The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Galerie Dennis Cooper presents … David Altmejd’s Monsters *

* (Halloween countdown post #6)

 

‘David Altmejd’s work is a unique and heady mix of science and magic, science fiction and gothic romanticism: a post-apocalyptic vision which is at the same time essentially optimistic, containing as it always does the potential for regeneration, evolution and invention.

‘‘A perfect object for me’, the artist has said, ‘is something that is extremely seductive and extremely repulsive at the same time’. Decay exists in balance with regeneration, the exquisite in tandem with the grotesque. The sculpted heads that have been Altmejd’s recent focus provoke that shiver of the uncanny lifelike sculpture tends to induce, but skilfully realistic features are interspersed with crude expressionism, gobbets of raw matter or hanks of fur. They have a hallucinatory quality – vivid and startling. One head might sprout another, inverted, so that they they share a pair of eyes, or a face is split into a trio of profiles and half-a-dozen eyes, as if refracted by a kaleidoscope. In others the faces are gone, as if they have been scooped out, but the gaping wounds reveal cavities of dazzling crystal or the inside of a hollowed-out fruit, as if to collapse the categories of animal, vegetable and mineral. There is an immediate sensuality in the artist’s juxtaposition of finely-wrought realism with crude gesture; the proximity of crystals and delicate gold chains with fur and abject matter suggesting ever-present decay.

‘In counter-balance to the aesthetic of profusion is a sculptural impulse to containment and order, evinced in gridded forms and orthogonal mirrored structures recalling Sol Lewitt or Lucas Samaras. Some of Altmejd’s best-known works are his vast, labyrinthine vitrines built of Plexiglas, and often with mirrored elements. They play on the aesthetics of design and display as well as minimalism, but these structures are not simply a means to contain or protect the elements housed within. Rather, the entire structure is an organism or a machine, making visible the processes of growth and decay, generation and destruction that take place inside it. Movement is frozen, but sculptural elements are animated through repetition and incremental change, like the stuttering frames of stop-motion film.

‘Altmejd described himself early in his career as a ‘process artist’. His works not only reveal the process of their making, but suggest that those processes have simply been paused in their unfolding. His monochrome relief panels are austere in comparison to the heads, focusing our attention on the plaster-like material and the actions wrought on it − where it has fallen in wet splats, where a brittle, chalky surface is scratched or fractured, where hands have gouged and clawed. Hands themselves, in cast form, appear and multiply in some of the sculptures, fostering the illusion that the works create themselves. Monumental figures, such as the ‘Bodybuilders’ and the ‘Watchers’, are similarly engaged in their own making or unmaking, sprouting hands that clutch and mould the very substance of their bodies.’ — White Cube

 

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Further

David Altmejd Site
DA @ Xavier Hufkens
DA @ David Kordansky Gallery
DA @ Instagram
DA @ Twitter
Yeasayer + David Altmejd
Learning from Objects: An Interview with David Altmejd
David Altmejd, le prestidigitateur
Video: David Altmejd: The Heart is a Werewolf
In Conversation: David Altmejd
Video: Chaorismatique, David Altmejd sculpteur
La métamorphose dans l’œuvre de David Altmejd
Inside David Altmejd’s Crystal Palace
David Altmejd Creates Sculptures That Blur Concepts
David Altmejd’s New Busts Embrace the Real and Absurd
David Altmejd’s World of Pure Imagination
David Altmejd’s seductive yet repulsive sculptures
David Altmejd: la beauté du monstre
Dans les abysses mentales de David Altmejd
David Altmejd ou l’art du malaise absurde
Getting Lost in David Altmejd’s Hall of Mirrors
David Altmejd is Arresting
Ten questions for David Altmejd

 

____
Extras


The Desert and the Seed, 2015


David Altmejd at MAC Montreal


David Altmejd at MAC Montreal


David Altmejd: Heads | Art21 “Extended Play”

 

______
Interview

 

