* (restored)
‘Shaye Saint John videos are the internet’s answer to outsider art, and they’ve been flippantly relegated to just another thing in ” that weird part of YouTube.” There’s no big artist reveal, no studio-backed film adaptation, no corporate sponsorship. She posted videos on YouTube, and then one day, she stopped. Her website looks like it was plucked from 2001, because it was. The “Meet Shaye” page, peppered with GIFs and an autoplaying MIDI, declares: “LONG STORY SHORT…I AM AN ENTERTAINER, I AM A MODEL, I AM A SINGER, I AM A MAGICIAN, I AM AN ACTOR. I AM SO MANY THINGS! I AM ALSO THE WORLDS RECORD HOLDER FOR HAVING THE MOST PROBLEMS!”
‘Words are repeated and flashed across the screen, dolls are destroyed, mannequin legs tap and drag across the concrete. And there’s so much of it! But a few themes repeat in the videos: obsession with beauty/perfection, obsession with celebrity, obsession with connecting with others (but an inability to ever really do it). Shaye is a woman of excess. She’s on the internet 24/7, interacting with her fans and sharing autographs, she’s seeking miracle cures, she’s seeking riches. When you see her masked face in front of the palm trees and twinkling Hollywood horizon, and her strange figure slouching in front of the pink stucco houses, she simultaneously fits the scene and repulses the viewer. She’s a manifestation of celebrity excess and obsession—she’s an Indiana punk in LA exorcising her creator’s demons.
‘That creator was Eric Fournier, an LA-based artist who passed away on February 25, 2010, from complications related to his alcohol abuse. He was 42 years old. In this story, there are two Shaye Saint Johns. First, in myth, supermodel Shaye Saint John is disfigured in a freak accident and subjected to a series of horrific mind-control experiments by the CIA. Eric Fournier, shy and genius artist, takes her under his wing and helps her create art for a wider audience. Second, in reality, Shaye Saint John is a rubber mask and deflated costume draped over a wheelchair when not worn by Eric Fournier, shy and genius artist. Battling alcoholism and overflowing with ideas, he uses the Shaye character to create art while deflecting the spotlight away from himself.
‘Fournier grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, and in the mid 1980s he nourished the growing punk scene in bands like Blood Farmers and Skelegore. Before the interconnectivity of the online world, Fournier’s friends in Bloomington relied on him to import the new punk trends from LA. “I distinctly remember the great feeling of anticipation whenever Eric returned from LA. What new gem would he have dug up?” recalls a friend on a memorial message board posted after his death. “And he rarely failed to deliver.”
‘But despite his role as importer of hardcore culture, Fournier shied away from the spotlight. “I never had the impression he was at all comfortable being a singer in a band. It was not about ego or desire for attention,” another friend recalls. “He’d sort of keep his back to the audience, pull faces or whatever—keep a bit of ironic distance from the whole ‘singer in a band’ thing.” These posts were made five years ago on a message board started by Jim Faust, Fournier’s partner in the 14 months before his death. Faust was seeking insight into Fournier’s past.
‘Fournier arranged a showing of the Shaye Saint John short Turkey Day, which, according to Shaye’s website, premiered at the Nuart Theater in Los Angeles on Feb 1, 2002. “A lot of people were down there, a lot of lights and stuff, regular people just don’t know what to think,” Crew recalls. Lenora Claire was also in attendance: “It freaked everybody out, and it got banned from the Nuart. I was like, ‘What is this weird puppet robot woman lady?'”
‘And that’s the thing—she’s clearly not a puppet, clearly not a robot. She’s some sort of woman, who can form sentences and move about. There’s a person manipulating the costume, but the videos never reveal the creator within. “Shaye’s like a hot dog,” Claire says. “It’s awesome, but don’t ask what’s inside.”
‘Fournier’s work has inspired a few disciples, such as filmmaker Larry Wessel, currently working on the documentary ERIC AND SHAYE. His goal in creating the documentary is bringing Fournier’s Shaye Saint John work to a wider audience, with the goal of helping Fournier get recognition as a groundbreaking filmmaker. Wessel describes Fournier’s work as “maximalist” art, or, “the diametric opposite of the extreme simplicity and ultra boredom inducing pretentiousness and elitism of minimalism.” To Wessel, Fournier’s films represent a complete freedom from convention.
