Feminism meets art meets technology with Pussy Bow scarves imprinted with images from inside artist Christen Clifford's vagina

The news this week is by and large awful, with shootings and violence and other atrocities. So to lighten the mood, here's my profile of the Pussy Bow scarf, imprinted with an image from inside a woman's vagina. Yes, really. Learn how and why artist Christen Clifford made them at The Daily Dot, and why she's donating 10% of the proceeds to Planned Parenthood.

Greetings from Austin, see you tonight at Bookwoman and Thursday at Bedpost Confessions!

Hello from Austin! I hope you'll join me or let your Austin friends know about my 2 events here this week, the erotica writing workshop tonight, Tuesday, November 19th from 7-8:30 at feminist bookstore Bookwoman at 5501 N Lamar Blvd A-105 ($15/person). Call 512-472-2785 to register or you can do walk-in registration too. Many thanks to do512.com, austintexas.org, The Austin Chronicle and CultureMap Austin for listing it.



Then Thursday night, November 21st, I'm expanding on my age play story at Bedpost Confessions, which sounds like a huge event and which I'm fairly nervous about, since I usually do better revealing those kinds of things behind the shield of my laptop screen, but I'm excited and think it builds character to do the things you're scared of. Bookwoman will be selling my books there too! It's the 21st at 8 at The North Door, 501 N I-35, Austin, TX 78701. Tickets are $10 at the door.



And a few fun photos from Austin so far, I arrived on Sunday and checked out the East Austin Studio Tour, which I highly recommend, and, of course, a bingo hall:




Fosters Tree - this was amazing, made with 9 miles of stainless steel!






I saw some little kids deconstructing one of these and thought it was allowed, like interactive art, until I saw them get reprimanded.


blue elephant behind Up Collective


We didn't win but I still had the best time playing bingo amongst what seemed like semi-professionals, with computers and words I didn't even know, though I liked that kids were allowed too!

Greetings from Santa Fe, and my favorite piece of art so far

I'm enjoying just how many art museums and galleries there are in Santa Fe. This Maria Chabot photo of Georgia O'Keeffe and Maurice Grosser is one of my favorite things I saw at the New Mexico Museum of Art yesterday (it's displayed there next to a Harley), and I'm off to explore more art today. You can read more about this photo at The Selvedge Yard. I also discovered the work of Mark Kostabi, which I want to see more of. This one in particular, "Inaccessible People Aren't Worth It," is a message I've needed to learn.

5 things I'm extremely grateful for this week

It's been a long week, and I'm now at JFK waiting for my flight to Houston, where I am going to hang out with two of my favorite kids, a friend, and relax before I head to Austin for a few days. I have lots to think about and consider that is not so great, but much to be grateful for. Chief among them (in chronological order):

1. My friend Hitha taking me as her guest to supper club City Grit, where we dined on all sorts of aphrodisiacs and had great conversation. Our chef was Sarah Simmons, who has caused a bit of political uproar with this Tweet about voting for Obama.


as seen in the women's bathroom at 38 Prince Street, NYC

2. My amazing boyfriend surprising me with a staycation at the Gansevoort Park Hotel - that might be my favorite date ever of ours, and we both needed a little luxury and indulgence.


in our room at the Gansevoort Park

3. Our delicious dinner at Resto - we'd done the lamb feast there and apparently that made my man kindof a rock star. The service was exellent and the kale salad is worth going there to eat on its own. Also: french fries, and from 5-6 during the week they are free with drinks during happy hour!

4. I bought a piece of art by Chris Uphues, who was showing at my favorite coffeeshop, Gimme Coffee. I actually thought I was getting a different heart but I adore this one and plan to buy his t-shirts as holiday gifts!


art by Chris Uphues

5. Texas! I'm off to Houston, followed by Austin, to visit old and new friends, eat cupcakes, explore, speak at the Texas Book Festival, interview Zane, and enjoy myself. I am excited to be in the sun and relax and play with adorable kids and read as many of the books I've packed as I can and hope my writing brain is inspired by it all.

Seeing art in Chelsea reminds me why I live in New York

Lately when I visit or think about another place that I know is cheaper, quieter, less full of memories, I find myself thinking, Maybe I should move there. Of course in real life I couldn't afford to move, and it would take months to toss everything I'd need to toss, but it's a fantasy. But here's some things I saw recently, all in Chelsea save for the top photo, which I saw in the C/E subway station at 51st (?) and 8th. My friend Rachel Hills was in town from London and had Time Out New York with her and we started at the Matthew Marks Gallery for the excellent Nan Goldin exhibit. I realized that while being unemployed sucks bigtime, there is so much free art a subway stop away, and that is pretty awesome. All photos by me; more on Flickr.




