Luther Price Day *

* (restored/expanded)

 

‘Luther Price is an anomaly on many levels. He’s gay but unwelcome by the gay community, which reviled him for the alleged homophobic excesses of Sodom. He invents alter-egos including the short-lived “Fag” and the more enduring “Tom Rhoads.” He’s worked as a waiter, played in bands (and started a country band), and “committed suicide” in one of his performance pieces via a candy overdose. Much of his personal history is mysterious, in spite of his frequent use of himself and his family and their history via photos and home movies in his films. He was nearly killed (and was heavily scarred) in a shooting accident in Nicaragua in the mid-1980s. He works in a disreputable format, appears in various guises in his own work from stylized, frozen-faced drag queen to naked performance artist to clown. And he occupies the same contested cultural space as artists like Karen Finley in being so controversial that his work has occasioned the immediate firing of programmers who have dared to show it. Increasingly revered as a filmmaker, he’s also made a strong impact in his sculpture, photography, and performance art.

‘Emotionally stark, and at times sexually extreme, the elegant Super-8 films Price produced in the 1980s and ’90s brought him underground renown. Whether creating pummeling juxtapositions from repurposed porn images or with Price decked up in drag or dressed as a clown, his pieces came bounding at you in full heat. They were formally rigorous, relentlessly psychodramatic attempts to work through familial bonds, dark fantasies, and tortured realities. His magisterial use of sound (few make better soundtracks) underscored the beautifully dilapidated images. There are many small masterpieces from this potent era awaiting rediscovery.

‘For example, there’s his hardcore “Biblical epic”-cum s&m; porn flick Sodom (1989), which like all of Price’s films, exists in many versions. His refusal to let the work alone after it’s made, his insistence on the “aliveness” of the film-object, is one of the most exhilarating aspects of his work. In spite of the oppressive, claustrophobic imagery, the films have a strong sense of life. In Sodom, which will be double-projected, this sense comes partly from Price’s consummate interventions, which here take the form of a literal film-within-a-film. He punched holes in the Super-8 frames and meticulously inserted the porn footage, which moves with jackhammer rhythm against the rapid-cut “Sodom” footage and a distorted medieval liturgy score. The conflation of what look like screaming souls in hell with images of edgy queer sex was enough to get the film banned even from the allegedly sophisticated New York and San Francisco gay festivals, but Price’s Boschian vision deserves a wide audience.

‘Price’s film work has an oppressive intensity, envisioning an alienated world of often mindlessly repeated rituals and poses that entrap and suffocate his subjects. He sets up a constant dialogue between his compromised victim-subjects (often himself or his own family) and the equally compromised film stock itself. Images of ruptured flesh and ghostly birthday parties are further ruptured and drained of life by Price’s torturous manipulations of the film, which can include chemical processing, filters, optical printing, re-photography, and even holes punched in the frame. What emerges is Price’s great subject — the breaches, breakdowns, and collapse of body, family, and society, and by extension all of life, in the face of unstoppable philosophical forces. What makes it work is the nonstop flow of extraordinary, unforgettable imagery.’ — collaged

 

WARM BROTH (1987 – 1988)
color-b&w / sound / 1S / 36′ 00

‘Directed under the name Tom Rhodes.
Tell me a secret / Hold me strong / Give me a kiss. It is with the sound of this litany sung by a doll that Rhodes (pseudonym of Luther PRICE) updates “the viscera of the pathos of the suburbs”. It is a ruthless movie, imbued with a sense of decay and horror. American beauties are vomiting on the screen. Floral wallpapers, wrapped candies of yellow cellophane, ice cream melting on bitumen: WARM BROTH is a little like the descent into hell in your grandparents’ house.’ — Light Cone

Watch it here

 

GREEN (1988)
color-b&w / sound / 1S / 36′ 40

Directed under the name Tom Rhodes.
‘Filled with poison, all the veins infested … Question of time … The image of the ghost haunts my breath, gnaws my mind. I see her beautiful face and wonder if she was my mother. I loved her and she can see me. I thought she was really in me. I thought I was her. My life would end at twenty-three and we would be together. There would be no sadness. Everyone would know that she was coming for me. But I lived. I was not supposed to die at that time. It was his way of telling me to stop joining my mother. Now they are together and I am the ghost. 37 years old, there is something about this number. I will die then and I will remember this necklace of green emeralds at my mother’s funeral. And that’s when I’ll realize why I lived.