‘As a figure of this maximalist movement, Shaye exists outside of Fournier himself, and her role in the mythos is tantamount to the art itself.’ — Kate Davis Jones
The Adventures of Eric Fournier
Sink Stink
Safe and Sane
Twenty4Seven Music Video
Tissue
TRIGGER 14 HOLD ON
Hand Thing
Symbiosis of the Two Cousins
Halloween Trash
OMG OO-LALA
Playing With Matches
Washroom 2
Western Town
Shaye Saint John Youtube Channel
The Bizarre and Tragic Story Behind One of the Internet’s Original Outsider Artists
Trigger Happy: The Hallucinogenic Horror of Shaye Saint John
Behold the Hilarious, Magical Horror That is Shaye Saint John
“Cracked Actress: The Enigma of Shaye Saint John”
ON SHAYE SAINT JOHN, SUPERMODEL OF MANNEQUINS
Shaye Saint John @ Twitter
*
p.s. Hey. The blog is late today, and I’m going to need to move quickly, apologies. because we’re having yet another power outage here in Paris, and I’m borrowing some internet briefly so I can do the p.s. I hope it’s fixed by tomorrow. ** Adem Berbic, I guess you’re long gone now, lucky you, since the heatwave is roaring back into place today. Video of your friend’s [performance work? We had time to wander about in Amsterdam. It was nice. Please tell T I’m very honored. ** Dev, Oops, sorry. LA, nice. I might even be there at the time since I always go to LA for Halloween. Let me think re: bookstores, but, as Sam said, the bookstore Stories is a must. More later. ** Bill, I don’t think I’ve met Elijah, so probably not. I know he’s still making stuff, but I haven’t seen anything in a while. Thank you! ** Måns BT, Hi, Måns! I’m ok, too hot and without electricity at the moment, but generally fine. It’s great to see you! You’re in Spain! It’s probably pretty hot there too, no? Two years, yes, so weird, and, yeah, you’re right I think that the film wasn’t even finished when we started talking about Zita. Trippy. We’re definitely going too Stavanger in late August, and we want to stay a bit and go to amusement parks in Scandinavia, depending on finances, so, yes, we may well get to see you! I’ll let you know when the plans are in place. Have so much fun, my pal! ** Nicholas., Hi there! Heartful, but you sound alert. I’m ok, trying to survive the fucking summer and its damages. ‘Nothing’ sounds really good at the moment. ** Dominik, The trip was good. A bit odd, but good. And the cool weather as probably the best part. ‘Blue Film’, and … ? Love being boringly required to wish for his power to be turned back on and for a huge, unexpected rainstorm., G. ** Carsten, You liking Marseilles so much makes so much sense. Don’t envy you the heat, although we’re being as baked here as you can get. I’ve been in Marseilles enough times to know I think it’s very interesting and rather exciting and that I would definitely not want to live there. Safe trip to Malaga today. I have water in my apartment, and that’s about it at the moment. Cold water. High five or low five or something of that nature. ** _Black_Acrylic, Congrats on the lack of vomiting. I never vomit. I can’t seem to, even when I try to by shoving my fingers down my throat. Your carer sounds sweet. The Leeds RT screening is announced, for the 31st. I’ll check with them to make sure the theater is accessible. ** laura w, Narcissist, hm, that seems unfair and kind of off? Some people say all French writers are narcissists, but, if so, bring it on, I guess. I swear, I feel confident that your voice is fully digesting any writing you like. Amsterdam was nice. I lived there in the 80s, and it’s kind of powerful and melancholy to be there, but I like that somewhere makes me feel something. How’s stuff as of now? ** voskat, That is glamorous. Oh, gosh, all power of recovery possibly to laura. Man, how unfair. To her of all people. ** Steve, The screening was ok. It was at 2 pm on a Monday, so it wasn’t a huge crowd, but they seemed into it. No, when Zac and I first met we did a three week road trip in Scandinavia visiting theme parks, so this’ll be revisiting our faves, if we do it. ‘Barrio Triste’ sounds very interesting. I’ll try to find it. Thanks! ** Uday, Hi, pal. I’m sorry the post intersected with your real world problem or problem-ette at least. But it’s gone now. Amsterdam is pretty and charming and overcrowded and sweet and not the most exciting place on earth. I don’t know why Bret lets these mediocre directors adapt his work. I guess he doesn’t care or thinks they’re good? And then there’s the imagined big pay day, I guess? You good? ** jay, I’m glad you made it through the post in one piece. I did read ‘Memoirs of Hadrian’ and I remember really liking it, but it’s been so long that I can’t call up a specific impression. I hope you’re not getting this new heatwave. ** ⋆˚꩜｡darbbzz⋆˚꩜｡, Hey! Deep dive, sure. any time. So many ideas. That would be confusing. But still, people would pay to have a brain that has so many ideas maybe? I seriously doubt Luka Magnotta knows my work. Law of averages. Clive Barker has lung cancer? Oh, no. He’s a really, really nice guy. Shit. The only reason I’m probably still alive is because I’m a writer, so yeah. I love all the stuff that’s on your mind. I’m at the end of my borrowed internet moment, and I have to finish this p.s. off now, but yeah. Great! More better next time. ** HaRpEr //, Hi. Amsterdam is gentrified for sure, at least compared to the wild 1980s period, but it still looks the same superficially. That does sound strange emotionally, but … good too? Sorry to rush off. I’m getting the ‘end this’ signal. ** Right. Shaye Saint John is up for you today. Do you know that work? If not, do indulge. See you (hopefully) tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
I’m screaming, a good friend is doing a birthday thing on the evening of the 31st, and it’s emphatically not in Leeds. These are two things I really don’t want to have to choose between. Hmm.
