‘Bernard Faucon was one of the first photographers in the second half of the 20th century to systematically create and master the constructed image. Nonetheless, he declines Christian Caujolle’s characterization of his work as “an approach to time in the context of photography and life that investigates the feeling behind contrived settings, the deceits of photography in its relation to reality, and its manipulation of truth and forgery, which confronts the medium’s limits and defies them.”
‘Faucon’s best known work is an interrelated series of photographic tableaux made largely in the 1980s that re-create and evoke the experience called childhood, particularly the boys’ tradition called summer camp. Every photograph is carefully staged, down to the smallest detail, and uses life-like mannequins of boys who so closely resemble their real-life counterparts that it is hard to tell them apart. Bernard Faucon is an anomaly: Like other artists and photographers who utilize overtly artificial methods, he inescapably works with “constructs” and “concepts”. Yet he is not a Conceptual artist; his point is ambiguous rather than explicit or philosophical, as all Conceptual art photography is. Indeed, he has no desire to make a point at all. Instead, he wants us to relive what he cherishes and loves the most: Childhood, its particular experiences as well as the universal emotions it evokes.
‘As Faucon has put it, “The idea of fabricating fictions, the idea of a possible equation between photography and the dummies, struck me quite out of the blue. Childhoods made of flesh and plaster, the many lights of the Luberon, the nostalgia and actuality of desires, crystallised together through the magical operation of the photographic record. The power to fix, eternalise in light, attest to the world the perfection of an instant. I would hurriedly set up the dummies , and after the shot, pack up and set off again. As they invested those places that bore the mark of my childhood I imagined that those little men freed from their shop-windows, released unknown forces, brought to light sublime, masterful evidence.”
‘Faucon has produced some of the most original photographs of the late 20th century. He has been at the forefront of the staged, surrealist school of photography since its inception in the 1970s and is now considered one of its leading proponents. One of Faucon’s most ardent admirers, Roland Barthes, the greatest European critic of the latter part of the 20th century, sees his work as a metaphor for the vertiginous experience: “The real in Faucon’s art is both the subtly delirious and the heightened awareness of the feelings they arouse in us: Freakish pleasure, irrational fear, unbridled fantasies, forbidden yearnings. It is a marriage of heterogeneous species of reality.”
‘In 1995, visionary French photographer Bernard Faucon stopped taking pictures. “One way or another,” the artist declared, “I had to eventually make true my claim to finish, my obsession with closing. This became The End Of The Image.” In a move that echoes Marcel Duchamp’s public exit from the world of art to play chess, Faucon has not presented any new work since his 1995 coup d’art.’ — collaged
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Media
BERNARD FAUCON FACING BEIJING
Slideshow of Bernard Faucon’s work from the ’90s
La liquidation du cabanon de Bernard Faucon, 4 et 5 mars 2006
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Further
Bernard Faucon Official Website
Bernard Faucon: Art & writings @ Agence Vu
‘True Fiction: Bernard Faucon in China’
Bernard Faucon, “The Most Beautiful Day of My Youth”
‘Cooking is Bernard Faucon’s second oeuvre’
Bernard Faucon @ tumblr
‘Sepia Dreams’
Bernard Faucon interviewed (in French)
‘The Polaroids of Bernard Faucon’
Books on Bernard Faucon @ Amazon
‘Ballade dans l’univers glauque de Bernard Faucon’
‘Evocation de Bernard Faucon’
‘La période bleue de Bernard Faucon’
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Interview
from Centurion Magazine
WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO THINK, FEEL OR SAY AFTER THEY’VE VIEWED A PHOTOGRAPH OF YOURS OR READ ONE OF YOUR WRITINGS?
What I expect from my public and from the person standing closest to me is appreciation. Not in the social sense of success, but rather in deeper sense: I want them to see, to perceive what I have within me – the singularity and uniqueness of my perspective of the world. Of course this uniqueness changes: it’s keen when we’re young, and it weakens as we progress though life.