‘The images that haunt my memories roam the life next to me, brushing my breathing body, veiling my vision, slowing down my pace, devouring my thoughts. I am never alone. In fusion. I prevent myself from loneliness and all rest, living for two, becoming the other. Am I real?’ — Light Cone

Watch it here

 

SODOM (1989)
color-b&w / sound / 1S / 13′ 00

‘SODOM is viscerally graphic and disturbing through its hypnotic mirage of human fragment absorbed in mutilation. Based on the biblical story, SODOM recreates this destruction through an editing style that lends itself to a kind of organic image breakdown, creating a collage of moving image.’ — Light Cone

Watch it here.

 

MEAT (1991)
color-b&w / sound / 1S / 60′ 00

‘MEAT is viscerally consuming in its sterile, antiseptic and static giving over of the flesh. Poked, prodded, pinched and disgraced, the humiliated body is sacrificed and the metamorphosis begins … the fly becomes the shit … the maggot becomes the bone … the bone becomes the food … the food becomes shit and the body becomes the wound … the institution becomes teeth … throat and stomach.’ — Luther Price

Excerpt/projected

 

JELLY FISH SANDWICH (1994)
color-b&w / sound / 1S / 17′ 00

‘Why are you so stupid and what are you trying to say? I had a nightmare in which a big elephant walked on a piece of cake and disappeared, sucked as if it had been on quicksand. All that was left was the lobe of one ear. Someone with a little head and a small body slipped a word in it; then the ear disappeared into the cake too. I remember running up and down and throwing my body against a string screen. I heard songs on the red, white and blue and in front, a guy walked with a nice ass wearing a flesh-colored swimsuit as an undergarment. I took off the swimsuit, her ass was purple. Half of the street I was in exploded, birds in the sky making noises like sick stomachs and feathers falling on my head. I closed my eyes for a second, but nothing changed. Too many people had left that day.’ — Light Cone

Watch it here

 

RUN (1994)
color / sound / 1S / 15′ 00

‘The electric line facing the infinite reveals everything. Moment before my birth, moment before my death. Compressed between two walls of glass, I could see myself walking in the past. I could see my eye scrutinizing my eye. I stood there somewhere far away, looking at myself between two glass plates.
I had the impression of moving, but it was rather the way a worm relies on himself to go where he wants to go.
I could interfere in these spaces and rest a little, then distribute all that I am and all that I have been. But I panicked. I kept pushing my body inside.
I woke up compressed between walls of glass.
I thought I was walking.
I saw myself walking.
I could see my eye looking at me and where I would die when I was born.’ — Light Cone

Watch it here

 

GAR HAR CLOWN (1998)
color / sound / 1S / 02′ 27

‘Methods of cyclical return to processes and characters can also be observed in Luther’s now iconic Clown works, existing initially in the form of Super 8 screen tests for various masturbatory, sadistic clowns.’ — MUBI

the entire film

 

KITTENS GROW UP (2007)
16mm found footage

Excerpt

 

SAD DAY GLAD DAY (2014)

the entire film

‘Luther Price devised a special performance for Australian audiences called ”SAD DAY GLAD DAY” which he realised in the intimate environment of Gertrude Contemporary’s Studio18 on Wednesday 11th June 2014 at 6pm. “Whether creating pummelling juxtapositions from repurposed porn images or with Price decked up in drag or dressed as a clown, his pieces come bounding at you in full heat. They are formally rigorous, relentlessly psychodramatic attempts to work through familial bonds, dark fantasies, and tortured realities.”. Andy Lampert (Anthology Film Archives).’ — Other Film

 

 

 

 

 

Age/Occupation/City:

