I am grateful to my partner in art crime, Stephanie, because she asked if I were going to this exhibit and I had not really considered it, but then here was another poster in the underground passage to the V&A as I was on my way to Schiaparelli (yes, soon…) and I thought huh, just…
Tag: Leonora Carrington
The Symptomatic Surreal
Today it’s time to swing by the Sigmund Freud Museum in London to see ‘The Symptomatic Surreal’ a voyage through the mind of Leonora Carrington as she reels from the horrors of the Second World War and the those of incarceration in a mental institute. I think this crystalises the moment when the narrative shifts…
ISSS Glasgow
I am delighted to get an acceptance to the next International Society for the Study of Surrealism conference which will be in Glasgow this August. By no means a sure thing as the competition only increases as the world gets more and more surreal! Of course this is a little easier to attend than some…
Bridging the Invisible
I could not be more delighted to be part of the Creative Practices and Bridging the Invisible conference wrangled by Heather D. Freeman for The Department of Art + Art History and The Center for the Study of Ideas and Practices at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, in co-sponsorship with The Center for Advanced Studies – Erlangen, The University of…
Review: Leonora in the Morning Light
It will probably remove any sense of objectivity to say that I was one of the Kickstarter supporters, but then whilst objectivity has its uses, reviews are by nature subjective anyway. And anyone who pretends otherwise is a jerk (as the kids say [I’m told] I don’t make the rules!). Objectively I can tell you…
Out Now!
CLUES 44:1 is out now with all kinds of crime writing fun, including a review by me of a new book that looks at links between Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett — and does it well. Introduction: Allusions and Illusions Spotlight on… Indian Crime FictionTARUN K. SAINT Rethinking Democracy and Detective Fiction: The…
Swedenborg House: Elective Affinities
SWEDENBORG HOUSE, LONDON Taking inspiration from the term coined in early chemistry, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1809 novel, and a celebrated painting by René Magritte, Elective Affinities explores the mysterious connection between objects, ideas and inner experience. At its core lies the thought of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), whose philosophy of correspondences proposed a resonance between objects, places…
Hallucinations
I received an email requesting an essay I wrote in 2011. Not unusual: while publishers charge lots of money for academic journals, most of us are happy to give away copies for free of our own publications. Print journals used to give (maybe still do?) extra offset copies for precisely that purpose. What was odd,…
Occulture Talk & a Gift
Delightful birthday gifts for me yesterday (thank you all!) included my Occulture talk going live on YT. Do check out all the speakers — so many inspiring talks from interesting and knowledgeable people. I’m afeared to watch myself but you are welcome to do so. A reminder, too, that the Fox Spirit Collection Fearless Genre…
Bard Hessel Museum
As the migration approaches, I am trying to catch some last minute things — like visiting the new Keith Haring wing at Bard’s Hessel Museum, home of Curatorial Studies, where the first year students have assembled interesting collections. While I should get around to all the local art exhibits, this one had a particular draw…