AFTER RECEIVING SO MUCH PRAISE FOR YOUR ART AND GATHERING A FOLLOWING, HOW DO YOU PREVENT FAME FROM INFLUENCING YOUR ART?
Personally, the public acknowledgement doesn’t affect me much; if it had, I would have mastered my career better. Many people all over the world may enjoy and collect my photographs, but the place I occupy in the art world is infinitesimal.
AS AN ARTIST, INSPIRATION IS A NECESSITY. WHERE DO YOU FIND YOUR INSPIRATION?
There’s no recipe for finding inspiration. Traveling and driving fast with the music turned all the way up aren’t always enough! You can go years without having a huge inspiration – it’s always a surprise when it comes. You have to live and accumulate joy and suffering, even boredom, in the sense of the Romantics. You have to know it all.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC FOR AN ARTIST TO HAVE?
Without hesitation: a sense of necessity. Produce nothing that doesn’t hearken to a compelling need for expression. Sincerity alone isn’t enough to guarantee depth in a work of art.
DESPITE THE PRAISE YOU RECEIVED, YOU SUSPENDED YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY IN 1997. DO YOU MISS TAKING PICTURES?
I suspended my 20-years’ work in photographical production for reasons of necessity, loyalty to my ‘first’ inspiration and to avoid repeating myself and getting bored. But photography still accompanies me more or less as the illustration of my life, my writing.
WHAT IS YOUR IDEA OF BEAUTY? WHAT MAKES SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL?
For me, art has to do with beauty, and in my pictures I try to create the conditions that lead to that dynamic instant in which beauty and happiness come together in a balanced way. Because my work is collaborative and democratic, we can see these young people looking at their world in a way that reflects the unique beauty of their innocence. And then, during the exhibitions that followed the photo shoots, some would tell me, “This is the most beautiful day of my youth.”
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Show
*
p.s. RIP David Thomas (Pere Ubu). ** Misanthrope, Hi, G. I hope you’re in the winner’s circle. ** jay, Hey. I wonder if I do know that author, but I trust your instincts. ‘Blue Prince’ sounds plenty exciting. Maybe there’s a youtube walkthrough by now. I’ll find out. Nah, the only Easter chocolate things I found were too corny, just bunnies and eggs and the like. Oh, well. At least today is still wide open. I hope your work and its surroundings are encompassing. ** James, You can watch ‘Lawnmower Man’ if you want to illustrate your mistaken identity moment, but I don’t remember it being all that good. I don’t think have an opinion on Satanism. I’m 100% religion-non-impacted, so it just seems like an elaborate style choice to me, I guess. That does sound fun and scary. I guess I’ll stay demure and post-trendy however. June, okay, share your mental gymnastics re: your scholarly destination if you so choose. The Trinidad and Gerstler books will probably end up in my next ‘5 books I loved’ post, so you can have a gander. Safe escape from Edinburg. Wait, you leave today but you don’t go home until tomorrow? How does that work? Thanks about ‘TMS’. Uh, that was a really especially hard novel to write ‘cos it was so god damned complicated, so, I don’t know, about four years, I think? Thank you, thank you. Wish your stubble a fond farewell for me. Well, I don’t know how fond actually. ** Steeqhen, It is greatly appreciated, be assured. What novel and what play? Any questions, obviously, feel free. Next week? You are so swift. Wow. That speediness + high attentiveness will serve you well in your hopefully lengthy life, as I suppose you can already guess. ** _Black_Acrylic, Lawn Lion. In other words, ouch! ** Dominik, Hi!!! You should make a film sometime. It’s really interesting. But make one that doesn’t cost very much money. That’s my sagely disclaimer. I’m organising the hours to house my SCAB/Baby Invasion double-header. Hopefully later today if the unexpected doesn’t become expectable. Yay about your/love’s friend’s visit. And on my end, love got his shoes. They’re shiny gray and they have already received two mild compliments. Haha, good question. Love arranging for you to be the set designer on Bernard Faucon’s next photo shoot, G. ** Måns BT, Hi! Oh, that’s wonderful news! I’ll tell Zac. Awesome! Um, I guess you can give