born 1962……..january 26th……in Mass……the night my aunt sally took an overdose of sleeping pills……….37 sominex……..and red wine……..she was my mother’s younger sister………..she died at 23………the day i was born…….my death mother……….she was very beautiful……….i have the powder blue suit she died in………..it has a wine stain down the front of it ………i don’t think she meant to kill herself……..she crawled from her apartment in cambridge , mass,…………died at the hospital………while at the same time,…..i was being born into this world…………..i died when i was 23 too……….i was shot in nicaragua in 1985…………while on an artist cultural brigade…………..it wasn’t just my guts that spilled out that day on the warm ceramic tiles …..on that balcony of the bombed out mansion we were staying at…………the morning we were due to fly back to boston ………june 29th 1985………..i died that day……..and as they say …….you see your life flash by……….well it did………and i saw my aunt sally………..and then i knew what i had always known…………she was always with me…………………but that was 28 years ago…………..i still don’t know how i survived …………..if i had been shot anywhere else ,….i wouldn’t have………….but my guts are all screwed up………i was shot through my hip and stomach…….my right leg is paralyzed ……and i live with constant pain…….but to top that off ,…the US…GOVERNMENT TOOK MY PASSPORT AWAY FOR REPATRIATION …..BACK TO BOSTON , MASS………….WERE I SPENT TWO MONTHS IN THE HOSPITAL…….I RETURNED BACK TO MASS ART….THAT FALL ON CRUTCHES……..WITH A HOLE IN MY SIDE , STUFFED WITH GAUZE………THE DRESSING HAD TO BE CHANGED THREE TIMES A DAY, SO I USED THE NURSE’S OFFICE FOR THAT ,….THE ONLY STERILE PLACE……..FOR THAT…………..AS THE SEMESTER WENT ON ,I BECAME VERY SICK….THE WOUND WAS NOT HEALING…………….SO DURING XMAS BREAK I ADMITTED MYSELF BACK INTO THE HOSPITAL……..THEY FOUND THE BULLET……AND REMOVED IT ………..IT WAS LODGED IN THE DARKNESS OF MY HIP ……..NEVER CAME UP ON THE X-RAYS……….THE US OFFICIALS CONFISCATED MY MEDICAL RECORDS FROM NICARAGUA FROM THE DOCTOR WHO TRAVELED WITH ME BACK TO THE STATES………….SO , I NEVER HAD A CHANCE……..THE DOCTORS NEVER KNEW THE BULLET WAS STILL INSIDE ME…….ROTTING AWAY MY BONE AND GUTS ……..KILLING ME SLOWLY……….BY THIS TIME,….MUCH OF MY HIP HAD TURNED TO A PUSSY MUSH………..AND A LARGE PART OF MY LOWER INTESTINE HAD TO BE REMOVE AS WELL………..MY RIGHT LEG HAD GONE INTO COMPLETE ATROPHY………..AND THE NERVE DAMAGE WAS BEYOND REPAIR……………….BUT THE GOOD THING WAS,…….AFTER THEY TOOK THE BULLET OUT ……..MY WOUND COMPLETELY HEALED IN 9 DAYS……………..I WENT BACK TO SCHOOL IN THE SPRING SEMESTER…..STILL ON CRUTCHES…………AND COMPLETED MY LAST LARGE SCULPTURE PIECE…………‘EAT FUCK LIVE SHIT WANT NEED’……..1986……..11 OVER LIFE-SIZED…….HUMAN AND ANIMAL FIGURES …….MADE OF PLASTIC WITH A SKIN OF NEWSPAPER………WALL WORK………..4 FT X 8 FT PANELS ……….AFTER THAT …….I BEGAN TO WORK IN VIDEO…………I CREATED A CHARACTER THAT I BECAME CALLED ‘THE CUNT’…………..THIS WAS A PERIOD OF TIME WHERE I BEGAN TO INVESTIGATE MY DOMESTIC PAST…………..AND HOW MY MOTHER LIVED HER LIFE AS A SLAVE……………SHE WASHED CLOTHES BY HAND…………….TO THE POINT THAT HER HANDS LOOKED LIKE THEY BELONGED TO A 108-YEAR-OLD WOMAN………….WE FINALLY GOT A WASHING MACHINE……AND I THINK OUR FIRST COLOR TV ……………..BEFORE THAT ,…..EVERYTHING WAS BLACK AND WHITE……………….

We’re conducting this questionnaire over email, and have been told that you use a stream-of-consciousness style in writing, not dissimilar to the way your films, through their mix of found footage and your own stagings, can be like stray thoughts gathered together. Is there an underlying structure to your art?

Many of your around 200 films exist as only one copy. Because you scratch, burn, and dye them, they can even change from one screening to the next. Film itself is something of a dying art. Do you believe your art and the medium are ephemeral?

You got your start with Super-8 film and then shifted to 16mm, but you’ve recently begun to experiment with slides, exhibited for the first time in the Whitney Biennial. You build them up with dirt and detritus like ants, sprinkles, tape, and hair. Sometimes, you even bury them in the ground to rot. What creative power do you see in this kind of decay?

Has one of your films ever totally wrecked a projector or melted during a screening?

