John Waters, Patti Smith, Susan Sontag, Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis, Marsha P. Johnson, Joe Brainard, Fran Leibowitz — the new Peter Hujar exhibit at the Morgan Library sizzled my brain this week, and thank goodness, because I’ve been in need of a proper sizzling for months!
Visitors can borrow a magnifying glass to snuggle up to Hujar’s contact sheets. This should happen at every museum.
Portrait photography is a collaboration, and Hujar’s subjects look just as comfortable on film as I do in my soft pants on a Tuesday. He photographs men in traditionally female poses and vice versa, toothy smiles and pensive stares, sweaters and bare boobs, whatever feels right:
Hujar also took this famous photograph of dying/glamorous/iconic Candy Darling:
Peter Hujar was not widely recognized during his lifetime, but he knew his work mattered, so he kept detailed notes and archives. After he was diagnosed with AIDS on Jan. 1, 1987, he never took another photograph.
Also at the Library are items from poet John Ashbery’s personal art collection. These guys traveled in similar circles — for instance, Joe Brainard is represented in both exhibits. I love Ashbery’s writing, but I’m more inspired by his passion for collaboration. Below is some work from C Comics, where Brainard would draw a comic and John would write the text:
At any rate, if you make it to New York before Oct. 25, plunge into these collections and the fancytown library of Mr. J.P. Morgan. Wouldn’t the world be better if more rich people focused their time and money on antiquarian books?
June 3 marked what would’ve been poet Allen Ginsberg’s 100th birthday. Here he is with Bob Dylan visiting Jack Kerouac’s grave in Massachusetts. Everyone loves a cemetery field trip!
Michael Stipe and Andrew Watt (with Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer) performed the Rooster theme song on Jimmy Kimmel this week. Good lord, Stipe sounds fantastic. We need that voice right now.
This month Criterion Channel is spotlighting several Courtney Love films, including The People vs. Larry Flynt, Straight to Hell and Beat (where she plays Joan Vollmer and Kiefer Sutherland plays William Burroughs).
Anthony Head, best known as Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has died.
Jon Brennan from The Real World: Los Angeles has a song on the country charts after taking a 20-year break from music.
A three-hour Rimbaud biopic is coming our way.
I’m so sad about Marjane Satrapi’s death. Read Persepolis.
Lately I’ve been listening to the band Joanna, whose 1989 record Hello Flower recently became available and will scratch your Stone Roses-shaped itch.
Hype!, the 1996 doc about the Seattle grunge scene, is on YouTube in its entirety:
Finally, congrats to my beautiful middle school graduate!! If you can emerge from eighth grade relatively unscathed, you can do ANYTHING.
love and beards,
whit
email me | (929) 515-1988
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