them my email address, and you can have it too, of course: [email protected]. Of course Zac and I would love to come for the screening, yes. Wow, exciting! I guess we can sort it out by email. Thank you so much, my pal. That’s so great! Is the impure version of ‘Baby Invasion’ the one with the voiceover? I’ve now talked to five people who’ve seen it, and four of them greatly preferred the version with the voiceover. Thanks again! So cool. More soon! Have a huge day! ** Dynomoose, Dynomoose! Holy moly! How are you? I see your goings-on on Facebook, and you seem pretty okay. Anyway, I know, right. At Publix? I didn’t know you could be a sugar daddy and work at Publix at the same time. That escort was clearly a bargain. Love, me. ** catachrestic, Hey, J! I don’t think I’ve ever lived with anyone who killed someone. But years ago when I was younger and wilder, there was this hustler boy I used to see around NYC all the time. He was always with this really old, like 90 years old, man who seemed to be his sugar daddy. Anyway, I was kind of obsessed with the hustler. Then one day I saw him without the old man, and I picked him up. We were at my place doing our thing, and I asked him about the old man, and he told me that he and the old man were smoking crack the night before and the old man just dropped dead. He said it with a shrug. That made me feel pretty weird. Good old Internet Archive, cool, thank you for the alert. I ended up not seeing any French friends yesterday, but I am today, and the Tocqueville question is already on my lips. ** Steve, Good question. Norman Yonemoto and I co-wrote two porn screenplays that he wanted to direct back in his Jason Sato days, but they were way too narrative for the porn companies even back when narrative porns were a thing, so they never got made. One was called ‘Trick’ and the other was called ‘Boys from Outer Space’. And, yes, they were quite Sirkian. ** Carsten, Whoa, Carsten! It’s been many ages! Holy shit, hi, man. It’s curious because when I was in LA recently I drove by LA City College and thought about you and wondered if you were still in LA somewhere. That’s quite a catch up. Man, you’ve done a lot. And very interesting about your interest in and commitment to poetry. I’ll go find and bookmark your blog post-haste. Great! I can assure you that Zac’s and my films are free of plot and melodrama. Enjoy Spain. Yes, very sad about David E. My jet lag is in remission, thank you. Well, yeah, great to see you, my friend! ** James Bennett, Are you planning colourful risographic things? Awesome. You must be really headlong into the book making. My cheerleading function is at the ready should you need it. ** Thomas H., Hey. I’m glad you’re filling your time nicely. I want to see ‘Sinners’. Usually I wouldn’t be so interested in that kind of film, but that one intrigues for some reason. Cool that it’s a good one. Thanks for the link to your bf’s book. I’ll go check it out, and congrats to him. Everyone, Thomas H.’s bf wrote an intriguing looking book called Titanblood. Go take a look at it here. Early happy birthday! What concert are you utilising to celebrate? Hang in there. And happy, yes, Thursday. ** HaRpEr, I got your email/post, and it’s incredible (!), and I’ll write to you today. I don’t think I’ve read Peter Weiss either. ‘Marat/Sade’ is one of those things I just assume I’ve read but probably didn’t. Great about your story =ing excitement. Don’t take the rejections hard. You know that’s just subjective and probably political bullshit. ** Darbz, Yay about your surroundings! A pic, sure, my consent is granted even though it doesn’t need to be. Mum’s the word about your trip then. It seems safe to assume that those powers-that-be don’t know about this blog. I will give Ms. Bankhead a look. You make that seem imperative. And anyone with such a great name deserves examination. I’ll follow through on the Faetooth link/tune once I’m p.s.