…………….WELL,………..I THINK I GET A BAD RAP……….IT’S BECAUSE OF THE INKBLOTS AND THE GARDEN FILMS…………ALL MY FILM WORK IS ORIGINAL…….I HAVEN’T MADE A COPY OR PRINT SINCE 1995………..THAT CAME ABOUT BECAUSE MOST OF THE GREAT MOM AND POP LABS WERE FORCED TO SHUT DOWN…….AND MOST OF THE BIG LABS WERE FREAKED OUT BY ANYTHING THAT WAS NOT COMMERCIAL………..THIS ,……..BOTH PHYSICAL………..WORKING OF THE FILM AS WELL THEY WOULD HAVE A SAY IN WHAT AND WHAT WAS NOT APPROPRIATE AS FAR AS CONTENT …….. MY FILMS WERE RENDERED …….TOO COMPLICATED TO DO A STRAIGHTFORWARD PRINT OR THE SUBJECT MATTER WAS AT ISSUE ………….MUCH OF MY WORK WAS DEEMED PORNO……………SO ,….THESE LABS WOULDN’T EVEN DEAL WITH ME……….GONE WERE THE DAYS WHEN A GREAT TECH GUY WOULD TAKE YOUR FILM AND UNDERSTAND THE ART OF IT ……..AND IN THE END BECOME A COLLABORATOR WITH IT IN THE PROCESS………AND A WONDERFUL PRINT WOULD COME OUT OF IT ………I MISS THOSE DAYS…………….BUT , LEFT IN THE DUST ………….I MOVED ON ……….AND TRIED TO MAKE MORE PROJECTION-READY FILMS………FILMS THAT WOULD BE ABLE TO RUN THROUGH A PROJECTOR…………..MULTIPLE TIMES …….AND STAND THE TEST OF TIME……………I’VE ALWAYS HAD GOOD CRAFT IN MY WORK …., SO THAT WAS NO PROBLEM………..I JUST NEEDED TO STAY AWAY FROM MAKING ‘A FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER’…………….WORK THE FILM ……..BUT , STILL AT THE POINT WHERE IT COULD RIDE THROUGH THE PROJECTOR AS A PROJECTION-READY FILM………………WITH THIS ,….I JUST NEEDED TO MAINTAIN GOOD CRAFT IN SPLICING ……..BUT WITH THE INK BLOTS,…….THE ELEMENT OF MATERIAL IS NOW PAINT AND INK………………IT’S A GIVEN THAT BECAUSE THEY ARE ORIGINAL FILMS, THEY WILL LEAVE SOME RESIDUAL MATTER IN THE PROJECTOR………….THAT’S WHAT Q-TIPS ARE FOR………………BUT I USED THIS WONDERFUL INK THAT DRIES REALLY QUICK……SO YOU CAN ROLL IT OUT AND WORK AS YOU GO……….THE THING IS,……..ONCE IT DRIED , IT LEFT A POWDERY DUST ON THE SURFACE……………….SO ,……I BEGAN HEARING THAT THESE FILMS WERE PROBLEMATIC…………..PROJECTORS…………WERE NOT HAPPY AND PROJECTIONISTS ……….WERE VERY UNHAPPY……………..I READ SOMETHING ONLINE ….SAYING ……..‘THE UNPROJECTABLE FILMS OF LUTHER PRICE’……………I RAN FILMS THROUGH MY PROJECTOR AND MY PROJECTOR DIED …………….AFTER RUNNING SEVERAL FILMS THROUGH IT…………..I REALIZED THIS INK DUST POWDER FORMED……………..AT THIS POINT , I KNEW WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT…………IT TOOK MANY Q-TIPS TO CLEAN MY PROJECTOR BEFORE IT COULD RUN AGAIN………….BUT THAT DIDN’T SOLVE THE PROBLEM…………………I HAD ALMOST 50 INKBLOT FILMS SITTING ON MY SHELF…………..THAT WERE NOW UNPROJECTABLE……………………….AS WELL , MY GARDEN FILMS………….FILM FOOTAGE , THAT WENT INTO THE GROUND…………IN FALL AND DUG UP IN THE SPRING………………ROTTED FILMS , WITH BEAUTIFUL DISTORTION AND COLOR………………..I WOULD OF COURSE TAKE THEM IN AND WASH THEM OFF IN MY KITCHEN SINK…………THEN DRY THEM IN THE SUN …….BUT STILL …………A SLUDGE OF GRIT WOULD REMAIN ON THE SURFACE AND THEN THROUGH PROJECTION,……………WOULD BUILD UP IN THE SPROCKET WHEELS OF THE PROJECTOR ………….AND LEAVE A TAR-LIKE SUBSTANCE……………..NOT GOOD ….NOT GOOD AT ALL………………ALL THIS NEW WORK…….AND IT WOULD REMAIN ON MY SHELF………………..BUT I HAVE GOOD FRIENDS …………..THEY DIDN’T GIVE UP ON THE FILMS AND WOULD SCREEN THEM EVEN SO……………..ED …..PATRICK AND MARK…………..IT WASN’T UNTIL LAST YEAR………….I FELT I HAD TO TRY SOMETHING …………….I FOUND THAT WITH THE INKBLOTS ……………., I COULD WASH THEM WITH COLD WATER , TO GET RID OF THAT RESIDUAL DUST……………I FOUND THAT HOT WATER REMOVED THE ARTWORK…………AFTER THIS PROCESS,….MY FILMS WERE CLEAN AS A WHISTLE………………….AND AFTER THEY WERE DRY AND REELED UP…………….., I CHECKED ALL THE SPLICES………………CLEANED THEM UP ………AND THEY WERE READY TO GO OUT INTO THE WORLD………………..I DID THE SAME WITH MY GARDEN FILMS ………I DON’T THINK THE PROJECTIONISTS HATE ME ANYMORE…………… ‘SALLY FIELDS’

Describe a typical day in your life as an artist.