Philippa Snow: I wanted to ask you about how you got into using the werewolf motif.
David Altmejd: It was pretty intuitive. I think I just felt as though my work was a little too structural, very minimalist; I would use large light tables, I would use Plexiglas, so all the materials were pretty cold. I just thought at one point that these structures I was building needed to be infected with something. Then I started thinking, what would be the one object that would contrast with them the most? So I thought about a body part. Actually, I thought about a head, which I thought would be powerful enough, and would contrast with the coldness of the structure. I thought with a head, I could start creating a very particular energy.
But then I thought that maybe a human body part, the human head, was a little — not necessarily cliché, but certainly something that had become commonplace in contemporary art. Some of my favourite artists have been Kiki Smith, and Louise Bourgeois, and Robert Gober, and I love their work; but I did feel that following work like theirs, the use of human body parts in art had become more predictable. So I thought instead about referring to the body of the werewolf, which in my mind is the most humanlike monster: meaning the werewolf body part would be just as powerful to look at as the human body part. It’s possible for a viewer to identify with it. But at the same time, it’s weird instead of being familiar. And I really like that.
So that’s the reason I started using the werewolf body parts in my art. And very soon afterwards, once it found its place in my work, I started being conscious of ideas of transformation, and energy, and contrasts between light and darkness, and tension, and all these things, so I just decided to keep the werewolf as a kind of totemic figure in my work.

PS: It’s interesting that you mention the transformation aspect of it, because a lot of your work has the appearance of being…this is an odd thing to say about sculpture, but it almost has the look of something that’s in flux, or something that’s in development. It looks like an organic thing.
DA: Yeah, and it’s important for me to feel that the object, or the sculpture itself, is in the process of developing. One of the things I realised about sculpture that made it really amazing, and that gave it so much potential, is the fact that it exists in a real space. It doesn’t exist in the space of representation. So it exists in the world in almost the same way that a body does, or a person does, you know?

PS: Right. A photograph or a painting of a body that’s life sized is never going to be like a body in the same way as a sculpture of one at the same scale.
DA: And the body of a person is probably the most amazing thing that exists, for so many reasons. So the fact that sculpture inhabits the same space means that it has the potential for having the same kind of presence. Ever since I realised that, I’ve been trying to use the body of a person as a model; and one of the characteristics of a human body is that it’s constantly transforming. A person is never a finished object, and that’s part of what makes them amazing.

PS: And because a lot of the structures are quite dreamlike, there’s quite often the suggestion of a psychological transformation as well.
DA: Absolutely, yeah.

PS: Are there any filmmakers you’re particularly inspired by?
DA: There are certainly filmmakers whose work has excited me. Often I don’t like saying this, because I think that people consider it really, really obvious, but I love David Cronenberg.

PS: Oh, me too!
DA: But not necessarily because of his taste for the organic or the weird. I like him conceptually. I like the way he builds a movie. I like the way he understands — and this is my interpretation, I don’t know if it’s his, but I just have a feeling that he understands the film as being this independent object that develops its own intelligence, and its own language; its own logic, its own sexuality. I kind of like the fact that he steps back and lets the film develop by itself as if it was a body. Who else?

PS: I mean: David Lynch was the big one I was thinking of. But I’m always thinking about David Lynch.
DA: I would say that Lynch has been very, very important for me. Just as much as certain American visual artists from the eighties and the nineties are an influence — ones that still work today, but were very well-known then, like Cindy Sherman, Paul McCarthy, Tony Oursler, Mike Kelley — I see David Lynch the same way. They were very important for me at the beginning. I really admired that attitude; the space that they were exploring, which was somewhere between supercomedy and superdrama. You know how sometimes there are scenes in Lynch where you don’t know if you’re supposed to laugh, or to feel uncomfortable?

PS: I was thinking about it because of his being very interested in the fragmentation and the refraction of the human body — but especially in the head. There’s always a lot of stuff about head trauma, decapitation. Are you watching the new series of Twin Peaks?
DA: No, I haven’t been.

PS: Oh it’s amazing! I’m a Lynch obsessive anyway, but it’s really pulled me right back into the depths of that obsession.
DA: I do intend to watch it; I saw the first episode and I’m meaning to go back. I really loved the way the special effects are so clumsy, if I’m allowed to call them that?

PS: He loves that, I think.
DA: Because they could have been high-tech, but he obviously chose otherwise. That was amazing. That was completely his sensibility. Nobody else could have done that and actually pulled it off.

PS: No — it’s like the robin at the end of Blue Velvet. It’s an aesthetic decision.
DA: And so funny and not-funny at the same time. Personally, I like being uncomfortable. I think my favourite kind of laughter is uncomfortable laughter; and I think the best horror is the sort of horror that makes me want to giggle because I’m so uncomfortable.

PS: On an unrelated note (or maybe a related note, as we’re talking about uncomfortable laughter) — I read in an interview that you’re really into the Real Housewives?
DA: Oh my God! Yeah, yeah, absolutely!