Performance. There was a long video somewhere which I can’t find, but here’s a little bit of documentation: https://www.instagram.com/p/DTx14FIDDhE/. Bearing in mind the aesthetic confines which that crew seem to impose on themselves, I think Jess is very good at what she does.
Jesus, even more powerlessness. I really must have been lucky timing-wise, no blackouts or anything, the peak was a relatively tolerable 34C. I swam in the Seine. Talked Guillaume Dustan with James. Went to that wedding, which was actually pretty effortless as weddings go. And now I’m already being tempted by a Eurostar sale announcement. ‘Wander’ is one letter short of ‘wonder,’ so it sounds like Amsterdam treated you both with kindness. How was the screening?
I’ll send T your honour. He and I are in a good groove of writing and talking about writing and trying to piece together what each of us is doing. The first big chunk of what I’m writing now is done. It needs transcribing, which will take a while because it’s long, and the remaining two chunks (according to the current schema) need more time to gestate. I know this sounds a little precious but I’m feeling squeamish about publishing it in my own name, assuming anyone wants to publish it. But I’ll circulate this first bit to a trusted few once it’s typed up and see what they say.
I’m gonna do my level best for to be there for the Leeds gig, you can be sure of it.
Today’s SSJ Post was always a proper classic. Remember when I connected to Keir back then and we featured the character in the pages of Yuck ‘n Yum as a result.
Been struggling with my mental health a little bit of late. Feeling paranoid has been the main thing and so am taking something of a break from the Internet for now. Still visiting the pages of this blog but cutting down on social media in a big way and feeling instantly better as a result.
Here’s how the crisis happened. I was on YouTube enjoying some music as is perfectly normal for me. Played this classic bit of Acid House before the next video was automatically generated as this Aphex Twin track. So that selection had to be me, having picked very similar records together before when playing them out back in the day. Only ever me making that obscure choice. A sudden thought came to me, that I was teaching the algorithm how to DJ! Came as a shattering realisation.
So now I am going back to reading some classic Victorian lit or whatever. This visit to the Leeds Print Studio tomorrow is coming at the ideal time.
Ah Shaye Saint John! Such a small but vital part of my life as a young boy perusing the internet. It’s mostly nostalgia as I know you still can find them on tiktok and whatever, but I miss the days of late 00s internet where YouTube was huge but not algorithmically designed around ad revenue, and random outsider art could reach the mainstream audience (albeit as shock content). Nowadays all we get is people having some group psychosis thinking that children are being sold on Vinted. It kind of feels like the whole world is paranoid, and I’ve become paranoid about this paranoia… been struggling a lot recently still. Feels like nothing in my life is solid, and I’m a blank canvas with no idea on what to do and time is running out. I’ve decided I’m going to move to do a masters, so I’m just going to continue to save for another year. What that masters will be, I don’t know. Possibly something like marketing. But like I said I don’t know who I am or what I want so who knows.
(Whilst typing this the John Waters episode of The Simpsons came on, one of my favourites!)
Hey Dennis. Dang, on holiday for the 31st! Amazing you’ve got a place in the UK though, I really hope that goes well. Cool about “Memoirs of Hadrian” – it’s super technical, I think I’m sort of split 50:50 between googling and reading. It’s very interesting though, it’s got a really fascinating style that’s sort of half formal/stilted and half quite fragmented. It kind of weirdly reminds me of Leve, that same kind of barely-held-together prose that’s barely holding on to coherence. Hope you’re well, adios
Hi!!