…………………WELL……A DAY IN LUTHER’S LIFE…………….IT DEPENDS ON WHAT I DID THE NIGHT BEFORE……….MOST TIMES …………YOU WRAP IT UP ……………AND YOU TAKE THOSE UNANSWERED ………UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS WITH YOU………………YOU THINK ABOUT FOOD BUT IT’S TOO LATE………….AND IF YOU TRY TO EAT, YOU CAN’T ANYWAY…………….KAREN CARPENTER AND I WOULD HAVE BEEN FRIENDS…………….ONLY , I LIKE FOOD AND WANT TO EAT…………….I LOVE TO COOK………..FOR MY FRIENDS ……………BUT I MOSTLY LIKE TO WATCH GUYS EAT………….. SEXY………….BUT I HARDLY EAT……………..BUT I STILL HAVE A FAT STOMACH , AFTER MY GUN SHOT……………..LOST THE WALL OF MUSCLE THAT HOLDS IT ALL TOGETHER………….SO I HAVE A BULGE …………..I WORK MOSTLY ALL DAY………………..THINKING ABOUT THINGS AND STINKING IT UP…………….I LIKE TO HAVE THE TV ON …………..I ONLY WATCH INVESTIGATIVE TV…………………THEN I SIT AND WORK ALL DAY ………………BECAUSE CUTTING FILM ………….AND……….FILM MANIPULATION IS NOT A STAND UP JOB……………..PERFECT FOR ME…………….BECAUSE I MOAN AND GROAN WITH PAIN…………..BUT MY THREE STRAY CATS,………GURLY…………….MR. GREY AND CARTOON…………KEEP ME IN LINE……………….THEY ALWAYS WANT SOMETHING……………SO I HEAR A SCRATCH AT THE DOOR ……AND IT’S ONE OF THEM….SOMETIMES , ALL THREE ………………THE KIDS ARE GOOD …………..‘DORIS WISHMAN’’’’’’’’’’’’’’,…………I’M JUST TRYING TO FIND MYSELF THROUGH MY WORK ………………..EACH DAY , BRINGS A NEW DESTINATION………………AND I’M UP FOR IT …………, IF I GET UP………………SOME DAYS , I CAN’T GET OUT OF BED THESE DAYS …………..TOO MUCH PAIN……………I MADE A NICE BED NEST……………..WITH A PRINCESS AND THE PEA IDEA …………., I WENT OUT AND GOT LAYERS OF FOAM ……………TO LINE MY BED ……………….OVER MY SAGGY FUTON……………I NEED A NEW NICE BED AND A TV………………..AND THEN I’LL BE HAPPY ………….I MAY EVEN ORDER OUT FOR KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN ……AND DO IT UP BY GETTING THE WHIPPED MASHED POTATOS AND EXTRA GRAVY,……………….EAT ………….AT ………..MY TV DINNER TABLE ……………AND WATCH ‘LOCKED UP ABROAD’ ……………..OR ‘ANCIENT ALIENS’……………….THEN VOMIT IT ALL UP IN MY KITCHEN SINK AND TOILET………………..UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT BUT AN EMPTY PIT IN MY STOMACH…………………………..SO I DON’T THINK I’LL DO THAT………..ALTHOUGH I DO HAVE A CRAVING FOR CALAMARI…………….BUT THEY NEVER HAVE IT ANYWAY …………….VERY TOP SECRET ………..PERHAPS ONE ORDER ……………SOMETIMES NO ORDER ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