A quick snapshot that in no way does justice to the art, but just to give you a sense of what she's doing; there was another piece all about hair, and a four-photo homage to the infamous L'Origine du monde by Gustave Courbet (the gallery has amazing light, and it was a sunny, beautiful day). From the Nan Goldin exhibit Scopophilia at Matthew Marks Gallery. She took photos at the Louvre (by special permission) and juxtaposed them alongside some of her 1970's photos. Amazing. Through December 23rd. Read more about it in The New York Times.








Both of the above images from the Sydney Chastain-Chapman exhibit, on through January 7th, at Kravets|Wehby.




I'd never been to Printed Matter before. I highly recommend it. So much to see and soak up. I got the Bread & Puppet calendar for my dad.

British Library and art lust

The British Library is a beautiful building and the grounds outside are lovely as well. There's also a science fiction exhibit going on that I was too tired Friday to properly appreciate but I did peek inside. And it was lovely to nap in front of. So much to do in London, I am clearly only going to scratch the surface. My reading went fabulously; so inspiring on so many levels. And Sh! has so many gorgeous sex toys, plus I got to see a certain lucky audience member get a few (okay, more than a few) flicks of a very loud whip, not to mention erotic art and sexy lingerie and they treated me better than I think I've ever been treated at a reading, giving everyone bubbly (champagne) and cupcakes and me a harness and dildo and lube and, even better, a bag! A bag is clearly the way to my heart.

Many other amazing things about the reading another time. There was much cupcaking which I will post about at Cupcakes Take the Cake, but of course. I got to see Lena Chen and Rachel Hills for a very brief moment, and Lena helped me fix my phone so I can actually use GPS. Had one of those "I'm proud of myself" travel moments when waited for trains at Piccadilly Circus that put a crowded L train to utter shame, having shoved on what looked like twice the amount my hipster neighbors manage to squeeze in. I was there with 2 grocery bags of a dozen cupcakes each and my 3 bags waiting and waiting (we were right near a very touristy area and where Pride had let out) and then I decided to just go a different route and 3 trains later I was at Old Street and found Sh! and Hoxton Square. Fabulous!

Off to visit friends in the country today and plot out final two days of art-going. I did manage to get to Soho Square but finding Kirsty MacColl's bench would've taken quite a lot of waiting as a huge Pride party was going on inside. The three art exhibits I most want to see are A Girl and Her Room by Rania Matar at Mosaic Rooms (info below), the Jamie Reid exhibit at Isis Gallery and the Tracey Emin exhibit, Love Is What You Want, at Hayward Gallery. More on A Girl and Her Room:

The Arab-American photographer brings her award-winning series of images, A Girl and her Room, to the UK for the first time. This series features intimate photographic portraits of teenage girls in their most personal space, their bedroom.

This project began by Matar photographing her teenage daughter with her friends. She soon realised the girls were very conscious of each other in the way they behaved and represented themselves when together. From there emerged the idea of photographing each girl alone in her personal space, where she would give a more honest representation of her personality.

Matar took as her subjects teenage girls from the two worlds she experienced herself as a teenager and a young twenty year old, making this project very personal: the Middle and the United States. She became fascinated by how girls face similar issues at that age, regardless of culture, religion and background.

Matar comments: “In my images I hope to portray the chasm between childhood and adulthood and the young women straddling it, sometimes as rebels, sometimes as young ladies aware of their newfound sexuality and very often still as children. Being with those young women in the privacy of their world gave me a unique peek into their private lives and their real selves.


it wasn't just out of cupcake duty that I visited my third Johnny Cupcakes store...or bought an overpriced but fun t-shirt as a souvenir of my trip (not a Hello Kitty one, which they sell at home, but a special JC London one that's only sold in the store here)

"Your Face Here" at Pop tART Gallery in LA January 29-March 6

I'm so excited that I'll be in LA for this opening! I was supposed to go to a one-woman show called Sugar Daddy last time I was in town and we got calls that it was canceled due to illness, so I feel like I missed out on my LA artistic moment. Must email and hope I can get my portrait done! Last time, it was getting my ass photographed (maybe even for a book) by Dave Naz. This time I want to see art and hang with my friends and their kids. And eat grilled cheese and maybe get some sun and that's really, really it. Via Jillian Lauren.