PS: Because I’ve never seen the Real Housewives shows, but I did do a thing this year for which I had to watch every episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians ever broadcast in one month. There are thirteen series of it, so that was intense.
DA: I’ve never watched Keeping Up With The Kardashians, but my idea is that it’s one family, so they’re all sort of together in this, right? They’re not all rivals? But the Real Housewives are so great because they’re all rivals.

PS: Is that inspiring somehow, because you’re watching — I don’t know, humanity play itself out?
DA: I mean: it’s hard to see the humanity.

PS: Really? It’s just totally inhumane?
DA: Totally inhumane. I think that it’s totally human, because even the producers are human, so it’s technically a product of humanity. So it’s human in that way. But the set-up is so unlike anything you could understand or experience. I can’t start to think or imagine what it would be like to have a camera on you all the time, or have people there encouraging you to drink wine all the time so that you’ll be in a volatile mood. And producers who will make more money if there’s a fight! It’s a horrifying set-up. It’s like putting a rat in a maze, a labyrinth: of course they’re going to act like rats. They’re in a context that’s kind of indescribable. So it’s hard to understand them. But it’s exciting to see human beings try to survive in such a weird, extreme environment.

PS: We could tie it into our earlier discussion by saying that Real Housewives is a constructed take on the organic. And there are a lot of physically constructed bodies in reality TV, also! Certainly in the case of the Kardashians.
DA: Yeah, you mean facelifts and so on?

PS: And really extreme body augmentations. I find that fascinating, as well.
DA: And it’s funny, because with the Real Housewives there are different — they call them franchises, but it means there are spin-offs in different cities. And they’re usually groups of women who have transformed their bodies in very different ways. For example, the Real Housewives of New York are a group of women who are transforming in one very specific direction, and then you go to Beverly Hills and the Housewives there are taking a totally different transformative route. They end up looking like different species, in the end. It’s amazing.

 

___
Show

First Werewolf, 1999

 

Untitled (Jane), 2003

 

Untitled (Black), 2003

 

Untitled (Blue Jay), 2004

 

Untitled (Swallow), 2004

 

The Lovers, 2004

 

The Builders, 2005

 

Untitled, 2006

 

Untitled, 2006

 

The New North, 2007

 

Untitled (Dark), 2008

 

The Center, 2008

 

The Egg, 2008

 

Untitled, 2010

 

Untitled, 2011

 

Untitled, 2011

 

Untitled, 2012

 

Untitled 3 (Rabbit Holes), 2013

 

Untitled 5 (Rabbit Holes), 2013

 

Untitled 6 (Rabbit Holes), 2013

 

Untitled, 2014

 

The Flux and the Puddle, 2014

 

Eye, 2015

 

Le Grand Theatre, 2016

 