-freed. They sound plenty up my alley from your description. Thank you! My film’s on tube? Oh, you mean ‘Permanent Green Light’, yes, it’s true. ** Uday, I haven’t written a letter in so many years. Or received one. Wait, I have received a few. No, no ducks, but I didn’t get that close to the big park by me which is where they hang out. They only tromp into my neighbourhood when it’s flooding. There aren’t a ton of ducks in Paris, but they are here near the Seine. The only birds that descend on my apartment are pigeons, and they are very skittish. If I even move my head very slightly they freak out and flap away. Congrats on the positive reception of your translation! ** Nicholas., Hi. You sound really fired up for very excellent reasons. I’ll be a beginner and then much more, no doubt. Dinner: Capellini pasta with simple sauce which was actually two sauces, a kind of basilica/olive tomato thing and a kind of mushy mushroom thing. It was ok. You imbibed? ** nat, Hey. Yes, I think we’re fully on first name basis. I’m a novelist and not a screenplay writer, so you should be fine. My screenplays are not like scripts. They don’t even look like them. They’re just like sort of experimental fiction except all the descriptions are just hints. Are you started on the script now, or do you need a initial day or two to build it in your mind first? Yeah, those American auteur director guys didn’t get too far before quitting or selling out or something. Or just continuing to make movies even after their mojo had turned to meh like Scorcese. Strange. Fix your heater? Is that hard to facilitate? Sorry. ** Okay. Today you are invited to stroll through my galerie via your eyes and take in the arguably wondrous photos of Mr. Bernard Faucon. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
Hey! I wonder if a Youtube walkthrough of Blue Prince would be that interesting, all of the really magic moments seem to happen outside of the game, either in the gamer’s mind or notepad. Although maybe it’d still be compelling to see information be used that seemingly appears out of thin air. Oh, and speaking of videogamery, has there been any news on the God. Jr graphic novel front?
Hey Dennis,
Haunting photos wow. I particularly like that one of the mannequin head just slightly poking out of the dirty water.
Uhm, the play is Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, the novel is Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (a new Irish one from like 2023). I’m hoping I didn’t shoot myself in the foot by leaving all the work for this exam to the day prior. Even if I did though, this whole module is worth 5% of my grade, so I don’t really give a fuck if I do great or not, I just want to pass.
Haha I’m swift, but at the same time I’m worried that I mightnt get it done to the quality I wish it to be at by next Friday when it’s due. Maybe I will — scratch that, I think I will. Gotta stay positive.
It’s only 11:45 but I feel exhausted, probably from all the work Ive been doing. I feel like I just need to fight against my weak body’s need for rest and relaxation until I’m done next week. Then I can hopefully crash and burn for a bit.
Coming back to moan and cry about how my head hurts and i have so much to do and revise for my exam tomorrow but i have lost all motivation… have any tips on how to regain it and get some focus in? The exam is at 4:30 tomorrow so i have basically the entire day tomorrow to revise too…
Dennis, You know I love the Galeries. I really like this one. The boy in water is my fave.
Right? I think we did “win.” At least we haven’t gotten any more shit from them, so that’s a win for me.
Three-month checkup at the doc’s today and then onward and upward. I think Kayla’s coming over tonight.
I’m tired. Bleh. But I’ll make it through.
Hey Dennis,
The only place I might do some coloured riso printing is on the covers. Otherwise it’ll be all black.
It warms my heart to imagine you fluffing up your pom-poms in anticipation. I’ll definitely call upon you when the time comes.
I’m going to see Peter Kass’ film “Time of the Heathen” tonight. Ever seen it?
Ciao,
J x
Faucon’s photos are lovely and uncanny in equal measure.
I remember going to a summer camp when I was younger. There was an organisation called CISV who called in at our school in Leeds one day in 1990 to select a group of children who they thought could take part in their project. Promoting World Peace I think was the aim. I was considered to have some artistic talent and it must have been enough to get me selected. Our group of 4 kids were flown to Rio for a month, where we stayed at a camp along with other groups of children from various countries around the world.
It was great and a 10-year-old me had my first kiss there too! An Italian girl named Beatrice, I wonder what she’s doing now. Not sure how much any of that aided international relations but I’d like to think it did.
