live? How’s everything there?
Mueck’s Dead Dad was an iconic work from the time when I first entered into art school. The height of YBA, although I never did see Sensation back then. Remember poring over the catalogue. I don’t think that much of the era has aged particularly well. It was all about Scotland for me just afterwards.
A fragrance-oriented post would be a nice idea, although I have no idea how such a thing might be possible. I went back to a cheeky wee spray of CDG 2 this morning but I’m still getting candyfloss from that, and it just ain’t really me. My Anarchist Punk friend Chris got into a long chat about this subject via Instagram, and he once suggested to Rei Kawakubo that they should do a scent inspired by Play-Doh. Cannot confirm her response!
I’ve been fixated on Käthe Kollwitz’s drawings lately which feel on par with these works.
Hey Dennis,
I really like the HAA The Dead Are Still Alive images . They make me feel emo. Like not necessarily sad, but I’m having an emotional reaction. Do you know where I can find the artist’s other work? Nothing comes up when I search it. I’ve seen these shared around to shock people before but never tied to the original account. Have you seen the gif of the anime girl in the Laser array? Here’s a link to it, fair warning it’s pretty gross.
https://youtu.be/-rlkLM0yWAg
I almost included it in a vj set but I realized gore (or at least gore with the connotation of it leading to death) would kill the vibe. I don’t know why it would though, again it makes me feel emo more than it makes me sad or shocked. Definitely a confrontation of mortality and assault anxiety, same as the HAA images. Maybe it’s just gross and I’m having a disgust reaction. Trying to find consensual gore videos where they sew each other up in the end. But I guess people into gore wouldn’t really care about that part.
I saw that you were coming to Chicago for CUFF! How long are you going to be in town?
Also, do you get free friend’s tickets for your screening? Horatio, Ryaha and I are broke but would love to attend . We’ll be there either way though, no pressure.
Hi!!
Thank you for another excellent death trip!
Uh, I really hated the new “Jurassic World.” I didn’t have high expectations – basically nothing beyond seeing a few dinosaurs – so the fact that the entire story and “message” were bafflingly idiotic didn’t bother me all that much. But shit… 90% of the creatures were more monsters than dinosaurs, and I just – yeah, I hated it so much, haha.
Same, love, same. It’s still really pleasant here today, but the heatwave starts again tomorrow. Which is excellent timing because my dad and brother are also arriving for a few days’ visit then… (Due to this, I’ll also be away for the rest of the week!)
Love listening to “Autoluminescent” by Rowland S. Howard on repeat, Od.
Dennis, I guess maybe too in your case re: the lists it’s tricky because there have been a few ones throughout the years, the first of which was on the old blog back around maybe the mid-2000s, a slightly updated one that appeared a few years later in the appendix of UGLY MAN in 2009, and then a vastly updated one in 2022 that was actually a Top 61! In regards to the 2022 one, I’ve read 26 of them, but when you also factor in some of the titles that had appeared on previous lists (but got dropped, like AMERICAN PSYCHO, MALDOROR, SNOW COUNTRY, PLAY IT AS IT LAYS, and so on) that I’ve read, I can say I’ve read 40 of the books that you’ve had listed in both past and present, if that makes sense. It’s funny, the current (2022) list I have written down in my notes, I have these little symbols next to each book title, with an asterisk indicating it was a book from the original mid-2000s list, a + sign if it was from the UGLY MAN list, and so on. What this boils down to is of the 61 titles that appeared on your most recent 2022 list, I believe 31 originally appeared on both the first list and the UGLY MAN list, 2 were from the original list only, 1 was from the UGLY MAN list only (Pynchon’s MASON & DIXON, if you must know), and the remaining 30 were new additions.
I know all this most sound really anal and dorky, but I’m a Champagne, and the Champagnes are notorious list-makers.
Anyway, the 40 I have read are Death Sentence, Eden Eden Eden, Great Expectations, Ice, Reflections of the Golden Triangle, Malady of Death, Edwin Mullhouse, Locus Solus, Good Morning Midnight, The Wild Boys, Infinite Jest, Jack the Modernist, The Letters of Mina Harker, Shy, No Longer Human, The Atrocity Exhibition, Funeral Rites, Exercises in Style, Mason & Dixon, Ubik, In Youth is Pleasure, The Counterfeiters, How It Is, 300,000,000, The Driver’s Seat, Pale Fire, Wittgenstein’s Nephew, Sentimental Education, The Story of the Eye, American Psycho, Maldoror, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Blind Owl, Jakob Von Gunten, Play it as it Lays, Snow Country, Invisible Cities, If On A Lonely Night A Traveler, Child of God, and Death in Venice.