The Vibrating Man, 2019

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Thank you sharing your wisdom and knowledge about Melville, David. ** john christopher, Well, hello there, sir. Happy almost Halloween! That’s one wild coincidence about the New Narrative turning up in such a timely fashion. Nice that it was found on the street too, I don’t know why. I’m doing all right, thanks. You? You sound good. Thanks about the masks. Yes, there were, I think, two gifs from ‘Season of the Witch’ taken from the evil TV commercial thing. I like that movie. People seem to think it’s the runt of the litter/franchise, but I beg to differ. Good to see you! ** Misanthrope, Okay, that sounds essentially like good under the circumstances news, and, at least in my case, lifelong little things do seem to get less little as you evolve, i.e. my stupid back thing. Good you’re having a nuclear (whoa!) scan though. You’re on it, and that’s all I can ask. Wow, they still celebrate Columbus Day over there?  Weird. You still have gyms. Ours are kaput for the time being. Yeah, sending the first however many pages of a novel is pretty standard, from what people tell me. Good, you sound rather fit. ** politekid, Hey, Oscar! Everything pretty okay with me, I think. I’m also a big believer that unclunked means full speed ahead. All right, TM cut you loose. Their loss, fuck their eyes and their mothers’ eyes, etc. Super wishing I could see the Michael Clarke show. Ha ha, its audience sounds exactly like the audience I would imagine it would have, and, yes, I don’t have a clue how to enjoy that type either. The weirdest foreigners. Those kinds of dramas are the airborne, contemporaneous quicksand that cartoons and old movies used to warn us about. That pamphlet sounds like a total keeper, yeah, def. That is a load of twee right there. I like me some twee sometimes. I mean I love Wes Anderson’s films, and I guess they’re supposed to be twee. And twee pop music can be among pop’s best. So, yeah. I’m not sure I fully understand your question about ‘Guide’. I think I still believe everything I was trying to posit in that book, but I would venture to say that I’m maybe not as monstrous as the guy I semi-pretended was its author. So there’s a hard to understand answer to your hard (for me) to understand question, ha ha. I’ve been up to … working on stuff (new film funding seek, film script to be directed by Gisele, other stuff) and basically okay except I broke my toe forever ago and it still hurts. Excellence to see you, pal! And to hear about you, sir! I will endeavour to make Halloween sing via the blog until the 31st arrives and destroys our fun. ** Brian O’Connell, Hi, Brian. Melville’s pretty great. Not everything IMO, but he had a pretty great run there for a decade or so. Midterms, man, all the luck acing those, and nose to the grindstone, and take sanity breaks, and so on. They put new restrictions on here, but they aren’t too bad, and yet the cases continue to grow fast, so I suspect it’s about to get heavier. But so far I still think we’ve been pretty lucky. Stuff any better or better-feeling there? Warmest wishes in speedy return. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Your new episode did the major trick for my physical and psychological well being as well as adding motion to my booty this weekend, so thank you! I’d watch that Margiela doc, and I’ll try to. Thanks for that tip, buddy. ** Ian, Morning (if it’s morning), Ian. Exactly, re: that cool thing about him and his stuff. Granted, I haven’t read ‘Candy’ in many yonks, but I think it must still be tons of fun. Is it? Thank you for your info too. Two way street and all of that. ** Dominik, Hi, Dominick!!! It’s kind of like that here too – gloomy, melancholic, etc. I kind of like it though. You having listed to Cheap Trick just made my face look like a face you would have carved into a classic pumpkin. I did see and, of course, like ‘Suicide Room’. And I think I’ve used quite a few gifs from it in my gif books. How is his new film? I’m okay. My toe still hurts, but it’s starting to hurt less, and that’s all I can hope for. My weekend was pretty lowkey-ish. Saw the Christo show at the Pompidou, it was meh. Ate very good pizza, which was a bigger deal than it sounds because it was the first cheese I’d eaten in a long time, me being in a vegan phase. Zoomed with one of my oldest friends, the poet Amy Gerstler. Worked on stuff. How did your weekend turn out? Ha ha, nice love there. Macho love baking a huge wedding cake for sissy love, Dennis. ** Steve Erickson, I would have to go with ‘Le Samourai’ and ‘Army of Shadows’ maybe. Not having seen or having any intention of seeing that ‘Boys in the Band’ remake, I think ‘what is the point’ is the absolute question. Everything you say about it radiates from the mere knowledge of its existence. Hope the new glasses help. ** Jeff Jackson, Hi, Jeff. Huh, ever since the blog was ‘fixed’ that message you got is planted at the top of the comments every day, and I don’t know why. Anyway, your comment made it through, obvs. I haven’t read ‘Melville on Melville’, no, but it has long tempted me. I love ‘Did You Hear Them?’. It was one of my very favorites of hers when I did my initial Nouveau Roman reading binge in the mid-80s. ‘Childhood’ was her big hit. It’s nice, but it’s much more conventional than her others. I wouldn’t put it at the top of your list. Excellent if you’re cracked the novel’s vexing point. Right, the new Julien Calendar! I still haven’t scored it. Will do today. Everyone, Jeff Jackson’s awesome band/musical unit has a new EP out, their third, which is undoubtedly a must hear among must hears. Please join me in grabbing it on/from bandcamp right here. Skype this week sounds great. Just let me know when’s good for you. ** Kyler, Good morning to you, Kyler, and I’m sorry I’m wrecking your morning, ha ha. Or no ha ha. Or both. Um, yes, I think I understand what he’s writing about ‘The Marbled Swarm’. He seems to be aligning it with Polari, this coded, made-up language gays used to us in the UK to communicate secretly back in the severe repression days. I will say that ‘TMS’ has absolutely nothing to do with Polari from my (the writer’s) perspective. I never thought about it. And ‘TMS’ is not about disguising the narrator’s alleged queerness since his being queer is greatly in question in the first place. But it’s an interesting and unexpected way to try to interpret that novel, I guess. So, I think I get what he was writing. But if you didn’t, that’s not your problem, man. May your morning end up very well. ** Right. Back to the Halloween celebrations today via a galerie exhibition of the works of David Altmejd. Spooky fun too be had should you allow. See you tomorrow.

