Obsessions - Jan 2025

A student asked me this question.

A student reached out and asked me “What Are You Into Right Now?” as she was looking for inspiration. I figured this might of interest to other people. I’m calling this “Obsessions”. Tyler Cowen does the “What I’m Reading”, this is my version, expanded to reading, watching, wearing, etc.

Without further ado, here’s what I’m into right now.

(1) I've been exploring the work of Richard Kern, director and videographer who collaborated with Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch. He has a new book out with No Agency which I bought. (There are six copies left...) I really liked the rawness of his early work, you can find some videos still on Vimeo etc. There was a frenetic energy and perverse boundary-crossing in that work. The book is, however, not for me. It was unclear what the perspective on the subjects was. The images felt a little hermetic. Also, as a standalone concept, photos of hot models simply does not do it for me. This music video for “Death Valley 69”, on the other hand, I love.

(2) I've also been spending a lot of time with the work of Peter Hujar, a queer photographer whose images have a dear space in my heart. If you want to talk about perspective and warmth! I encountered Hujar’s work years ago as his portrait of Candy Darling was the cover of Anohni and the Johnsons’ 2005 record “I Am a Bird Now”. If you know me, you know how much that album is meaningful to me. That image. Candy Darling on her deathbed, surrounded by fresh flowers. A single rose. Black and white. The End’s shadow looming over the white hospital sheets. Candy, beautiful as ever. Candy, Candy, Candy.

(3) I’ve been listening to a lot of Gary Stewart. The “King of Honkytonk”. The album “Out of Hand” from 1975 in particular. “Back Sliders Wine” is so good.

(4) My friend and I saw Laraaji at the Old Dutch Church in Kingston. I can’t stop thinking about it. I am still dazzled by Zach Lieberman’s incredible projections during the show. Zach remains goated.

(5) Besides that, I finished reading Ballard's Atrocity Exhibition. Amazing. I’m slowly making my way through his bibliography. I just finished Bulkagov's “Morphine” which was tremendous. I should probably read “The Master and the Margarita” Loved the epistolary style, the slow descent into madness. Reminded me of Gogol's The Nose. I also just wrapped up my fantasy back-to-back suite. Tzvetan Todorov’s “The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre” followed by Rosemary Jackson’s retort “Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion”. Todorov does a great job outline a pretty foundational theory of fantasy: how it differs from fairytales, what its main essential characteristics are, etc. Jackson, in response, highlights its blind spots, namely Todorov does not dwell on the socio-cultural and psychoanalytic aspects of fantasy (he mentions in passing but that’s all), and expands it in a very compelling fashion.

(6) I recently copped a beautiful grey knitted silk (!) jumper from Rick Owens from the FW15 collection “Sphinx” which I’ve been wearing a lot. My black 2022 Re-Nylon Prada pants have also been getting a lot of wears this month. Perfect for the office. I may add photos next time.