Possessed by a galvanic intensity rarely encountered in contemporary art, the work of Lionel Maunz is exhibited in discursive arrangement with Peter Sotos’ thematically expansive commentary in this ingeniously layered collation. Whether it is approached as an archival showcase of Maunz’s viscerally assaulting gallery portfolio, or as an exegetical key to the personal histories and refractory obsessions that inform and inscribe an overarching psycho-aesthetic confrontation with suffering, violence and desire, Lionel Maunz Peter Sotos is an immersive and uniquely disquieting fusion of text and imagery. The forum is sick, the conversation corrupted by the audience.
Co-published by Amphetamine Sulphate and Nine-Banded Books, this full-color, large-format, limited edition hardcover features 187 color photos and illustrations by Lionel Maunz and a 63,000 word text by Peter Sotos.
9 x 11.25 | 330 pages | Profusely photo-illustrated | Full-color | Hardcover
Extracts
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Inspirations/Sotos
Inspirations/Maunz
Amphetamine Sulphate
Nine-Banded Books
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p.s. Hey. Please put your hands together, or on the keyboard preferably, to welcome this physically and aesthetically amazing book into the location popularly known as reality. Maunz’s work therein is a revelation, and it contains the first new writing by the great Peter Sotos in a long time, and said writing is up there with his best ever. Plus the artist/writer combo’s a dream. Very highly recommended, let’s just say. My total thanks to Philip Best @ Amphetamine Sulphate for the putting the post together and thinking of DC’s as its recipient. ** David, Hi. I’m too squirrely to do baths. Same with eating: I just shove edible things in the microwave and tap my foot impatiently for those endless two or three minutes. You should see my typing before I go back through the p.s. with a fine toothed comb pre-launch. It looks like a Kenji Siratori novel without the brains. ** geymm, I see your point about the pronunciation. Maybe I’ll try just stopping talking to someone at a cafe for no seeming reason then scribbling ‘geymm’ on a napkin and holding it up then watching their facial expression with great interest. Yeah, zLibrary’s great. I hope it doesn’t get shut down. It’s freezing here too. I like it, but I’m also appreciating the indoors more than I ever thought possible. ** _Black_Acrylic, Indeed. I’ve been searching unsuccessfully for ‘Bad Boy Bubby’ ever since I rediscovered that post. I’ve seen it, but a billions years ago. Ah, that’s too bad about the ‘flash’ thing not suiting you precisely, but I totally get it. I couldn’t ‘flash’ anything decent out of myself if my life depended on it, seriously. ** Dominik, Hi!!!! The good thing is Anita kept her job and yet we still have the story. You’ve gotta love fiction. Perfect love story, yes! If your love finds ‘Bad Boy Bubby’ please tell him to text my love the link. Love finding out the hard way that falafel should not have sugar as one its ingredients no matter how innovative the falafel maker thought they were being, G. ** l@rst, Hey! Yes, I have been poring over the Criterion zines, and they’re totally terrific! They do so much! And so great to see new work by you. I just can’t bring myself to join Instagram. It’s just one thing too many for my attention span to green light. I hope to see the vids at some point, though. ** Steve Erickson, I was going to say remember when hyper-masculinity was cool and trendy, but I don’t think it ever has been in my cognisant lifetime. One gathers it was quite the thing back in the 1950s though. Cool about the Jane Schoenbrun interview. I look forward to it. ** Brian, Hey, Brian. Agreed. Good question about leather. I would think the dead animal thing is part of it, but maybe just subliminally? RIP Lina Wertmüller. I remember liking her film set in a prison, but I forget the name. I get enjoyment out of every Wes Anderson film, even the ones that seem lesser, so guaranteed pleasure for you, I reckon. I’ve started watching the Peter Jackson ‘Beatles’ thing. I think it’s very good. I love how endless it seems. I’m kind of riveted. Interesting. Enjoy your escape from the woods. You’ve got this, man. My week has been far from peachy, but, hey, there are still a handful of hours left. ** Right. You are well aware of the pleasure that the blog has in store for you today, so get in there, please. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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This Maunz – Sotos – AS – 9BB ticket is indeed a dream team and I will happily devour the package up above us here. I sadly could not stretch to a purchase of the actual object but this preview will certainly be the next best thing.
The new episode of Play Therapy is online here via Tak Tent Radio! Ben ‘Jack Your Body’ Robinson returns to deliver abrasive Swedish Industrial, imaginary Hebrew horror soundtracks and oh yeah, some Acid as well.
Fabulous stuff from Sots. For me “Amphetamine” recals Warren Sonbert’s reat film of th same name which can be seen HERE
William E. Jones is a master intertextual explorer. Francis Bacon is a personal God.
