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Noted with appreciation: Reality Studio

Published January 27, 2010

I went about my day yesterday in the usual fashion – getting up, having coffee and getting to work. Of course like 98% of people I know I stopped to check facebook and a blog or two during the day and stumbled over this treasure trove of goodness about a gentleman named William Seward Burroughs.

Yes, I’ve written about him before.

This is different though because I was halfway to writing a letter to Tyler Green and Greg Allen because Allen had recently written a small bit about Mary Meyer (JFK’S mistress) and the relation to the Truitts. It’s funny because I know a bit more about that whole thing than I should, mostly because of a job I had earlier in my life. But the connection here is clearly conspiracy. Let’s be blunt about this one thing – WSB did conspiracy better than anyone.

Anyway I decided not to send a letter – because I really shouldn’t, and started reading some of the most interesting things I’ve ever read about Burroughs in a long time. I’m serious, really quality writing. (not like the drivel I write) I am fascinated by an article called “Burroughs and Beats in Men’s Magazines: William Burroughs Appearances in Adult Men’s Magazines” (URL). Even more interesting is an article about his writing for the magazine Swank. (URL) The article starts from this little passage;

Q: What is with all the men’s magazines?

A: Oh, I read them for the articles.

But here’s the punch line. In July 1961, Swank publishes a first section of what would go on to become Naked Lunch. Naked Lunch would go on to be published about a year later. Even further Burroughs was not the only writer to be doing this; Kerouac, Ginsburg and a host of others were publishing in these magazines. Burroughs would later go on to publish as many as 26 articles for the men’s magazine Mayfair.

Here is a quick rogues gallery of titles Burroughs published in in the 60’s and 70’s:
Playboy, Penthouse, Suck, National Screw, OUI, Club, Playgirl, Blueboy, Mayfair, Cavalier, King, Jaguar, Swank. Makes me almost wish that the sleazier parts of our culture would publish with a bit more variety between the cover.

For more information http://realitystudio.org/

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Art Week at the Strand Book Store

Published December 8, 2009

Somehow book news is all over me this week – I’m going with the flow of it – for today anyway. The Strand is having “Art Week” with a nice line up of events starting today and going into next week. All of these events are at the Broadway and 12th Street location as well as being free and open to the public. I’ll also admit this is straight from the press release…

Tuesday, December 8, 7:00pm
Lisa Kereszi, whose photographs are in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Brooklyn Museum of Art; and the Study Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, will show images from her new book, Fun and Games.

Wednesday, December 9, 7:00pm
Award-winning photographer Joel Meyerowitz will present images from the project he was commissioned to do by the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, collected in the book, Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks.

Thursday, December 10, 7:00pm
Robert Polidori, staff photographer for The New Yorker, shows images of Versaille’s conservation project from his new book, Transitional States/Parcours Muséologique Revisité.

Tuesday, December 15, 7:00pm
Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for The New Yorker and author of Building Up and Tearing Down, in discussion with architecture critic James Russell of Bloomberg News.

Above: Lisa Kereszi, Junkyard office with TV, Trainer, Penna. 2001

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Holiday books for the creative person in your life

Published December 7, 2009

Usually this post is preceded by receiving the Taschen holiday catalog. No catalog this year, but there are so many great books out this year I’ve decided to just go forward. So here’s a list of what I think are pretty interesting reads.

Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? – Jean Braudrillard.
I think the key to this book is in it’s brevity as well as it’s frequent uses of art and in particular photography to exemplify the distance between human and natural. University of Chicao Press

The Rockabillies – Jennifer Greenburg. (photo Above)
Greenburg’s carefully done photographs reflect the attention to detail required for introducing a contemporary sub-culture (to depict any any subculture really). Published by Center For American Places

Art School (Propositions for the 21st Century) – Steven Henry Madoff
A compendium of voices – Theorists, Artists, Administrators, Student , and Curators. Think of this as a road map for future learning. MIT Press

Your Flying Car Awaits: Robot Butlers, Lunar Vacations, and Other Dead-Wrong Predictions From the 20th Century
That pretty much says it all. Harper Perennial

The Years Work in Lebowski Studies – Edward P. Comentale & Aaron Jaffe
Something here for the slacker and something here for the scholar – just don’t spill your beverage. Michigan State University

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An amazing night of pop culture at John McWhinnie

Published November 4, 2009

Bad Barbie By David Levinthal
I made the trip out of Bushwick tonight to see the latest show from David Levinthal this evening. The evening turned into a pop culture night that could only happen in two cities here in the states.

First things first. Bad Barbie is hardly new work from Levinthal in fact it predates his more celebrated work Hitler Moves East a collaboration with Gary Trudeau. The interesting thing about the Bad Barbie images to me is the way the culture of the late sixties/early seventies is clearly reflected and amplified. Levinthal Shows Barbie not as a mild mannered woman hoping to marry the right man (her boyfriend Ken) but as a woman who clearly revels in her sexuality and freedom. You could also say that in these photographs Ken becomes her cuckold while her “mandingo fantasy” is played out with (an african american) G.I. Joe.

Either way you read this, these images are charged with enough thought and minimal theatrics to have a honest sexuality about them. For me that was more than enough. The images have a reality about them that seems for the most part to transform the dolls into characters worth watching.

Off topic, but clearly on the evenings pop culture vibe…
Gossip Girl was being filmed tonight as I was leaving the gallery – that made me stop and think – although I’m not a fan of the show, I know enough about it to know what it is. Comparing that to the free wheeling version of Barbie I just saw, I thought how tame Gossip Girl really is.

I saw Neal Casssdy’s typewriter. That was pretty big thrill for me (I’ll admit to being a beat generation junkie…). FYI Neal Casssdy is perhaps best known for being characterized as Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road among others as well as the driver of the bus in The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test. He also wrote an amazing book called The First Third.

I found myself in a back room for a moment as well and could swear that I saw some of the Vivienne Westwood clothing that Sid Vicious was known for. I wonder … nah.

Special Note to Sharon Butler – I came face to Face with Alec Baldwin tonight, ok we look something like each other…

Bad Barbie By David Levinthal is on display until December 5th at John McWhinnie @ Glenn Horowitz Bookseller

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A quick glance at the new Gagosian "bookstore"

Published September 17, 2009

Interested, curious? Then point your browser over to “Art We Love” and take a quick tour this new offering from the Gagosian Gallery. My favorite part of this post is unsaid – but shown right off the front – five Jeff Koons puppy vases greet you upon entry to the “shop”.

I can only imagine a traditional bookstore being able to afford one of those puppies – much less five of them. Still it’s a interesting concept, and I’m thrilled that someone is willing to try something a little different right now.

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