THOUGHTS
A work of art must outlast politics – Andrea Dworkin
Or must it? I don’t know, really. Can any form of communication, art or otherwise, reverberate beyond the narrow social temporal construct that it emerges from? Or, are the echoes of an artistic expression merely the symbolic echoes of a certain era in time? Is a Hendrix riff just the ghost of the failed activities of the hippies? A Mapplethorpe photograph – the ectoplasm of the hedonistic New York of the late ‘70s? There are exceptions to this, I’m sure. But I’m in no kind of mood to document them. Point is: I don’t think a work of art can be de-coupled from its political, social, and cultural settings. As much as I’d love for people to read Communions independent of me, the fact remains that it came from me in the years of 2020 and 2021, when I was feeling a particular alienation from my social surroundings and a specific rage against the power structure that I was embedded in. The idea that we can overlook this has always been, for me, another form of delusional utopianism.
There were mid-term elections this week. If I had to glean some takeaways from my “expert analysis” I’d say……… NOTHING. What the fuck is there to say? Elections in the United States are entirely fake. Socially engineered spectacles pantomimed by the media and its loyal viewers. Deep into the fourth stage of Baudrillard’s simulacra. A pure simulacra. The Democrats are crazy ideologues who control everything and the Republicans are dumb as dirt ideologues who bicker about settled cultural issues to the extent that most normies see them as crazy. What’s to be done, really? Until we all accept the harsh reality that we’re watching theory fictional reality television play out on a global scale, we will continuously find ourselves disappointed, depressed, and shocked about how bad it’s all getting. Do yourselves a favor. Recite the old AA mantra: God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Apply that mantra to your media consumption. Feeling serene? Good. Now turn off the news. Log off. Breathe. The spectacle derives its power from our unfettered engagement with it. Stop engaging. A time will come when you’ll be called upon to make a difference. We’re not there yet.
BASED SAFETY
Despite two weeks going by with me not even knowing about its publication due to a social media algorithm dominated by astroturfed figures screaming about another imminent rise of fascism or drag queen school teachers turning your kids trans or whatever, Cormac McCarthy publishes his first novel since 2006’s Pulitzer Prize winning The Road. The Passenger follows protagonist Bobby Western in a kind of transcendental or surrealist road novel set in an apocalyptic wasteland version of American modernity. In all honesty, I was always disappointed by The Road (and thus wasn’t surprised by its critical success). It always rang as a touch hopeful for the kind of story that it was. I haven’t finished The Passenger yet (I’m on a Dworkin and Wyndham Lewis kick) but am enjoying that its a kind of resurrection of the supreme Americana inflected weirdness of early McCarthy novels like Child of God, while still rooting McCarthy’s vision in a philosophical quandary utterly typical of digital modernism. Even better: McCarthy has ANOTHER fucking novel coming out in December. American letters don’t die, brothers and sisters. They just hibernate here and there.
I like Kanye again. Sure: the man is past his artistic prime. But so was David Bowie by the time the ‘90s had rolled around – yea, Kanye has been around now as long as Bowie had been in the early ‘90s. We’re old. Nevertheless, who can deny his undeniable charisma in this interview with Lex Friedman. Kanye has a great laugh. A sense of humor about himself. He’s fun, god damn it! And beyond that, he’s still refusing to back down after the mainstream media has done everything in its power to destroy him. He is, unquestionably, one of a kind. Speaking of hyper simp artistic geniuses, here’s a nice BBC documentary on the first time Kurt Cobain went to the UK and left the kingdom a legend. In the second half of a two-part interview, John Frusciante joins Rick Rubin again – this time discussing the new RHCP album Return of the Dream Canteen specifically.
On the I’m so Popular podcast, friend of SP Zach Langley Chi Chi goes deep on one of my favorite works of surrealist smut The Story of O by Pauline Réage. Not only is the book great, but it also was initially illustrated by some of the most beautiful paintings ever made by the French surrealist and world class slut Leonor Fini, one of which is shared above. Speaking of painters with a penchant for the abject quality in eroticism, ArtForum’s recent cover story on artist Tala Madani was actually enjoyable. Not enjoyable enough to buy a subscription to that failing magazine, but enjoyable enough. The Art of Darkness podcast hosts Gio Pennachietti to discuss the writer and proto E-girl Anais Nin. Wow, looks like we’re really into chaotic slutty female artists of the 20th Century today.
On the self-promotional front: I am on the Easy Listening podcast talking about one of my favorite bands, the feral 1980s St. Louis-based Drunks with Guns. Speaking of, the host of that show Joey publishes an interview with noise musician and former Macronympha member Rodger Stella, who weirdly I saw play over the weekend in Nashville at a supremely Ketamine fried live noise freak show. Merely noting for the serendipity.