YOUR FACE HERE

by Austin Young

January 29th - March 5th, 2011

opening reception: January 29th, 7-10p

closing reception: March 5th

Pop tART Gallery

3023 W. 6th St.


Los Angeles, CA 90020

Los Angeles, CA - National news-making curator Lenora Claire and popular

drag performer Phyliss Navidad are proud to present both the launch of

their new gallery Pop tART, as well as a solo exhibition - part

portrait, part participatory, part performative - by Los Angeles based

artist, Austin Young.

YOUR FACE HERE is a solo exhibition by artist Austin Young that

challenges the normative conditions in which portraits are produced and

exhibited. Young, for over 25 years, has been a celebrated portrait

photographer and artist, whose works blurs the lines, and transcends the

distinctions, between fashion, portraiture, and gender. This exhibition

marks a rare and glamorous moment when Young will generously open his lens onto the public.

For the duration of the exhibition, Young will establish his art studio

for a 5 week residency at Pop tART Gallery. The artist will be present

during gallery hours for portrait sittings, which will eventually fill the


walls of the gallery. The public is invited to participate as the subject

of the exhibition through the purchase of the pop cultural real estate

of the gallery walls. Participation extends beyond simply sitting for a

portrait - it will be a collaborative process where the participants

determine the portrait’s size and placement. Following the legacy of

Warhol’s Factory, Young will transform each participant into an art

celebrity. Or, just impress your high school chums by having the man who

just broke attendance records at LACMA with his co-collaborator’s of


Fallen Fruit take your Facebook profile pic. Bring your face!

Opening reception will be on January 29th, from 7-10pm. Celebrity

make-up artists will be on site for beautification as well as a fabulous

performance by Killsonic, a 50 piece ensemble band. Floral arrangements

and landscaping on patio by Tenley Young, 1st place winner of “The

Arrangement” on LOGO. Makeup provided by Urban Decay. Accessories by

Skingraft. Refreshments by Customized Celebrations. The closing reception


will be your reception! Come see you face in lights.

Contact Lenora Claire at Pop tART Gallery for more details and to reserve

your portrait. Lenora@LenoraClaire.com or poptartgallery@gmail.com

Kandinsky at the Guggenheim

I went with my cousins to the Kandinsky exhibit at the Guggenheim. Fascinating, though I breezed through the end after a long day. My favorite was "Light Picture." Last time I was there was for the Catherine Opie exhibit. There was one quote I really liked, will look it up - my day of twin baby visiting was thwarted by the MTA (who knew the 2/3 don't run on Sundays on Wall Street?) so I'm off to the gym to work off my frustration and try to retain some of the creative energy inspired by the museum. Living in my newly decluttered home is great...save for the fact that I have no idea where my clothes are!

Here's an image of the outside of the museum from the blog NYC ♥ NYC.

Molly Crabapple profiled in The New York Times

photo by Brian Van

If you didn't already know, Molly Crabapple drew the In The Flesh logo for me (for free!) and has been incredibly kind to me and In The Flesh over the years, not to mention being outrageously talented. I've interviewed her twice over the years: once for Gothamist, once for The Village Voice. She very graciously took me to The Box one night and every time I check out her her blog I'm in awe of her talent, productivity, and spirit. She is truly visionary and one of a kind. I'm honored to be her friend, and to own an original Molly Crabapple that not only hangs proudly on my wall but gets tons of comments every time I pass out postcards (Reverend Jen was like, "You look just like your drawing!").

She was just profiled by Carol Kino in The New York Times on Sunday:

With her long dark hair, artfully made-up eyes and demurely vixenish demeanor, she can suggest Morticia Addams, John Tenniel’s Alice in Wonderland or an anime caricature. And because she is never far from her iPhone or her MacBook, little of her life seems unshared.

In fact, some believe Ms. Crabapple’s talent is neither making art nor modeling nor fire eating nor Internet branding, but her ability to combine everything in one seamless persona. Joe Wos, who founded the ToonSeum, the cartoon museum in Pittsburgh, calls her “one of the most innovative young artists out there right now” but argues that her influence extends beyond drawing. “Dr. Sketchy’s itself is a work of performance art,” said Mr. Wos, who runs the Pittsburgh sessions of Dr. Sketchy’s. “Molly Crabapple is an art movement in and of herself.”

Or, as Ms. Crabapple said matter-of-factly, “What you get in life isn’t about how much you cultivate your talent; it’s about how you cultivate your name.”