……………..that got me thinking ,….so i called ‘tings’……and they actually had fried squid………so , i put in three orders……………..mr, grey is saying things ……………….he wants to go outside but it’s raining……………the cartoon is content in …………..my studio back room ………..have not seen Gurly yet though…………………IT’S A GOOD NIGHT FOR ALL THE KIDS TO STAY IN…………..CAUSE………..IT’S RAINING OUTSIDE ……..AND CATS HATE RAIN………………….’GURLY JUST CAME IN ……DRIED HIM OFF WITH A TOWEL…………..HIS BROTHER, MR. GREY DID ALLEY CAT SONGS WITH HIM………..ANYWAY , MY DELIVERY OF FRIED SQUID SHOULD BE HERE SOON…….I’M NOT WORKING TONIGHT BECAUSE THE ELECTRIC IN MY HOUSE IS SCREWED UP AND THE ELECTRICIAN IS COMING OVER AT 8 AM………..TO FIX THE PROBLEM……………SO TONIGHT , I’M JUST HAVING A BOY’S NIGHT IN ……………..MY GOODNESS ,………………HOW CUTE WAS THAT GUY…………….FRIED SQUID IN THE RAIN WITH A YUMMY CUT ASIAN GUY ,….HANDING YOU A BROWN PAPER BAG FULL OF DELICIOSO………..TOO BAD HE HAD TO GO BACK TO WORK………………….I LIKED HIS TAN BROWN WOOL HAT…………SO ………………….I WAKE UP……………..EITHER ….ONE OF THE CATS WANTS TO GO OUT OR GET IN…………….HAVE COFFEE……..THINK ABOUT FOOD BUT DON’T EAT …………..I MAKE GOOD EGGS TOO………….LOOK IN THE MIRROR IN DISGUST……………AS I TAKE MY MORNING PISS……………BRUSH MY TEETH AND GAG AT THE THOUGHT OF ANOTHER DAY……………THE ROOMS GET SMALLER…………….THE TIME BECOMES SHORTER………………THE DUST IS THICKER…………….THE OCEAN ,…OUTSIDE MY DOOR IS CHURNING FOR SOMETHING,……………..JUST WAITING…………..TO CONSUME…………….I TAKE A PEEK , OUTSIDE MY FENCE…………….JUST TO SEE WHAT IT IS LIKE OUTSIDE………..BUT ONLY FOR A MINUTE…………………SOMETIMES THE TIDE IS LOW AND I CAN SMELL THE RESTITUTION OF THE SEA LEFTOVER ……………OR THE ROARING OF THE WAVES THAT WILL EVENTUALLY BRAVE THE EARTH AND TAKE MY HOME……………….I LOOK AT THE SEA AND THE SHORE…………….AND FIND ROCKS WITH FACES IN THEM………………….AND I THINK ……………PERHAPS THIS IS ALL BIGGER THAN WE THINK…………….PERHAPS WE SHOULD JUST LIVE………….AFTER ALL THAT WAS WHAT WE WERE BORN TO DO……………..AND WITH THAT……………A VISION………………A SIGHT………..NO SKIN OFF MY BACK………………I JUST WANT TO SEE……………FEEL AND BE REAL………………AND IF SOMETHING MATERIAL COMES FROM THAT ,…………………..AN OBJECT OF SOME KIND,………………..FROM THE THOUGHTS OF THE DAY…………………..IT WILL HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF THIS AND A LITTLE BIT OF THAT IN IT……………..AND THEN THE DAY STARTS OVER AGAIN…………………………..

What’s the first artwork you ever sold?

………………I DON’T KNOW ,ME ……….I HAVEN’T REALLY SOLD ANYTHING …………..WE SHOULD HAVE A YARD SALE…………….BUT ,LET ME THINK…………….LIA SOLD SOMETHING OF MINE ,…………….I THINK IT WAS A BLOW-UP STILL FROM THE ‘GAR HAR CLOWN’………………..THE DR. WHO INVENTED BOTOX……………IT WAS INSTALLED IN HIS WAITING ROOM……………..PERFECT ……………I THINK……………

What’s the weirdest thing you ever saw happen in a museum or gallery?

………………..I JUST COULD NOT BELIEVE HOW ALL THESE MUSEUM LADIES COULD HAVE NOT ONLY THE SAME HAIRCUTS BUT THE SAME FACES TOO……..THEY ALL LOOK LIKE THEIR FACE WAS MOVED TO THE LEFT…………..AND ONE EYE ,….LOOKING THIS WAY AND THE OTHER EYE LOOKING THAT WAY………….LIKE GOOGLE EYES AT THE 99 CENT STORE………………….BUT I HAVE TO ADMIT,………….THEY SMELLED NICE………….

What’s your art-world pet peeve?

…………….PET PEEVE…………..I’VE ALWAYS BEEN TREATED WELL AND I LIKE WORKING WITH CURATORS…….IF I COULD PUT MYSELF IN THEIR WORLD,……..I MIGHT UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH WORK THEY MUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH AND LOOK AT……………BUT THERE ARE HIDDEN GEMS……………..RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSES………………I WOULD LOOK FOR THE UNDERDOG……TAKE A RISK AND GO BEYOND WHAT IS IN YOUR FACE ……………ARCHIVE AND DISCOVER ………….THAT’S WHAT A TRUE CURATOR SHOULD DO ….I THINK …………………FIND THE WORK …………GET SOME DUST ON YOU…………………..

What’s the last great book you read?

