Just relapse

Just relapse, just go to sleep. Dash Snow 1981 - 2009

Just remember that death is not the end

Lux Interior of The Cramps died last night – which is really sad because every time an interesting man dies another ten bores from hell are sent to replace him. He was married to style icon Poison Ivy for an amazing 37 years and while I disapprove of all institutions I am touched when two perverts find a lifetime of entertainment together.

A northerly wind and bringer of cold air

To be beloved is all I need

and whom I love, I love indeed

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Image: Boreas by John William Waterhouse

S/he's lost control again

On Tuesday evening I went with my friend Pippa to see the new Joy Division documentary directed by Grant Lee. Although I enjoyed the film I have to say that I preferred Control – last years Joy Division movie way more, it was just so much more creative and invocative of the depressing North West. The documentary was made up of archive footage of Joy Division intercut with interviews with the members of the band and their associates who rather than kill themselves tragically young had opted to grow old, fat and boring. What stood out for me though were sections of interviews with Genesis Breyer P-orridge who had been a friend of lead singer Ian Curtis. He was just mesmerizing and so intelligent and coherent – most people would seem so cut in next to Pete Hook but Genesis is such an interesting artist. I found a series of interviews with him on the internet so click on the link (I can’t believe I have made hyper links !!) and check him out. I like a man who goes just that little bit further.

Subversive Stitch

An interesting exhibtion by Susan P Healey of sexualised baby clothes is currently showing at the Window Gallery at St Martins College on Charing Cross Road. Check out the artists website http://susanphealey.com/ to see the clever collection of wedding dress straight jackets and big day accessories embroidered with the words ‘useless whore’. Nice nursery bedding aswell.

This could be heaven or this could be hell

Its hard to know really.

Tulsa

Taken from the series of portraits of damaged youth, Tulsa by Larry Clark published in 1971, the above picture is one of my favourite photographs ever. Despite the gravity of the image, I doubt either of them made old bones – there is warmth and itimacy in the relationship of the couple that resonates regardless. Perhaps it’s the seventies sideburns on the man but it looks to me like a twisted outtake from that ‘joy of sex’ manual one used to find when ransacking the parents bedroom.

And the promise that she is blessed among women

Land 250
Polaroid Photographs by Patti Smith
Fondation Cartier pour l’art Contemporain, Paris, March 28 – June 22, 2008

"Sometimes, if I crave silence I turn to my Land 250. The experience of taking Polaroid’s connects me with the moment. They are souvenirs of a joyful solitude."

A retrospective of Patti Smith’s art created between 1967 and 2007, exhibition includes Polaroid’s, sketches collages, audio installations, referential objects, lyrics, films, music and poetry. The foundation book shop has been restocked by Patti to include works by Blake, Rimbaud and Virginia Woolf.

http://fondation.cartier.com/