VOODOO & VANITY

even the title has a sense of entitlement! welcome to the aesthetic indian burial ground of an art historian and cinephile. expect begrudgingly difficult egocentrism and folie de grandeur. voodhu.wordpress.com

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The Visible Invisible: A Ruffled Look at United States History

The Visible Invisible: A Ruffled Look at United States History

(Available as part of the Summer 2018 “Labor” edition of Surface Design Journal)

Known colloquially as “green-screen”, chroma-key compositing is a “technical term in video and television for placing a person or an object against a uniform background, onto which any given situation can subsequently be (realistically) superimposed.”[1]Using post-production technology, this uniform “green-screen”…

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Lewd 2: Erotic Art of the Masters

“Lewd” originated in Old English as a term to describe the laity [1]. Its pairing with the current usage as “offensive in a sexual way” leads back to the particular animosity ascribed to commoners, decrying them as “vulgar, worthless and vile.” The link is in the feeling of offense, in many instances a misdirection of shame and embarrassment. At some point, shame and embarrassment became bound…

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Kicked out of the Webelos

Kicked out of the Webelos

A hornet’s nest is composed of paper made from saliva and wood pulp. The outside of the hornet’s nest is a paper envelope, protecting and shielding the colonies’ combs vested inside. A hornet’s nest is also a metaphor used to describe an unsettling situation in which many are affected. The metaphor relies on the implied act of shaking a hornet’s nest, in which the colony of up to 700 hornets…

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Claude Cahun, “I Extend My Arms” 1931 or 1932 

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autochrome from the collection of the George Eastman Museum’s Flickr site. https://www.flickr.com/photos/george_eastman_house/albums/72157606226772243

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Jodorowsky “Holy Mountain” 

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d.r.o.o.l. over Verner Panton’s interiors

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The nearer I get to it, the more upsetting it becomes. It is capped, contained, deflated behind a plexiglass cube. Elevated just below eye level so that you have to lean over it in order to decipher the mess of platinum blonde spilling out of the frame of a wooden shadow box, the stiff wax skin glistens as it peeks out from amidst the spill and shine of ratted wig hair. Behind the stiff skin, the…

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Secondhand Rose/Cooper Hewitt Design Museum Collection wallpaper 

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Lourdes Grobet. Sin título. Tijuana, Baja California. 35mm infrarrojo. De la serie “Neo-mayaztec 1988-1990.”

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Lourdes Grobet, “La Venus, Blue Demon”

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Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Green Citadel in Magdeburg, Germany

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blow up, break away: mod revolution

blow up, break away: mod revolution

Blow Up (1966 dir. Michelangelo Antonioni) begins with David Hemmings playing the character of Thomas photographing a lithe blonde model (Vanessa Redgrave?). As he steps over her with his camera, the model writhes prone on the floor. Thomas shouts pre-orgasmic phrases usually relegated to a breathy moan, “give it to me”, “yes, yes, oh yes!” The mock sexual conduct climaxes as he leans over his…

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“Many of us have misconceptions about Black history in amerika. What we are taught in the public school system is usually inaccurate, distorted, and packed full of outright lies. Among the most common lies are that Lincoln freed the slaves, that the Civil War was fought to free the slaves, and that the history of Black people in amerika has consisted of slow but steady progress, that things have gotten better, bit by bit. Belief in these myths can cause us to make serious mistakes in analyzing our current situation and in planning future action.” -- Assata Shakur, “Assata: An Autobiography”

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Rudi Gernreich’s Resort Collection 1965

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Models in visors by Layne Nielson from Rudi Gernreich’s Resort collection, 1965.

CreditWilliam Claxton/Courtesy Demont Photo Management