Welcome back! “Odd” sounds potentially intriguing, maybe ominous? Do tell me/us more when you have the chance and feel like it!
I found Blue Film underwhelming after all the hype about how extreme and taboo it supposedly is and how many platforms banned it. Are you planning to watch it, or can I spoil the “twist”?
Love running to the aid of your love, making sure you have your power turned back on—it feels really crazy that you can just lose power for days, especially in this weather, Od.
No power again? What the fuck… I hope it returns quickly.
I guess you know me well enough by now to not be surprised by my love for Marseille. Strolled through the city some more & had lunch before my flight, & I was honestly almost sad to leave. Beautiful place that I will surely return to.
Landed back in Malaga safely, where I instantly got one hell of a welcome. En route home I stopped by a shopping center to pick up some groceries & in a rather deserted part of the parking lot a woman was eyeing me. Miniskirt & bra, nothing else. Passed me once, turned around & then approached. Asked if I wanted to party. I gave in to the chit chat, & she quickly added that by party she meant “fucking”. I politely declined, sweaty & tired as I was (& am) & said “proxima vez” (“next time”). She was quite dolled up, but a pretty striking woman. Anyway, to me that beats an airport pickup any day of the week, haha.
You’re leaving again soon, no? Amsterdam was good?
Thanks Dennis and everyone else for the bookstore recs! Sorry to hear about the ongoing power issues in Paris. Would be cool if we were in LA at the same time! Not sure how early in October you typically go, but I’ll be there the 17th and 18th most likely.
Hey! I was big on Shaye Saint John and other such internet oddities, so thanks for the memories. I’m nostalgic for this sort of thing.
I frequently think about setting up an ARG like this and making a youtube channel where I have all of these strange videos with hidden clues relating to a narrative I’ve made up. I actually think I will when I’m finally able to get my novel picked up and make them related to the content of the book. I think I’ve consumed enough ARG’s to make something original.
I have a feeling that this is going to be a lengthy first draft, but luckily the fragmented form makes cutting easier I suppose. It’s a book that’s lived in my head for so long that writing it is very strange emotionally, but I’ve entered a weird kind of clarity where, since I’ve turned this stuff over in my head so many times, when it comes onto the page I’m both precious and reckless at the same time, difficult to explain. Maybe a good way of explaining it would be I have all of these past iterations of how I wanted the book to be in the past flying through my head and on the page I silence them and say fuck you and try something new.
I heard today about this new compilation album of songs by Nirosta Steel who was apparently a collaborator of Arthur Russell. The material spans from weirdo disco and hypnagogic pop to freak folk. It’s one of the most exciting archival releases I’ve heard in a while. It’s called ‘My Skyscraper’. Also very excited about the Xiu Xiu ‘Eraserhead’ cover album which releases tomorrow.
things are things over here! i think that’s the best i can say. i also think this summer is fucking cursed, but we (royal we) are going to try really hard to keep things light and positive and… whatever.
i needed a mindless thriller today so i picked confessions by kanae minato. it’s a very fast read, not particularly artful, very unsubtle, but i enjoyed it, especially the heathers-esque turn it takes towards the end. there is kind of a bizarre hiv/aids motif running through it that i understood technically but was surprising to encounter. i don’t know if i would recommend it, i think you could also just read the very involved wikipedia plot summary of it and get everything out of it that you were going to. one of those books, in other words.
i’m glad to hear your amsterdam trip was nice! and that it makes you feel things. it’s also nice that you’ve retained a robust enough dutch audience to do two screenings of room temperature there despite also writing frisk. another power outage is insane!! paris needs to get it together.
not me just now learning that ryan murphy is adapting bee. how very disappointing. i really liked the shards, too. soundtrack by troye sivan? ugh.
hopefully see you tomorrow!!
Doing well! Hope you survive the heatwave especially without power. Ouch. The heat index was in the early 50s here last week but the monsoon is upon us and the heat has abated. Excellent post today, and many new additions to my ever expanding GIF collection. I’ve had a deluge of ads for this makeover game where the girl, at least to begin with, is scruffy and has bad hair and a unibrow and it breaks my heart when she gets a makeover. I’ve always felt a deep sense of affinity for ungainly women, women who would in Chinese be called Mei Nu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowhere_girls). It’s diva worship of a sort, I suppose, but not the Mawrdew Czgowchwz kind.