Hi!!
I wonder where Bernard Faucon keeps his dummies. I wouldn’t want to get accidentally locked in that room. Or maybe I would. It’s strange how, just by reading the text portions of the post, one might get the impression that his photos depict these idyllic and nostalgic scenes of childhood – or boyhood, to be more precise – whereas his actual images are always various degrees of disturbing, at least to me. I really like his work. Thank you for this!
Noted – about films and budgets!
I love shiny shoes, so your new pair sounds perfect! Are they kind to your previously tortured toes?
I’d absolutely love that, thank you very much, love! Love realizing that he’s been watching a pimple-popping video for the last 20 minutes, Od.
I have to say I was moved to read that you thought of me whilst in LA. Same here when I was in Paris two years ago, but I was just briefly passing through with no gap in my schedule. I’d love to catch up in person some time.
Yeah well I loved living in LA & actually grieved that loss longer than that of the ex-wife. Perfect combination of formative years & falling in with a magnificent crowd. Made bonds for life there.
I have to say it’s quite beautiful to somehow pick up where we left off after a, what— 20 year gap?
Have you settled into being a Parisian by now? What’s that expat life been like? I’m typing this on the beach after visiting a Buddhist centre out here & having just taken my first swim of the year. Life is good.
Had never heard of Bernard Faucon before… absolutely stunning photos and really interesting interview. Thank you for sharing! The dummies fascinate me… I want to make one myself…
SO SO HAPPY BY ALL OF THIS ‘Room Temperature’ STUFF. Really excited that I’m getting to see it in a theater, and even more over the moon about the fact that you guys would love to come. WOW! I think I’m actually gonna go crazy if I meet you guys in person, I’m gonna have to bite my lip real hard to stop myself from fan-boy-crying! I gave the people at Zita your email, and I’m sure either them or FilmForm are gonna contact you sometime soon about all of this. We can set the date based on whenever you guys are able to come, I myself am free pretty much all the time (except for the end of June). I’ll keep you updated through mail. You’re free to mail me too if you have any questions about anything along the way of arranging all of this, of course. Currently crying tears of joy that this is happening.
Yes, the impure version is the one with the voiceover! I really enjoyed both of them, but impure definitely feels like the more ”complete” version. Please tell me what you think if you do watch it, it’s a strange watch. The main character is actually played by Harmony Korine himself, although he has tried to hide it and credited himself as ”anonymous”. You can clearly see one of his tatoos in a scene.
Oh btw, going on my first trip abroad with friends soon, and it’s gonna be to Berlin! You seem like a guy who has been pretty much everywhere, got any must-see places/must-do activities you could recommend? Going with a pretty crazy bunch of people, so I’m sure it’s gonna be eventful and lively, let’s just hope we all make it back home.
Thank you again for making my dreams come true with ’Room Temperature’ at Zita, on cloud 9! Which cloud are you on? XO
Wow, sorry to hear about David Thomas. I haven’t explored the expansive Pere Ubu discography much, aside from “Dub Housing” which was a great favorite of many of the people I lived with in college. I’ll try and look around for some other gems today.
Dennis, you wrote two Sirk-influenced porn screenplays in collaboration with Norman Yonemoto? Needless to say, I’d be very interested to learn more about those, someday, somehow. It occurred to me the other day that Sirkian melodrama is a very different approach to communicating heightened emotion through artificiality than Bresson adopts, with his affectless “models” in the place of actors, but the two might commingle to some degree in these strange photographs by Bernard Faucon. If so, that would explain why he rejected the characterization of his work by Christian Caujolle – it’s not about the feeling behind contrived settings, but within and through them.
Anyway, that is a remarkable story. People say New Yorkers have a thick skin, and I suppose the hustler’s connection with the old man was more transactional than deep, but being so matter-of-fact about watching the guy die in front of you just the day before – well, it sounds like something from a Dennis Cooper novel, ha ha, so I suppose you’ve transmuted the moment and given it its aesthetic context.