Hey Dennis! It’s been a cool art day for me, I saw a fragment of Gregor Schneider’s “Totes Haus u r”, which really captured my imagination when I was reading about it. Death is definitely really interesting. I think the Steve Finbow non-fiction piece you platformed (Grave Desires) definitely made me think about it more deeply than I had ever done before, at least in terms of approaching it from a new weird angle. I also like Bataille’s conception of the corpse as “like waste excreted from the soul as it leaves the body”, that’s a really weird set of words I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around. The anime snuff thing was also a surprise, I have a bit of a leaning towards that stuff aesthetically, so it’s cool to see it represented.
Agreed about power dynamics and anarchism, you and Horatio have both influenced me to think much more in that way. Yeah, I personally think pretty much all child-attraction stuff comes from wanting to exert power over a (socially) weaker member of society or something, although I may be off-base. I guess my really utopian mindset is that if kids were less socially patronised to, there wouldn’t really be attraction towards them, but who knows. Anyway, yeah, as you can hear, my day was great. I’ve got my big job interview tomorrow, which is a little nerve-wracking, but I’ve got my fingers crossed. Hope everything goes well for you too, see ya!
p.s. thank you lotuseatermachine for supplying the PDF for Strange Landscape, much appreciated!
Hi Dennis!
it’s been a while since I popped my head into the blog, how are you? has the summer heat in Paris kept itself at bay?
some fascinating images in today’s post, I especially like the Calvin Marcus drawings. I watched Stan Brakhage’s The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes yesterday which all these corpses obviously reminded me of. I really enjoyed it but it was an odd pairing with my morning coffee.
Also loved yesterday’s post on Duvert’s Strange Landscape. I’d been on the search for it in English since I first heard about it from your fav novels list. then finally last winter I grabbed a bootleg copy from an acquaintance off instagram who goes by @salitters but it was quickly squashed by the publishing powers that be (speaking of instagram, I see you’re on there now. I’m not on there as much anymore but give me a follow if you’re inclined @etcetc.etc)
My prying eyes couldn’t help but notice in your PS that you and Zac will be bringing Room Temperature to Toronto! That’s amazing! I have a few guesses as to where but I don’t wanna spoil anything that might still be under wraps. We should meet up when you’re here though and I can show you and Zac some cool spots in the city and maybe you’ll leave with a better impression than last time haha
As for me things have been wildly busy. I had another story come out in the spring issue of this Hamilton-based magazine called junq (junqmagazine.com). it was a small print run that sold out but I can email you a pdf if you’re interested. then last month my friend Fan and I recorded a sound poem for SUDS, this audio zine out of California. that one’s online for anyone who’s interested in giving it a listen: https://sudszine.bandcamp.com/album/volume-three Been getting back into a fiction writing routine since then and also picking up my guitar after a decade long hiatus, which feels very childlike and exploratory, like I’m learning how to play again for the first time. I’m curious if you’ve ever returned to a hobby or practice years later and felt like you had to relearn it?
I’m off to my sister’s wedding tomorrow so I’ll probably check in again in a few days. take care 🙂
Hello!
Sally Mann Untitled (Maggots), 2000 … whoa! Made me think about how I really only find practical effects being used in low budget films now. Also the last pieces of work (HAA The Dead Are Still Alive, 2003-2006) made me want to ask you: I assume you’re familiar with guro? I’m on Tumblr and I always come across some really amazing pieces!
Yes, I agree as well. I get really sad when artists choose to remove their early work, I think it’s fun and interesting to see how they’ve changed through the years. As for my day yesterday, it was uneventful unfortunately. However, I have recently found the joys of solo concert going so I will be living out my teenage dreams again tonight seeing a childhood favorite band. What’s the last concert you went to? Do you have a favorite place to attend concerts? (Maybe French people make for better crowds?)
I hope you have a great day, Dennis! ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜
I’m really loving “Were Good Men” and “Death of Caligula”. Internet Archive pulling through as always! That’s where I read most of your books originally, though if I see one of them at a bookstore I always make sure to buy a physical copy, too. I’ll definitely try to make some GIF fiction, and if it goes anywhere I’ll make sure to send it to you. I bought my ticket to see Room Temperature in Chicago in September. I saw that it’s playing at the Siskel which is right next door to the dorms where I used to live. I’m still gonna be walking distance this fall. I’m excited to see you there!