Finally, and I’m not trying to humble brag here, but I appear on none other than rock n’ roll god and Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan’s new podcast Thirty Three with William Patrick Corgan. I can’t explain to you how unbelievably meaningful and gratifying this whole situation was to me. The Smashing Pumpkins were amongst the very first rock n’ roll bands that I ever fell in love with. My dad and I went to see them on the Mellon Collie tour when I was only about eight or nine years old. So, when I found out that Billy was a fan of what I did with Communions, I felt a most deep sense of accomplishment. Earning the respect of artists that you respect gratifies the soul on a level deeper than any amount of books sales ever could. And for that Billy, thank you!
REST IN PEACE
Two major art world deaths transpired in the last week. First, art critic Peter Schjeldahl passed away after a long bout with serious illness. Regardless of how many disagreements I had with Peter, there’s no doubt in my mind that this one of the last serious critics and his work is immensely valuable. Here’s his famous essay “Notes on Beauty” for testament to that fact.
Furthermore, the brilliant artist Lee Bontecou, who quite literally invented new mediums AND new forms, passed away from old age.
CRINGE PROPAGANDA
If you feel like ideating suicide tonight, might I suggest viewing this “debate” hosted by anarchist (?) filmmaker and podcaster Thaddeus Russell between everyone’s favorite and now weirdly mainstream positioned neo-reactionary monarchist Curtis Yarvin and DSA errand boy social democrat Ben Burgis. It primarily consists of the clearly intellectually superior but preening and obnoxious Yarvin telling Burgis to read books while Burgis advocates for a transition to Nordic social democracy like it’s Bernie back in 2015 all over again. What is the fucking POINT? Ed Snowden posts an old video of a former CIA agent discussing the means with which he fed misinformation and propaganda to mainstream journalists during the Vietnam War and, my god, you people really think the CIA stopped doing this at any point in the last 30 years? Get a brain!
I don’t mean to alienate my Bjork loving friends. I too enjoy the Icelandic singer’s early records and have been astonished by the singularity of her voice. But holy fuck is she annoying and this interview has me very happy for Matthew Barney that the artist got the hell away from this torrent of unbridled female narcissism! Never found much value in the work of late philosopher Bruno Latour, and his latter life dedication towards shilling for the climate apocalyptsetards merely reaffirms that skepticism.
The sounds of the “abortion rights movement,” according to Pitchfork are, well…. Absolutely fucking terrible. Speaking of abortion, I’m having fun watching the lower IQ tiered of the online right grasp at straws looking for any reason to explain away their inability to capitalize on obscene inflation, a disastrous war campaign in Russia, covid authoritarianism, and the worst crime spree in decades. According to this writer, it has nothing to do with the numbskulled ideologues of the GOP pushing the settled cultural issue of abortion to the fore of the political debate, but is actually because not enough women are married. LOL! Give me a break. On the other side of that ever depressing debate, we have Jacobin pointing to the DNC watering boy turned charity case (after suffering a stroke, which in a sane country would have been grounds to drop out) John Fetterman’s nonexistent “economic populism” as the reason for his overcoming Mehmet Oz in his senate race, and not the mere fact that Fetterman’s inability to think or communicate effectively made attacks on Fetterman impossible without looking like insensitive assholes. As much as people hate to admit it, Fetterman not dropping out was politically brilliant. He doesn’t need to be able to think so long as he pushes the button when he gets the calls from the DNC hive mind and can ride out on the sympathy vote for basically forever. Voila. Welcome to the Senate, Mr. Fetterman.
Ryan Coogler tells Indiewire, the most shamefully ideological of all film crit blogs, about how he “balances art and commerce” in Black Panther and Wakanda Forever. Um, what? How’s that? Formally, the films are utterly indistinguishable from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That is, they’re dumb and impossible to watch for anyone with an even semi-literate understanding of cinema. Are they suggesting then that simply casting black actors is a high-brow artistic statement? In any case, Indiewire demonstrates little interest in making inquiry into these pronouncements.
Finally, I am never shocked by the stark limitations on even the most interesting of contemporary academics’ thought. In this interview, East German born philosopher and communist Boris Groys discusses his new book The Philosophy of Care. He dissuades the interviewer from the idea that an anti-scientist thinking was what spurred the anti-Covid vaccine movement, but instead says it was of an institutional critique. I think this is correct. But, he then goes on to say that this kind of thinking is consistent with an allegedly neoliberal Foucaultian line of critique. This of course is all made stupid when considering one utterly obvious fact: the vaccines do not fucking work and the danger of Covid didn’t warrant mandating any vaccine even if said vaccine DID FUCKING WORK. The ways in which academics endlessly pontificate upon essentially simple questions with easy logical answers is fucking nauseating. I can’t have it, man. I just can’t have it.
ILLUSTRATIONS:
1. art by Robert Mapplethorpe
2. art by Leonor Fini
3. Smashing Pumpkins
4. art by Lee Bontecou
5. Black Panther
Fantastic podcast with Corgan, Adam! Great to find likeminded artists. Communions on the way to Perth, Aus by mail; can’t wait to read it
Love to see appreciation for Drunks with Guns. St Louis has many of fantastic punk/noise/hardcore/agro-psych bands that no one has every heard of because they rarely or intentionally never recorded their music or rarely left the St Louis area (ie, legendary noise act Ghost Ice).