Certainly the last year has been good to Ms. Crabapple in terms of name cultivation. July saw the publication of her first graphic novel, “Scarlett Takes Manhattan.” Created with Mr. Leavitt, who wrote the text, it recounts the fairly pornographic adventures of Scarlett O’Herring, a fictitious 1880s New York circus performer. Its colorful pictures, made with pen and ink and colored in Photoshop, exemplify Ms. Crabapple’s style. Curves and facial features are exaggerated, bodies tumble through space, and each scene is filled with impossible Rube Goldberg-like architecture.

SoHo Michael Jackson window and other browsing

So I bit the bullet and forked over for green glasses at Facial Index. I was trying to explain exactly what color green they are last night, and failed, so you'll just have to wait and see. To me, they make me look "brainy," which I suppose is what I was going for. I also heard that you can get glasses at Costco (you have to join, but it's still worth it financially), so next year, I may do that if I need another pair.

I hope to have them Monday. As soon as I do, I know I will feel so much better about myself, like the difference between wearing lipstick or not. Wearing my old black glasses feels wrong, ugly, and like I am just not myself, which makes it hard to socialize, work, etc. I'm not saying I can't socialize or work, I just feel off.

Anyway, I saw some interesting art as I was walking around, but I forgot the name of the gallery where the second and third images is from, will have to check when I go pick up my glasses.

Hot retro fetish art coming to In The Flesh May 21st

Among the authors you'll hear May 21st at In The Flesh is Craig Yoe, author of Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-creator Joe Shuster. Check out the cover:



More on the book coming soon, but it's really fabulous, full of a history of the creation of these images and lots more kinky retro art.

"For him, art was like sex on the kitchen table."

My friend Phil was the one who introduced me to Joni Mitchell back in college, and there's some live recording where she talks about being a singer vs. an artist, and how no one ever said to van Gogh, "Paint A Starry Night again." I haven't heard it in ages, but every time I see something related to Joni, I think of him, so when I read this quote, I wanted to pass it on. The idea of art being that exciting, all-consuming, needy, something you are so compelled to create you can't stop to find a more suitable time or place, is something I'd love to experience. Lately writing is coming so slowly, so agonizingly; I don't know if I need to take more long walks or lay off the Internet/iPhone or what, but that image struck me.

In the telephone interview, Ms. Mitchell recalled always having had a love for art. She remembers seeing her first Picassos and Matisses at the house of Frederick S. Mendel, a classmate's grandfather, who in 1964 started the museum where her show is now running. Her formal art training lasted only one year, at an art school in Calgary, Alberta, in the early 1960's.

''Turbulent Indigo,'' one of the 20 album covers she has painted over the last 32 years, graces the exhibition's poster and the cover of its catalog. A self-portrait in blue tones, it shows Ms. Mitchell wearing a bandage over her right ear in a reference to van Gogh's 1889 self-portrait. Ms. Mitchell painted it in 1995, a period when she felt that the music industry was ignoring her.

''Of all the painters I felt most kindred to, I felt most touched by van Gogh,'' she said. ''Van Gogh was impulsive. For him, art was like sex on the kitchen table."

Quote from

"For Joni Mitchell, Artist, Singing Was Not Enough," New York Times, August 22, 2000, as quoted in Will You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period by Michelle Mercer, who has more info on her site) (I found a galley at Housing Works and have been perusing it), about which JoniMitchell.com says:

But the real strength of the book is Mercer's expansive examination of Joni's autobiographical work. Anyone who's applied the "confessional songwriter" tag to Joni Mitchell might think differently after Mercer's careful study of the history of literary confessionalism and personal songwriting. Mercer argues persuasively that Joni's work departs from the confessional model: "She doesn't strive to tell the truth about herself. She strives to find and express human truths, and in the process, she happens to reveal quite a bit about herself."

The story of Joni's childhood has been often told, but Mercer brings it new meaning by focusing on its prairie setting. With this focus, Mercer illuminates in great clarity and detail the "sound of open spaces" that have been so vaguely referred to in descriptions of Joni's music in the past. Along the way Mercer makes a sweeping examination of the connection between music and landscape, considering everything from Beethoven symphonies to Neil Young's prairie songs. (This chapter, "Eyes On The Land And The Sky," includes a priceless quote from Joni in which she inventively links the sound of Jamaican tree frogs to the rhythm of reggae.)

For all the book's interview material, Mercer is not afraid to argue with Joni. She takes issue with Joni's devaluing of her autobiographical period, and more controversially takes on some of Joni's most sacred self-mythology. For example, the author doesn't buy that her bout with childhood polio was the originating moment of her artistry: "Sometimes artists and their fans try too hard to come up with a source for unusual creativity, even resorting to pathologizing it. A gift for art may be deepened or otherwise influenced by tragedy, but it doesn't necessarily have to be born of it."