Looking forward to hearing your friend’s thoughts about Tocqueville. I’m entering the depths of my first week back at PCC after spring break, so wish me luck with learning about Python and “switching, routing, and wireless essentials.” The professor for the latter class assigns a ton of work and is notoriously strict.
Morning Dennis, is it too late to add a comment to this day? I’ll find out soon enough. Apparently, Lamartine has some early erotic poetry, originally published under a pseudonym and only recently attributed to him, if the auto-translate of this Amazon listing is to be believed. Perhaps there is more to him than I thought at first… 🙂
These are all frighteningly uncanny but also kind of sweet, if in a kind of sickly way, but that’s just my aversion to puppets of this kind. I like that Faucon is unabashed about stating the value of his own inherently unique view on things. I’m lacking in his ideal trait, i.e., no hesitation. Don’t know if I feel like I ‘need’ to write. Come the rare instances where I’m actually fucking writing something, I do feel like I ‘need’ to see to it at least daily, so if I’m working on something and don’t add or change or reread with it I feel terribly guilty and self-loathing. I feel that way annoyingly often anyway, ugh. Writing is kind of a part of my daily routine. I have this story I’ve been adding to incrementally for ages, where I add at least one sentence a day. These are creepy to me, in a way. I think it’s the focus on youth which raises my eyebrow. Think my favourite’s the one with two guys at the bench, in the dark. Thank you blog for unsettling me.
Hey. Range Life is my soundtrack as I type this, nice for a tired mood. Cursory research suggests that Lawnmower Man is pretty fucking stupid a flick. D’you think you could guesstimate just how many films you’ve seen in your time? I don’t even know or think that I’ve seen 100.
A friend/first guy I fell for had an incredibly brief ‘Satanist’ phase, I think. Think I remember getting some very bad secondhand embarrassment and getting into some silly arguments with him about it. He’s now doing a, hm, shall we say, casual attempt at being a Christian. I’m not educated enough in fashion to be able to say anything other than ‘Satanist’ fashion seems Goth-y.
My spilling my guts on the internet gives me a frisson or two in the moment but in hindsight it’s at first incredibly embarrassing and then terribly amusing, mainly because I just wonder ‘why the fuck did I share that?’ and I don’t know if any of the people I’ve interacted with on the internet are like ‘obsessed’/focussed enough to triangulate this and that post/comment to pin my singular person down. If such a person exists, I can only be flattered and impressed, and I’d probably have to conform to whatever malicious or benign plans they had just out of courtesy.
As for demure, the word itself became just something apparently said whenever, regardless of how demure whatever was being referred to actually was. Trends are so quickly-moving these days we’re all probably a little trendy in one way or the other for whatever span of time.
The more I think about Durham the happier I am with the idea. I think college allocation is in May, which adds a little bit of flavour to the application process. And choosing a uni is all fine and dandy but I’ve still got to get the grades in my exams. Kind of you to put up with my bickering with myself about my own future x/
Hm, do the 5 book posts have a scheduled date like the escorts/slaves posts? Or are they a little more random? Faintly embarrassed, asking this question having been on the blog for a while.
No longer in Edinburgh, pretty much unscathed save for tiredness and faint nausea from eating rather too quickly at supper. I was driven up to another family member’s house, and then to Edinburgh. So I’ve come back from Edinburgh, am now at that family member’s house again, and tomorrow I’ll be getting back *home.* Presuming things don’t go terribly wrong.
