If, At The Time Of My Death, Flies Are Keeping Vigil...

Fig. 1. Making a plaster death mask (New York, circa 1908)


'[Jules] Renard recorded in his Journal the death of [Henri de] Toulouse-Lautrec. The painter's father, a known eccentric, came to visit his son and instead of concerning himself with the patient immediately started trying to catch the flies circulating in the sick room. The painter, from his bed, remarked, 'You stupid old bugger!, then fell back and died.'

Julian Barnes (Nothing To Be Frightened Of)

Addendum: Dying - You're Already Doing It

Fig. 2. Damien Hirst - A Thousand Years (Steel, glass, flies, maggots, MDF, insect-o-cutor, cow's head, sugar, water), 1990

Damien Hirst talks about A Thousand Years with Rachel Campbell-Johnson


'But whenever I look at the question of how to live, the answer's always staring me in the face. I'm already doing it.'

Damien Hirst

Ask Not What You Can Do For Your Art, Dear Viewer

Fig. 1. Damien Hirst - Doodle of a skull on a napkin from The Ivy, 2007


'Don't look for the meanings; look for the use.'

Ludwig Wittgenstein

The Games We Shouldn't Forget To Play: Part One

Japanese Toy Illustrations (1 to 6 of 30)

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'Play is the exultation of the possible.'

Martin Buber

Your Ears Will Orgasm #16:

Badlands - David Chesworth Ensemble (MixPod Player)

Addendum: Good Morning, Pee-wee!

"Pee-wee Herman" (Paul Reubens) - Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1885), d. Tim Burton

Kindling The Light Of Meaning In Crepuscular Times*

The Sunday Six - Part Four (Relatively Romantic):

Fig. 1. Bill Henson - Untitled #1, 2007/08

Fig. 2. Bill Henson - Untitled #3, 2007/08

Fig. 3. Bill Henson - Untitled #6, 2007/08

Fig. 4. Bill Henson - Untitled #18, 2007/08

Fig. 5. Bill Henson - Untitled #27, 2007/08

Fig. 6. Bill Henson - Untitled #38, 2007/08

'In literature as in ethics, there is danger, as well as glory, in being subtle. Aristocracy isolates us.'

Charles Baudelaire

* 'As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.' Carl Jung

The Fulsome And Final Missives Of Those We Miss

Fig. 1. Le Testament d'Orphée (still), 1960 - d. Jean Cocteau

'After the writer's death, reading his journal is like receiving a long letter.'

Jean Cocteau

Your Ears Will Orgasm #15: Cello Concerto (Farewell to Philosophy) - Gavin Bryars (MixPod Player)

Addendum #1: The Delicate And Precarious Tact In Audacity*

Klaus Nomi (1944-1983) - 'The Cold Song' from Henry Purcell's opera King Arthur (Munich, December 1982)

The Cold Song

What Power art thou,
Who from below,
Hast made me rise,
Unwillingly and slow,
From beds of everlasting snow!

See'st thou not how stiff,
And wondrous old,
Far unfit to bear the bitter cold.

I can scarcely move,
Or draw my breath,
I can scarcely move,
Or draw my breath.

Let me, let me,
Let me, let me,
Freeze again...
Let me, let me,
Freeze again to death!

Henry Purcell (music) & John Dryden (lyrics)

At the time of this performance, Klaus' audience was unaware of his HIV-positive status. Although frustrated with shortness of breath and fatigue, he was determined to perform to his home crowd. Six months later, Nomi died. He was thirty-nine years old.

* 'The tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.' Jean Cocteau

Addendum #2: This Strange Weimar Version Of Mickey Mouse*

Klaus Nomi performing 'Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix' from Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns:

* 'Toward the end of the show, the lights dimmed and the room was filled with a thundering musical ovation. The curtains opened and the spotlight fell on a strange, unearthly presence wearing a black gown, clear plastic cape, and white gloves. As the orchestral refrain from Saint-Saëns' Samson and Dalila was played, this strange Weimar version of Mickey Mouse began singing in an angelic voice. "I still get goose pimples when I think about it," remembers Joey Arias, who was in the audience that night. "Everyone became completely quite until it was over."'

Steven Hager (Art After Midnight: The East Village Scene)

Signor C. Regrets He's Unable To Lunch Today*

Fig. 1. Loretta Lux - At The Window, 2004


'Autobiography begins with a sense of being alone. It is an orphan form.'

John Berger

* Miss Otis Regrets - Cole Porter, 1934

Addendum: A Stranger Miss Otis You're Unlikely To Find

Kirsty MacColl & The 1st Battalion Of Irish Guards - Miss Otis Regrets (Jools Holland Hootenanny, 1995)

Editors Are The True Handmaidens Of Creativity*

Fig. 1. Reiner Ruthenbeck - White Paper Heap, 1979


'Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.'

Eric Fromm

* 'Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity.' T. S. Eliot