13 Comments

  1. David Ehrenstein

    Altmejd is excellent and remindful (to me at least) of Paul Thek.

  2. Dominik

    Hi!!

    Thank you for the amazing post! I guess it’s not really, really surprising that I like David Altmejd’s work quite a lot. From the ones featured today, ‘The Egg’ and the ‘Rabbit Holes’ series are definitely my favorites.

    Jan Komasa’s new film is good. Not as good as Suicide Room (though it’s hard to reach its level in my little universe so that doesn’t say much); worth a watch, I think. It’s long and heavy. It also loosely connects to Suicide Room: Dominik’s mother is one of the main characters.

    I’m glad to hear your toe is finally getting better! And ah, good pizza IS a big deal even if someone’s not in a vegan phase – but especially then! Fuck, I’d really like to have one right now, haha.

    My weekend mostly consisted of reading and listening to music. And the movie, of course. It was relaxing. On weekdays, I’m working my way through the proofreading course and I’m learning about various citation- and referencing styles at the moment and… it’s massive, haha. I mean, who the fuck came up with all these stupid rules and regulations?! I really enjoy it, though, proofreading in general, I mean, so no REAL complaints.

    Awh, what a sweet love, haha! Love celebrating Femboy Friday every single week on his OnlyFans, D.

  3. Jeff J

    Hey Dennis – This is a stunning and ornate line-up of monsters. The installation looks remarkable as well. The Untitled 2006 was used on the cover of Derek’s ‘The Show That Smells,’ right? Was that his idea? Or yours or the designer’s?

    Glad yesterday’s comment made it through. Thanks for the shout-out for the new Julian Calendar. Hope you enjoy it. Curious if any particular songs hit you.

    It’s been nice to get the EPs out, even if the band is currently in deep freeze otherwise. There’s one final EP which hopefully will drop in early November.

    I’m going to seek out ‘Did You Hear Them?’ soon and will skip ‘Childhood’ for now. Thanks for the rec. I know you love ‘the Golden Fruits’ (which I dig as well) – are there others of hers that are particular favorites?

    Sent you an email about some Skype options. Hope you had a good Monday.

  4. _Black_Acrylic

    I like Altmejd’s work and enjoyed his interview.

    @ Jeff, thank you for pointing out the Derek McCormack connection, I was spacing on where I knew it from.

    Also have to agree with Philippa Snow’s point re Twin Peaks, Series #3 really is the best. @ Dennis , have you still not seen this yet?

    • _Black_Acrylic

      And thank you re Play Therapy, that’s what it’s all about!

  5. Bill

    Some excellent pieces today, Dennis. I need to keep an eye on Altmejd’s work. Ha, I thought the Untitled 2006 head looked familiar, and Jeff beat me to it.

    I remember enjoying “Le Samourai” years ago; maybe on your recommendation?

    I tried checking out some of the offerings at Grimmfest, the Manchester-based horror movie fest, and got a “content not available in your region” message. Oh well. I did enjoy this from the NY Film Fest, also approved by Steevee:
    https://letterboxd.com/film/slow-machine/

    Hope the toe continues to improve…
    Bill

  6. Misanthrope

    Dennis, Beautiful monsters, no?

    Yeah, best thing under the circumstances. I didn’t go to the gym this weekend. My fucking neck/shoulder thing was killing me, so I said I’ll wait till Tuesday. Give myself a good 2-week break.

    Otherwise, everything’s pretty normal. If the nuclear scan is clear, then I’m out of the woods re: the kidney stuff. Still want to see a GI specialist. I’ll discuss that with my GP.

    Hmm, I don’t know that we’ve ever celebrated Columbus Day, hahaha. It is still a federal holiday, though, and we get a paid day off, so if that’s celebrating, then we’re celebrating. 😉

    I think some local jurisdictions throughout the country have renamed it, like, Indigenous Peoples Day or something like that. Still don’t know if they actually celebrate that or if they just enjoy the day off.

    Well, tech has changed things, no? Long gone are the days of snail mail and waiting for replies and printing and packing shit up and paying extra postage. Now, it’s an upload or an email. I think that’s a good thing. Makes it easier on everybody, from what I can see.