…………..CHARIOTS OF THE GODS …………..BY ERICH VON DANIKEN………………SHOULD HAVE READ IT YEARS AGO…….BUT I DIDN’T…………….

 

Lecture by Luther Price

2012 Biennial: Luther Price

“How Deep Is Your Love?”: An Afternoon with Luther Price

Luther Price Loves Tape

 

Luther Price @ Wikipedia
Luther Price @ Callicoon Fine Arts
‘The hand made Luther Price’
Luther Price by David Duncan
Luther Price @ Underground Fi;m Journal
‘Luther Price: Poetry of the Found’
Book: ‘Luther Price: Imitation of Life’
‘I’ll Cry Tomorrow’
‘Kittens, Biscuits, and Blots: Films by Luther Price’
‘Postcard from Oberhausen’
‘LUTHER PRICE — (WAS) BLEIBT / REMAINS LUTHER PRICE’
‘The films of Luther Price’ @ Autopsies Research Group
‘Luther Price’s latest exhibition is not for the faint of heart.
‘Never pass up an evening of Luther Price films.
‘Film and Obsolescence’

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** jay, Hi. The last three ‘Apes’ movies are Hollywoody CGI things, but they’re very good at it. I don’t know, but the stalking thing sounds interesting to me. I’m odd though. Thanks about the blog’s modus. May a day of greatness befall you. ** Corey Heiferman, Hi. Thanks much for the suggestions/links. I’ll imbibe them post-this. Great that you’re going ahead with the rooftop soiree, Let me know how it pans out. Of course that incripting Gifs things is of great interest. I will in fact see what I can see. Thank you. I don’t really have a favorite cafe. Seems like I would. I guess the ones around me that I go to most often would count? Paris-London, Noir, and the cafe on the 1st floor of the Smith & Sons English language bookstore, but mostly in that case because they serve good scones. ** Jim Pedersen, Hi, Jim! How cool. I bet you have (played Feldman and Wolff). Obviously, wish I’d been an observer or overhearer. How are you, pal? ** Charalampos, Hi. Well, of course. Not strange: your soul. The new GbV just came out yesterday, but I got it early. Hugs from Paris -> Paros. ** rewritedept, Whoa, hey, dude. It’s been a bit. I’ll check those records I don’t know, thanks. Enjoy the frying. That takes me back. ** Steve Finbow, Well, of course, sir. ** Evan Femino, Hi, Evan. Good to meet you. Grant is incorrigible! Ha ha. I didn’t know about the ‘Sentence-Making’ book, but of course I’ll get it. Thanks a lot. I hope all’s great with you. ** Cletus, My pleasure, and a given. ** Borja, Hi, Borja. Welcome! Oh, maybe I will (like your new film). I’ll go find out. Thanks a bunch. ** Jeff Schneider, Hi, Jeff. Well, no, thank you for birthing it. I’ve only recently discovered Pig Roast, and it’s very exciting. Lots of respect to you! ** Dominik, Hi!!! Well, well, of course, maestro. Thank you for your lists. I need to read that new Broder. Tiny kid pool! What a great purchase! What color is it? I hope the wind bypassed it. Today I’m going to give love the herculean task of figuring out some way to prevent the Far Right from winning the majority of seats in the French Parliamentary election, G. ** Tosh Berman, Hey, You read at lot. And a bunch of biggies to boot (Joyce, Markson, …). I need to read that Sante. And great film/music too. You’re a refined sieve! ** Brightpath, Hi. I want to see that new Harmony Korine so bad. It hasn’t shown up here yet. But I’m all eyes. Thanks! Hope you’re swell too. ** fervorxo, Hey. The new 730… is wonderful, of course. Yes, he is very kindly letting us use a track as the end credits music in our film. You saw Morgan Garrett live! I’d love to. Cool. Fine lists. Happy to see ‘Event Factory’ on there. I still haven’t seen the Bonello or Seidl. Got to do that. Thanks a lot! ** Max Restaino, Hi, Max! Oh, well, for sure. It’s great! I don’t know ‘The Backwards Hand’, but I’ll get it post-haste. Thanks very much, sir. ** Don Waters, Hi, Don. Thanks for the lists. Some greats on there, for sure. Happy day to you. ** Toniok, Always lovely to see you! I’ve noted the stuff you liked that I don’t know for an imminently future search. And obviously thanks for besting the blog output. Best back to you! ** Thomas H, Hi, Thomas. It was like old home week here yesterday. I’ll hunt your faves. I don’t know quite a few of them. Keanu’s a pip. Or was. And seemingly still is. Hm, I can’t think of any recommended books that I loved or hated. I think I’m spacing on how I found the books. Not good. It happens more with films. A friend recently highly recommended this film ‘The First Days’, and I could barely sit through it. So there’s one. Take it easy. What’s new? ** Steve, I really need to see ‘I Saw the TV Glow’. I don’t know what I’m waiting for. We have 3 music mutuals