KTLA – 5

A 31-year-old West Hollywood resident, who was described as being extremely fit only a week or so ago, lapsed into a coma and died Thursday after being diagnosed with “full-blown meningitis,” city officials said.

Read more: http://ktla.com/2013/04/12/west-hollywood-officials-warn-residents-of-meningitis-case/#ixzz2QIo7oQQd

Glitter Dick’s aesthetic causes kerfuffle at University of New Mexico

BY SAMANTHA ANNE CARRILLO

As rock and roll bands go, Glitter Dick’s pretty apolitical. It’s all about sleaze, dirty licks and pleasure. But when the band’s flyer was banned by UNM, vocalist Kendal Killjoy was shocked.

Granted, the flyer was borderline pornographic. But that’s the thing about pornography: It’s hard to define. What makes something art, erotica or smut? Judging work on aesthetic and artistic “merit” couldn’t be a more relative or fallible premise. Bad taste isn’t quantifiable.

The hubbub about the flyer stemmed from a letter that UNM Student Michael Hernandez wrote to the Daily Lobo. The band had re-appropriated Tom of Finland’s art work—highly caricatured, beefy, homoerotic studs—and Hernandez wrote that the image caused him to lose his appetite. He likened his experience seeing it to sexual harassment.

When KRQE broadcast coverage of the flyer ban, they censored the phallic portion of the drawing. I expected that. But I was surprised to see the word “Dick” in the band’s moniker blurred out as well. I wonder how Dick Knipfing felt about that. The delineation of vulgarity is so vague.

Based on the meaning of the word “tasteless,” the administration was either describing the flyer as lacking flavor (which is unlikely) or lacking aesthetic judgment regarding appropriate behavior. As the art depicted homosexuality, any suggestion of inappropriate behavior is troublesome.

After Glitter Dick’s flyer was removed, the band created a new poster that didn’t mention their album release party. Instead of a promotion, it was a protest. The new poster featured Tom of Finland’s art, along with that of Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus, Michelangelo, Alice Neel and Pablo Picasso. Copies around campus were taken down as well, but the administration had nothing to do with the removal.

Whether homosexual identities and lifestyles can be depicted in authentic (rather than sanctimoniously sanitized) ways on campus is still a concern. Can those depictions withstand the watch-dogging of turned-off students? This incident certainly raises questions about the definitions of public spaces and safe spaces.

EPILOGUE

It was so important to provide Tom the dignity of being in his own home, to be on his own time so he could choose, with a sense of self-determination, control over his own death.

Though Tom was in a hospital bed, rather than his own bed as he had intended, he ultimately succeeded in his design. May we learn from this and permit those who choose to navigate their own vessel into the sea, to do so with respect. Tom set sail on November 7, 1991.

Tom of Finland: Life and Work of a Gay Hero, 2012

ALL BEAR

Tom was born in May and his given name is “Touko”.
May in Finnish is “Toukokuu”.  

Touko’s Name Day is
24th May 

Touko, c.1935

 

Finland is one of the countries in Europe which celebrates Name Days (called Nimipäivä in Finnish). The tradition of celebrating Name Days dedicates a name or names to every calendar day of the year. A person then celebrates a Name Day on the day in the calendar where his or her given name appears.

 

In Finland, Name Days can be celebrated in the same way as a Birthday, where the individual having the Name Day will receive greeting cards, flowers or gifts from friends and family. Everyone appreciates good wishes on their day.

 

Hyvää Nimipäivää, Touko!

TOM OF FINLAND FOUNDATION CALENDAR

Killing Controversial Internet Piracy Legislation

The growing anti-SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) support that has swept through the gaming and Internet community found a very big ally today. With websites like Reddit and Wikipedia and gaming organizations likeMajor League Gaming prepared for a blackout on January 18th – the same day that the House Judiciary Committee hearing on HR 3261was scheduled in Washington, DC – President Barack Obama has stepped in and said he would not support the bill.

Just like piracy itself, this debate isn’t over. Expect more bills to move forward, although the wording in future legislation is expected to be more narrowly focused in an attempt to appease the current administration. But given the current economic climate and the upcoming Presidential election, there could be a different administration entering The White House soon, changing the landscape for these types of bills.

Forbes

1/16/2012

TOM OF FINLAND, “Telephone Booth”, 1976, Courtesy Tom of Finland Foundation

DAN DECARLO, “Party Girl”, Courtesy of Craig Yoe

R. CRUMB, “Cartoonist”

RAND HOLMES, “Gay Comix Issue #1”, c. 1980s, Courtesy of Howard Cruse

From the coquettish to the most explicit “dirty drawings,”
the exhibit presents the ultimate homage to sexual fantasy
uninhibited by the constraints of reality.

Museum of Sex

Fifth Avenue  @ 27th Street

Artists! Please submit artwork for the gallery show at BENT-CON  (December 3-4, 2011) .

Please include Artist Name, Title of Work, Medium and Dimensions with an image of the work. Indicate whether the piece is for sale, not for sale or for auction. Send submissions to: Dave Davenport,  dave@dogspunk.com .

You can bring the art with you the day of, but it must be wall-ready. This is also an opportunity for artists to show work who may not be exhibiting.

Michael D. Stevenson
1947-2011

Beloved proprietor of LA Art Box Conservation Framing and supporter of  the arts, Michael Stevenson, has died this month. A Memorial Mass will be held:

10:00am Saturday, October 22, 2011

Saint Victors Catholic Church
8634 Holloway Drive
West Hollywood, California

Please consider rather than flowers sent, offering that extra support to a favorite institution or charity as Michael so often did.

The Landale Cottage Communiqué
Windon Newton, acting manager – 310.567.6310

“Art does not reproduce what is visible; it makes things visible.”
Paul Klee, artist

For centuries we have wondered, what is art?

HuffPost Arts has assembled a list of 15 great artists’ definitions of art.