Hey wow. This looks great, Dennis! Best is the best. (obvious but apt pun). Wanna talk to you about ‘Get Back.’ Many deep thots: Mostly that the ‘Let It Be’ movie established a 50 year false mythology and that original director shd be shot. Brendan Lott’s show at Walter Maciel Gallery is a hit. So is the monograph w my foreWORD. We had dinner the other night. He’s gonna write to you. Need to get you that book. My LARB essay w yr quotes comes publishes end of this month. Guess we won’t see you for awhle. fuck that shit!
Some great imagery here…. and brilliant book covers… thanks!
I’m on a train on the way back…. I forked our for first class the price was ‘rape’ but worth it… I got wet dragging my case etc… had use of the lounge… so got changed and had a hot chocolate… before boarding…
The Madness gig was ten out of ten… thought I saw the old lady from ‘throw momma from the train’ /of ‘the goonies’.. on stage at one point…but it was a looky likey stage hand… at the end Suggs (the lead singer) did this thing with a towel where he pretends to have an erection moving up and down… I’ve seen him do it before… not quite worked it out yet… how he does it… in this day and age he’s very politically incorrect… just the way I love them… him…
To tie in I had 2 viagra on getting in… and took on board all the traits of ‘madness’ I know of…. and jacked off to ‘night boat to Cairo’ trice… x3
Oh… on the way back from the shopping centre yesterday I spotted a burnt out car… I took loads of pics of the interior… and felt strangely turned on… first time over a car??… in a Ballardian way…. I wanted to wank over the melted seat… but didn’t. ..
(No 1 song in heaven has just come on my mp3 player… time to go…) cheers Dennis x
Another excellent book by Sotos! I’ve always feared any new book by him might be the last, but nevertheless he’s always been worth reading.
Another intriguing offering from Amphetamine Sulphate (umm, keep wanting to type “reptile”). I’m not familiar with Maunz’s work, looks totally up my alley. He doesn’t even have a wikipedia page, hmm.
Been planning ahead on my year-end favorites lists. I’m quite behind on movies, not sure if my upcoming watchlist looks that promising. We’ll see.
Bill
Hi!!
Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh, your copy finally arrived!! And what an excellent post this is with the special inspirations! Thank you! Such an exquisite book in every possible sense!
My love (or I) couldn’t find “Bad Boy Bubby” anywhere, but the search is still ongoing. I think I was in elementary school when I saw it, and all I can remember is that I found it creepy and entirely fascinating. It was one of the first movies that tapped into my core interests/obsessions before I found any kind of well-defined language or knowledge to actually talk about or explore them.
Oh no… Sounds like love had a pretty… rough falafel experience… Sugary falafel doesn’t sound very good. Love getting out of prison after 35 years, and his lover’s still waiting for him, Od. (Another love story, I guess, haha.)
Hey D-
Thanks re: Criterion. So fun to do. I need to finish up the 70’s in volume 3…
Just got tix to see Licorice Pizza on Xmas day. I look forward to that.
Theresa is a SAG member and voting this year for their awards so every day we get tons of DVDs in the mail. She’s so busy making ceramics to sell for the holidays I don’t know how we’ll watch em all! I’m glad to have our own copy of French Dispatch though!
-L
Hey, Dennis,
Whoa, what a beautiful tome. Gorgeous to read, gorgeous to look at, and, I’d imagine, wonderful to hold in one’s hands. Love those many book and BluRay covers, too. Great on all fronts. The dead animal thing is probably at least an implicit component of leather’s weird allure, yeah. I think the Wertmüller prison film you’re alluding to might be Seven Beauties, which does have some prison scenes intermingled with its asylums and concentration camps. But I’d need to see more of her movies. Grand Budapest Hotel in theaters with friends was indeed a pleasure and a joy. Man oh man do I love his movies. Also rewatched The Damned for the first time since my very first viewing last year, and it totally clicked for me this time where it didn’t last time, so that was cool. I hear that Beatles doc is really, really wonderful, and I’m very curious to see it, even as a Beatles novice/neutral/centrist etc. the one thing that irks me is the ghastly AI smoothing of the footage, it’s totally ugly to me, but I can imagine one would get acclimated to it while watching it. And the whole thing sounds really interesting, so I’m going to give it a go at some point. Glad to know it has your endorsement. Less glad to hear your week didn’t deliver on the hoped-for peachiness: quite sorry to hear it, in fact. Good fortune willing that’ll turn around soon. This weekend I’m rereading “Guide” in advance of possibly potentially loaning it to a curious friend. I find it as amazing (amazing really is the right word) as I did when I first read it last year. That remarkably honed first chapter has me wondering about your editing process. I assume it’s mostly a process of subtraction or sanding down, no? Or not. I was thinking about it, anyway. Alright, I’m to bed, but I’m wishing you bouquets of flowers and bûches on a silver platter and whatever other treats your heart desires for diversion this weekend. Let’s hope? All the best.