Had my eyes peeled for Swarm in Blackwell’s earlier today, but no such luck. Only found one book by you – one copy of Closer. One (1) singular copy, which like, come on. You definitely succeeded in making a darn complicated novel, because Lord knows I don’t ‘fully get/understand it.’ Damn enjoy(ed) it, though. Should reread. 4 years is quite a while. Don’t think I could work on any fiction for that long. At least in my current state. I am very fond of Give It A Day, as a song :]
Oh man. I shaved first thing after getting back. Oh gosh. Just ran back of hand over face, good Lord. So much better. I hope all those wretched pesky tiny hairs dwindling down the drain hear and appreciate your bidding them adieu. I for one am glad to be rid of it. It was so unpleasant. So scratchy, looked like iron filings. I like to think I’m not bothered by gender because it’s nonsense and all but I really hate facial hair, not necessarily because it’s conventionally masculine, mainly because of its discomfort and appearance, but maybe a bit because it’s conventionally masculine, so I balanced things out by hiding the stubble with a pink scarf. I feel much better having shaved. If tired. Not from the shaving alone, just general lack of sleep, I think. Crooked Rain finished. Wowee Zowee’s up next. Want sleep, flop, in whatever order. Have stuff to do but tired. Bugger. At least my laptop is back under my hands. Off to get probably not much done with my evening. Night all. Patchy Wi-Fi, don’t fail me now. Oh yeah, and Ugly Man has proven pretty addictive. You’re an author whose work I 1) don’t want to stop reading whilst 2) I simultaneously don’t want whichever story/book I’m reading by said author to end. Ciao. Oh no wait, another question, thing I read in an interview and have been repeatedly failing to wrap my head around – re: GMC titles – ‘there is a thing with the titles, it’s this really complicated structure. If you put the titles together, they form this shape. So, you take Closer, which is six letters, two syllables. Then you take Frisk, which is five letters, one syllable. Then you have Try… you know what I mean? It makes a shape like an infinity sign: Closer, Frisk, Try, Guide, Period.’ – ohO H OHHH. OHHH NEVERMIND. Okay I see it that’s cool. Gosh that is nifty. ‘Kay bye
Were those screenplays good enough to publish in some form?
RIP David Thomas. When I was a teenager, Pere Ubu were an enormous discovery, although their ’70s albums were hard to find back then. I’ve been looking for his ’80s solo albums for a while and finally managed to download them today. Richard Thompson is the guitarist on the first two!
The new Sumac/Moor Mother album is pretty exciting.
Hi Dennis, thank you for the promo! Today’s blog is great, I’ve never heard of Bernard Faucon before but I can completely see why his work interests you. Explorations of male childhood/adolescence, artificial entities assembled in bucolic and frightening scenes with the same impassive expressions. The longer I look at them the more discomfited I get. Great stuff, very “you”.
Next week we’re going to see clipping. who are phenomenal and whom I’ve been wanting to see live for a long time. They’re touring their new album Dead Channel Sky, which imagines the soundtrack of a cyberpunk world as imagined in like, 1997. This has resulted in an album full of bangers and great lines and a couple of really fun features, and I’m so excited to see how it translates to the live environment.
Speaking of music, I recently got turned onto a pair of albums, Rabbit’s Hill Pt. 1 & 2, by a metal band called Trick Or Treat, that are inspired by Watership Down. They join the defunct hardcore punk band Fall Of Efrafa in the canon of “surprisingly good music inspired by the novel/film Watership Down”. Do you know of any songs directly inspired by (or reinterpreting) your own work?
Until next time!
Hi! Thank you, thank you. So happy that you like my Sparks post. Anyway, I’ll zip it on that front until the day comes. ‘Keep that mystique up’.
I read earlier that there’s a new Ian Penman book out by Fitzcarraldo in the UK, this time about Erik Satie. I really really loved the Fassbinder book and its Wittgensteinian form, and I do love Satie. And I also read today that Dalkey Archive Press are re-publishing Edouard Leve’s ‘Suicide’. Great news. I love ‘Auotportrait’ but copies of ‘Suicide’ are really expensive online so I haven’t gotten to it. Not released until September though.
I’ve been reading ‘Jakob Von Gunten’ by Robert Walser today, I’m getting to be really obsessed with him. He makes me howl with laughter. I love his sensibility, Eileen Myles described it as ‘idiot bliss’. I think the style was a big deal for the time, too.