  7. john christopher

    AW man what a feast this is I’m gonna come back to this again and again, this is so fucking amazing. The wet kinda glitter’d eyelashes! ohhhh. and the hands opening up the body. god. &yeah I like it too! evil irish toymaker? why not. i love the fact that the jingle on the ad is so nauseatingly horrible it is literally fatal. Yes! happy almost Halloween to you, too! Where’s your favourite place to spend Halloween? me i love it in Dublin but I’m living in London now and tbh this place can barely muster a groan for the holiday, not that that will stop me going bananas and freaking myself out wearing masks inviting all sorts of stuff into my sleep. Oh yes and dennis, I wanna send u something (hopefully in time for Halloween) is there an address ppl send stuff to? ill dig around the website maybe it’s listed there. I’ve made a little Halloween pamphlet nothing big, with little stories from myself & some others & would like to have it in ur hands. it’s so cold where I am. gonna put more socks on. bye!

  8. Scunnard

    Hi Dennis, I always like when you showcase someone I know of but should probably know more of, and then you go deep.

  9. Steve Erickson

    That photo of David cuddling the head is brilliant!

    The manufacturer is still working on my glasses, and they’re now not expected to come in till next week.

    I was interested in the horror film festival Screamfest, but you can’t buy a ticket to an individual film. Is that on your radar, Bill?

  10. Nick Toti

    Hi Dennis,

    I have a new cut of a short film that I’m hoping to get some feedback on. Would you mind sharing with the locals? If anyone watches and wants to let me know how it’s landing (good or bad), they can email me at diediemaomao@gmail.com. I’ll give them a “special thanks” in the credits for their trouble.

    Here’s the link: https://vimeo.com/467549387
    Password: wendy

    Thanks for the help. Hope everything is great on your end. (P.S. I love these sculptures you’re featuring today!)

  11. Brian O’Connell

    Hey, Dennis,

    “A perfect object for me is something that is extremely seductive and extremely repulsive at the same time.” Well, there’s an artistic maxim I can get behind. These creations are absolutely beautiful and endlessly impressive. Definitely an artist I’ll be looking deeper into. Thank you for sharing.

    Good to hear that the new restrictions aren’t anything *too* rough; sorry to hear that cases are climbing. Every doctor I know says it’s going to be a terrible fall for us, although probably worse upstate than down here, so I’m bracing myself for more intensive isolation. Trying to stay busy with the midterms, a lot of movie-watching, and preparing for my younger brother’s birthday this Friday. But the mood is generally bleak, especially given the added stress of the ugliest election season ever. Keeping (at least attempting to keep) my chin up anyway, I guess.

    This is kind of unrelated, so I hope you don’t mind my asking, but: do you have any thoughts on Bertolucci’s “The Conformist”, if you’ve seen it? A Facebook friend mentioned it as an exemplary take on the fascist period with some amazing stylistics, which of course piqued my interest. I’ve not seen any Bertolucci before, but this looked absolutely fascinating. Figured I’d just ask if you had any thoughts about it, as I’m always interested in what you have to say re: movies, books, etc.

    Hope your day was as stimulating and exciting as this post.

  12. Gus

    Hey Dennis,
    I’ve been reading the blog for a while, but this is my first reply, so hi! Sorry if this is too tangential, but it felt Halloween-y and I’d been meaning to message you about it for a while – have you read Kier-La Janisse’s “House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films” ? I feel you might get a lot from it – it discusses movies as wide-ranging as Altman’s “3 Women” in the same breath as Buttgereit’s “Nekromantik” and the 1988 “Guinea Pig: Mermaid in a Manhole” without any distinction of “taste”, and all as a means for its own narrative drive. Really great stuff! I actually first thought to mention it to you when reading your Haneke post, because there’s a section where it describes a film called “The Moor’s Head” (“Der Kopf des Mohren”) which is the only movie Haneke wrote but didn’t direct. Janisse described how the film was so devastating for her friend that “they had to lie on the sidewalk when they exited the theatre.” I’ve been desperate to see it since reading that, but I’ve yet to have the chance.

    Another tangent but might as well while I’m here – I recently discovered your liner notes for the reissue of Sonic Youth’s “Sister” and it really brought me back to that album in a powerful way. I’ve been thinking about Cubby Branch a lot!

    It feels like a hollow gesture, but I genuinely hope that you’re going well.
    Best,
    Gus

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