on our lists. That might be a record. It depends: If I want to take the metro I most often do (the 1), it’s about a 20 minute walk to the nearest open station right now. If it’s the secondary option (the 8), it’s still nearby. ** Bill, I need to read Clowes again. Right, Gastr del Sol, that’s one I spaced on when making the list. I’d like to hear that new Ned Rothenburg. Anyway, thanks, bud. ** Barkley, Howdy, Barkley. I’m going to have to wait to click your links until I’m finished up here, especially today when it’s kind of a gigantor. But thank you in advance. Sure, send me your art ideas. You have my email address? Thanks about ‘TMS’. And I don’t know Solidarity Cinema, no. Great! Looks really valuable. Life’s okay. Film is in a big mess, but we’ll get through it somehow. Thank you!!! ** Lucas, Hi! Your film viewing of late simply can not be beat. If you ever get to see Godard’s ‘Adieu au Language’, jump, but only in 3D. It was made for 3D, and it’s only a mere fragment of what it’s supposed to be when not seen in 3D. Of course the chances of seen it in 3D will be rare, but don’t miss the opportunity, and wait for the 3D version. It’s become my favorite Godard. Wow, I think that’s my favorite collage by you yet! I’ll spend more time with it when I’m not foraging through this unusually immense p.s., but, yeah, I love it! Thanks. I have the same hope for this week, and for yours too. ** _Black_Acrylic, Well, of course, man! Shit, I totally spaced on the Consumer Electronics LP. Damn, that should’ve been in mine. And, yay, for you-now-what! Everyone, Mr. _Black_Acrylic has launched thew new episode of his crucial musical podcast Play Therapy. Get it in your head and bod. So sorry about the match. Bleah. ** chris dankland, Chris! Holy moly! It’s so nice to you, old pal! Yeah, today’s a tough one to linger and chat, but, seriously, come back. I want to know everything, or at least a bite-sized version of everything. Great! ** Misanthrope, Hi. I have looked into the Olympics and seen the prices and now I am thinking about whether it can possibly be worth the price. Nice life goings on there. Just the name Department of Labor speaks of difficulties. Later gator. ** Harper, I’m a no small list fetishist myself. Strange for anarchist, but maybe it’s like the forbidden fruit. Super great, basically unimpeachable lists, of course. Stuff going okay? ** NLK, Hey, hey, NLK. The new Godard is fairly different from ‘Droles de guerres’, but it is the same wheelhouse, relatively speaking. I have to see the Guiraudie film, clearly. Will do. How are you? I’m hoping the answer is in the affirmative. ** Darbyy 😴, I think ‘Medusa …’ finally comes out any week now. I haven’t listened to Failure enough yet to pick things out. It’s still a wash of newness. Sure, I’d like to read something you wrote. Naturally! Thanks for the article. I’ll need to decompress after this whopper of a comments/p.s. first, but then, yep, thank you, pal. ** Uday, Agreed. About the weather. Just so long as the hot portion is very, very brief. I’m not sure if the ex-boyfriend would want me to identify him as such. He’s a model and a writer. Maybe that’s a hint? Eek, molested by Paula Abdul. At least it wasn’t Jennifer Lopez. Obviously your lists are full of greatness. And the ones I don’t know can be deemed great by association. Thanks, buddy. ** ellie, Oh, okay, ha ha, gotcha on the Merrill thing. I didn’t know people are still reading ‘The Changing Light at Sandover’. That’s the first time I’ve seen it mentioned in years. It used to be a huge deal. Interesting. I think I have about another week or so before I have to start passing through ‘customs’ to go home. Urgh. Great lists. Vanessa Place! I so love Leanora Carrington. ‘Sombre’! Really, really nice. I don’t now ai feith’s substack feithling, but I’ll go find it. Thank you, thank you! ** Malik, Hi, Malik! Welcome! I’ve thought about doing a theater list. I guess I just figured since everything would be Paris-specific, it wouldn’t hold much interest. But, yeah, I’ll try to do one. So many people put ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ on their list, and I don’t know it at all. I will endeavour to though, ASAP. Intriguing. I like that christtt too. I spaced on it. Sam D’Allesandro! Wow, nice. You’re feeding yourself very well, to my mind. Thank you very much. How are you? What’s going on? ** Nika Mavrody, If I had known about your blog, surely it would have been there. ** Right. I’ve restored and expanded an old blog post about the singular Luther Price for you today. Have at it? What do you say? See you tomorrow.