I actually wrote this essay for an assignment recently about Denton Welch and Jane Bowles and how they fit into Eileen Myles’ definition of ‘pathetic’ from their pathetic literature anthology. Really don’t know how that’s going to go over.
I think these photos are really really beautiful.
Haha, I find it difficult to comment about the art you showcase sometimes because if I really really like it like this then I go sort of catatonic, which is a good thing.
Hi HaRpEr! It’s so exciting to hear that Dalkey are reprinting that Levé book, thanks for mentioning that. Their blurb doesn’t seem to ruminate on the context of the book over the content, which is a huge relief. I really recommend the new Penman – it’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s really nicely constructed. Hope all’s good on your end!
Crazy post today but interesting. Hi, Dennis!! I really missed the blog last month. Very cool Paul Cunnigham post recently. Will buy the book. Hope you are well. I’ve been doing pretty good. I have a new chapbook out that released on Easter. The release reading was in Bushwick and a ton of fun. Here is more info about the book: https://pigroastpublishing.com/product/jesus-freak/. Also thanks to Dominik for reading and the blurb!! 🙂
You have a catchy name and good job on the book
This reminds me of this community of people who use barbie dolls as their personas on socail media. Like, they give them boyfriends, pets and vehicles, they pose them at like a nightclubs, outings or something and then write elaborate captions in the post. Well Anyways it would be kind of interesting if somewhere deep in the bowels of it all is different fetish communities with barbie feet pics or dolls with sugar daddies. I dont know I havent explored it that much but imagine.
There is this guy and he’s pretty chill not creepy at all. Its honestly just harrowing because the reason he has them, but still, if it makes him happy and it seems he has a good community.
https://www.instagram.com/crissmonte94/?hl=en
Did you like Faetooth? OH! Before I forget, So when your in LA just remember its the package thats wrapped in duct tape, and my roomate from the halfway house wrapped it for me so there is a chance it may be a bit sketchy looking. Im not certain. There are handmade things in there.
What has your week been like since arriving back in France? I hope nothing but greatness followed you. I watched spun and that was fun and hilarious at least to me. Heretic I dont know. Oh I am awaiting that book COYOTE by Max Restaino which you did a post on a while ago. I am getting better at reading again.
see ya!
Hey, Dennis! Thanks for introducing me to the photography of Bernard Faucon. His work is so warm and dreamlike—instantly making me a fan. I’m probably projecting, but I get sort of an ‘outsider’ vibe to his work (seen through the lens of a quiet, thoughtful observer). I’m wondering if you ever saw Jane Campion’s ‘An Angel at My Table’; I recently watched a beautiful restoration of it, and I really adored it. Campion can be hit or miss, but I think this is her best work. Maybe I’m just drawn to works about tortured/complex artists/minds, haha. Sorry for taking a bit to respond, but congratulations on securing that long-stay visa! I imagine getting that squared away was quite a relief. Have a nice Friday!
*Poof* Yes thank you for noticing! Just today Me and chat worked out my memetic and anti memetic marketing and branding and it’s a sick plan! Im kinda stuck on making a matching presentation for closed practice but I have my core sigils and they are iconic and getting charged up on Tumblr. Hum have you ever thought about making a brand image for yourself or a Dennis Cooper sigil for your work? if not what would it be think Nike check mark or MCdonalds M they’re all sigils and the best companies have the best covert magical marketing. I had two gluten free bacon burgers on gluten free multi grain bread just meat patty and bacon carnivore style and fries of course and a extra patty just by itself one of my top 5 all time fav meals so simple and always delicious I need more time to perfect my burger making I prefer oven burgers over stovetop sometimes are you a burgers man ever? Your dinner sounds healthy and tasty and earthy as always so I know it was good any new treats or sweets in your life? and omg one of my favs on Tumblr posted a photo of you he likes arca like me and has a crazy clean style he goes by Len-gua he’s pretty hot too how was that? ttylxox ill brb! Opp dupe protection honestly if you meet that guy again idk send him my way somehow lol anyways now I’ll be back!