Posts Tagged ‘art’

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Sissy Dude = John Webster

March 9, 2009

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*Audrey (Facelift) by John Webster
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* Amy Winehouse by John Webster

At some point in 2008, one of my fave naughty blogs, Johnny Wacker, switched servers to a general Gay Toronto web host, and I didn’t like it. Obviously, Mr. Wacker himself wasn’t too into it because he went back to Blogger and is now known as Sissy Dude. This new platform is basically the same as Johnny Wacker was: lots of vintage love ranging the spectrum of porn, songs, artists, youtubes, advertisements, classic film clips, etc. Not heavy on the chatter, Sissy Dude is more of a wham bam blog, where the author feels the content of his posts speak for themselves. What is a little different about this incarnation is some personal transparency. John Webster, (aka Mr. Wacker, and Mr. Sissy himself) has his photo up on his profile, and we can follow him over to his artistic page, The John Webster Book. Here, his graphic illustrations follow naturally from the blog’s aesthetic. He does a lot of collage, and mixes his love for vintage cheeriness in female and male icons and throws in some contemporary touches.  With vibrant colors, edgy sexuality, and skewed humor, his illustrations might seem like an exercise in pleasantries, but you don’t have to dig too far to see some dark twists. You can see his full portfolio over at i2i Art Inc. While I was over there, I was perusing the portfolio of Ronald J Cala II, whose 1st image set shows a contempt for war politics and a mastery of negative space.

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*Image by Ronald J Cala II for the LA Times

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*Capital of War, By Ronald J Cala II

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* AIDS is Spreading by Ronald Cala II

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CHANNELING : Queer Film on Tour

January 6, 2009

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Chicago-based film makers Ethan A White and Latham Zearfoss are taking their latest project on the road and are coming to a town near you. Full dates and details after the jump, and check out their facebook page and blog. From the press release:

CHANNELING is an entryway into the spirit realm and the queer body politic: a loose catalogue of experimental moving image work that calls up the ghosts of the past and the specters of the future. The intent of the program is to re-imagine film and video as occult technologies that allow us to connect with the bodies, experiences, and emotions that are often invisible–ghostly, even–in everyday life. The works in the program take a personal approach in dealing with the political and historical problems that haunt the queer experience: the AIDS pandemic (Renwick, DiStefano), the body in transition (Montague), the idealized nuclear family (Pena, Robinson), and the narrow cultural standards of desirability (EMR, Moulton). CHANNELING presents emerging and established artists critically engaging with these concerns on their own campy, poetic, sexual, humorous, and even utopian terms, using a variety of aesthetic approaches such as digital video, homemade effects, saturated 8mm, home movies, animation, green screen, and more.

Vanessa Renwick – 9 is a Secret (2002, 6:00, video)
Elliot Montague – Well Dressed (2006, 10:00, Super 8mm on video)
Shana Moulton – Whispering Pines #7 (2006, 5:00, video)
Michael Robinson – Carol Anne is Dead (2008, 7:30, video)
EMR (Math Bass & Dylan Mira) – Somethings Gonna Soon (2008, 4:00, video)
Aay Preston-Myint – Some Ghosts (2007, 2:00, video)
Jillian Pena – Compromise (2005, 10:00, video)
John Di Stefano – (tell me why): The Epistemology of Disco (1990, 24:00, video)

Total Running Time: ~68 min.

Read the rest of this entry ?

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Vintage Gay Record Covers

November 12, 2008

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I was over at my new favorite blog, The Peculiar One, and he pointed me to this online archive of vintage album covers at Bizarre Records. The treasure pictured above came from “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” the name of the gayest gallery, but be sure: they are all pretty damn gay. “Nordic Adventure” and “Stretching Credibility” are pretty cool too.

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Why Are We Obsessed With Vintage Paperback Cover Art?

October 7, 2008

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I guess it’s because of the hysterical extremism of the depicted gender roles? How about the salacious titles? Maybe the nudity, too? I dunno, but we have some nice galleries to choose from when it comes to this type of visual throwback. Vintage Paperbacks is a good place to start, breaking up the covers by genre, including “Film Noir Paperbacks,” “Hillbilly,” “Juvenile Delinquency,” and “Lesbiana Paperbacks.” Gay on the Range curates all the male gay ones into one place in case you are so one track. Any how, they are good viewing for a lazy Sunday!

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Peter Carpenter at the Other Dance Festival

October 1, 2008

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You know how Chicago is slightly plagued with having its local talent bleed away to the coasts? Well Peter Carpenter is one of the gems that is here and has stayed here, to our benefit. This week’s roster for the Other Dance Festival has more than a few must sees, and Carpenter might be the unofficial headliner. Having been awarded a Chicago Dance Makers Forum grant, 2009 will get a full-length work about ex-president Ronald Reagan. For ODF, we get to see where he’s at with the whole process. Since the final production is so far away, what we see this weekend might be just another step in the road, and be assured it will arrest your sensibilities. I mean, a brilliant dance scholar making queer performance art about a former president who is still shaping the U.S.’s reality is can’t-fucking-miss, right?

Thursday and Friday,  7:30pm at Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater (3035 N Hoyne Ave, 773-880-5402, for tickets go to chicagomovingcompany.org).

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Transpunk: Art, Poetry, Spikes

March 18, 2008

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I’ve been enjoying the poems over at UK based Transpunk, a colorful website dedicated to all things punk and gender queer. Some parts are still under construction, so it looks like the site is pretty new. Get over there and tell site owner “Emmet the Girl” how much you love it. You can even send over your own poems, photography and links and maybe they’ll get posted! Thanks to the ever-punk, ever hott Queer Control Records for the link.

–Stinky Pinky

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Amber Hawk-Swanson’s Doll

January 31, 2008

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Sex TV Canada recently profiled Chicago multi-media artist Amber Hawk-Swanson and her work with Amber Doll, a silicone replica (a Real Doll) of herself. The artist’s website (www.amberhawkswanson.com) features a video including entertaining bits of Amber and Amber Doll’s wedding reception and disturbing footage of Amber Doll tailgating at a Bears/Packers game (drunk “dudes” at a football game + a Real Doll = scary). The ways in which people react to and interact with Amber Doll reveals much about them, and perhaps even their views of women in general?

–Amy Miller

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Year in Pink: Art in The Present Edition

December 31, 2007

Top Ten Queer Artists (Chicago)

Barbara DeGenevieve ( www.degenevieve.com)
John Parot
Noah Singer & Mike Andrews ( imperfectarticles.com )
Laurie Palmer
Mary Patten
Feel Tank Chicago
Doug Ischar
Latham Zearfoss
Mark Jeffrey + Matthew Goulish
Stan & Dutes

Honorable Mention:

Nick Cave

Top Ten Artists/Shows 2007

10.) Assume Vivid Astro Focus

9.) Christian Holstad at Documenta

8.) Slava Mogutin + Brian Kenny

7.) Kehinde Wiley at Rhonna Hoffman Gallery

6.) Terrence Koh at the Whitney

5.) Paul Chan

4.) David Altmejd at the Venice Biennale (check him out at the NEW SPERTUS!)

3.) Glenn Ligon show at Regen Projects

2.) Nan Goldin: The 2007 Hasselblad Award

1.) FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES AT THE 52ND VENICE BIENNALE

–Justin Polera

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