Watch the debate and see political art by Molly Crabapple!

CLik here for more details.

Molly Crabapple's art show Demimonde opens tonight!

Me with Molly Crabapple; photo by People magazine Valentine's Day superstar Judy McGuire (her book How Not to Date is featured in the new issue, with Britney on the cover - check it out!)

I've already gotten a sneak preview and it's amazing. Would that I could afford some of it (though I do have a Molly original - yes, the one of me for In The Flesh) on my kitchen wall. Molly Crabapple continues to astound me with the intricacy and sexy deliciousness of her art. Smart, sexy, and intriguing - most of these pieces are HUGE and really worth your time. If you can't come tonight, check it out anytime during the run. Show details and video preview below, or see Arena Studios. Curated by Audacia Ray.

Art recommendation: Nick Dwar

My friend Nick Dewar is a multi-talented artist. You can peruse his website to see that he's worked for tons of major publications, and has drawn some book covers you might have seen like, oh, The Devil Wears Prada and its successor, Everyone Worth Knowing (I have no idea if he's slated to illustrated Lauren Weisberger's untitled third novel, due out in May, which she got seven figues for, according to Publishers Marketplace). And not only does he create wonderful art, but he breaks down his process and tells you how he does it.



I can tell you that I've fallen for these pieces of his art, available from Thumbtack Press, and highly recommend checking out the prints he has for sale. This first one above, "Jigsaw Couple," reminds me a little bit of Tara McPherson, whose art I noticed on Juno's wall in Juno, fitting for a movie with such indie culture appeal (and I say that as a Kimya Dawson fan). I also highly recommend Tara's book, Lonely Heart: The Art of Tara McPherson. They're not exactly alike, of course, just somewhat (here the jigsaw puzzle pieces reminded me of her lonely heart series).

Click through on images for purchasing information, or see all his available work from Thumbtack Press.

The hotness of Molly Crabapple, with a side of Jordan Carlos

Molly Crabapple is almost too freaking hot. Every time I see her I get all squirmy and want to stroke her hair. I feel like every time I talk about her I'm sexually objectifying her...probably because I am. But I don't think she minds. It's in an innocent way although I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers (I hate that phrase, actually, but can't think of a better one right now). She has this way of walking through a room that makes every single person there notice her, whether they know who she is or not. I've walked a few blocks with her and totally gotten schooled in how to walk in high heels. It's an art form Molly has fully mastered.

But what I really wanted to tell you is that she's about to go on a whirlwind book tour for Dr. Sketchy's Official Rainy Day Colouring Book and you would be wise to go see her (or become a groupie and follow her on the tour).

I've also heard that she and Lady J. are going to be storming Comic Con at the Javits Center this weekend and coaxing orgasms dollars out of the pockets of many a comic boy (and girl, no doubt).

And yes, I do think she's smoking hot, but she's also one of the sweetest, hardest working, and most talented people I know. She volunteered to I mean, she volunteered to draw the In The Flesh logo and now that's often how I'm remembered. The other night at Mo Pitkin's Jordan Carlos (whose new Nickelodeon show for kids debuted tonight and you should totally check it out!) was like "I've seen you...there's a drawing on your website, right?" and it took a while for me to figure out that's what he was talking about. (Another aside: do read his Washington Post Op-Ed piece, "My Shtick? Being Black." Here's a snippet: "I cornered a "Daily Show" writer, doing my best to get the inside track on a possible actor/writer gig. We broached the subject of black correspondents. He told me that they "tried a black guy once, but it didn't work out." I nearly threw my imported beer in his face. Tried it once and it didn't work? You say that about Toyotas, not a whole race of people.)

So yes, I think Molly's incredibly curvy, gorgeous, and basically a sex symbol for my generation, but I also think she deserves to take over the world with her delicious drawings, anti-art school, sex positiveness and general kick-ass, community-minded attitude. You can read my interviews with her here and here, but if you want just one more example of how freaking awesome she is, here you go: the girl eats fire!



(I will also just add on here, probably redundantly, that this is how my mind works, so deal or don't read. I jump from Molly to Jordan to 100 other things and I know some people can't keep up, but that's just how I am. If I waited for the right moment to post all the extraneous asides, they'd never get posted, kinda like the backlog of "to post" emails sitting in my drafts folder.)