“My sketchbook is a witness of what I am experiencing, scribbling things whenever they happen.” Vincent Van Gogh
Pictured are excerpts from Vincent’s letters to Theo. They are astonishing.
i am a camera.
(Source: thobias)
“Hope will never be silent.” Harvey Milk.
The state of California celebrates Harvey Milk Day every May 22nd. The top photo is a mural inside the Castro Camera Shop. There are great photos of Harvey and the Castro by photographer Dan Nicoletta who worked at Castro Camera and knew Harvey quite well. If you haven’t seen it, watch the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk.
And remember: never be silent.
David Hockney, Man Taking Shower in Beverly Hills 1964
(Source: iamyoungnow, via mascul)
In the Green Room - Nebojsa Zdravkovic
“Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.” - Jasper Johns (born May 15)
Fortified by his close friendships with Robert Rauschenberg and with musician John Cage and the dancer/choreographer Merce Cunningham, and strongly drawn to the subversive legacy of Marcel Duchamp, Johns became universally recognized as a key progenitor of both the Pop and the Minimal art of the 1960s. (from JasperJohns.org)
Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg “were linked together, usually by people who had little or no idea of what they really meant to each other. Early critics tagged them both with the same facile labels—neo-Dada, assemblage, junk art—and viewed and reviewed them as a pair. They showed together, were discussed together, even discovered together by their dealer. Although the artists remain circumspect on this point, there is reliable evidence that for over six years (1954-1962) Johns and Rauschenberg were lovers… a relationship which was to have a profound effect on the work of each of them at a critical moment in their development.” (from Queer Arts)
We talked for a few minutes. She told me that she’d had a plan to join the Navy out of high school, but that fell apart because her knees were bad. She told me that she’d just finished working a 12 hour shift on a food truck. She told me that she’d moved to New York for no reason, just to get out of Kansas. “But I’m so glad I came,” she said.
“Why’s that?” I asked. Her eyes began to water.
“Because I’m so in love with a girl right now.”
This.
Yeah, this.
“Dear, I have no objection to anything.” Anna Madrigal in Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin (born May 13)
The Tales of the City cover shown here has been called “tacky” by Maupin. Thing is, that is the edition that I discovered in the long gone B. Dalton bookstore on Hollywood Boulevard over 30 years ago, so I have sentimental connections to it. The original Harper & Row cover was a map illustration. As a result the book was often put in the travel section, hindering sales.
The first four books were initially serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle. The fifth, Significant Others, was serialized in the SF Examiner but the Chronicle objected to the use of the “Tales” name. Sure of You was the first of the series to be written as a novel.
The first six novels informed my queer identity in ways that I didn’t see until I got older. Over time, the books have become a part of all of our queer history. The books are filled with time capsule settings, sayings, fashions, morals and politics that are part of real history. Maupin is at work on the ninth book of the series, “The Days of Anna Madrigal.” I’m looking forward to reading it…as long as no one has any objections.
