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From Stephen Elliott
...moreRanging widely from densely textured works on canvas formed with layers of an acrylic and pumice mixture on top of silicon molds to abstract representations of the native olive and cedar trees of Lebanon, Nahas’s work consistently oscillates between many aesthetic sensibilities, ultimately driven by his almost religious passion for abstraction.
Described as covering “freely floating topics,” the BOMBlog interview with Dean Young disproves discontinuity within its first few moments: ”Now is always unprecedented and sudden.”
Young talks about his writing process in phrasing that’s as poetic and philosophical as the poems themselves.
...more“Ultimately, A Working Theory of Love examines, quite successfully, our semi-delusional approach to interpersonal relationships and contemplates whether the world comes down on the side of seem or be—or if it remains negotiated in the space in between.”
BOMBLOG takes a closer look at the exploration of the “mind-body problem” in Scott Hutchins’ new novel, A Working Theory of Love.
...moreBomblog interviews photographer iO Tillett Wright about her Self Evident Truths endeavor, which gathers individual portraits to document the LGBTQ spectrum across America.
“When the message is finally understood that its not about being gay but about being anything other than 100% straight, people will to start to quantify themselves.
...moreAt Bomblog, writer Melissa Febos and musician Kathleen Hanna discuss the creative process, collaboration versus doing it alone, writing about sex work, nasty online commenters, and more.
“Even while I was doing things I knew were provocative, and were meant to be provocative in certain ways, still it was so painful to think, Why don’t they understand?
...moreBOMB Magazine’s Legacy Russell interviews performance artist Ann Hirsch about being scandalous, what it means to be a “camwhore,” the construction of girlhood, and feeling ashamed. The entire conversation was conducted over Twitter (#LRAH).
“My ‘activist’ goal is simply to create empathy for women that are typically loathed in media.”
...more“How much sacrifice is required of a parent? When is it admissible to love yourself more than your child, or in another way, to fear your own death more than the death of your child? Bell doesn’t propose answers, but instead begs us to consider that a real question exists here.”
At BOMBLOG, Jena Salon reviews Matt Bell’s new novella Cataclysm Baby.
...moreCA Conrad and Eileen Myles have an extensive conversation over at BOMBLog. Topics include Myles’ new “poet’s novel” Inferno, how memory’s role differs in composing poetry versus fiction, and writing as a woman or queer. Plus much more.
“…When you admit the presence of a choosing, intervening mind in your writing, if the writing itself lurches a little, stops and starts at irregular intervals, and if in that same time you also look at something ugly or sad for too long—be it femaleness or queerness or age, or poverty—well, people will very likely have to put your book down and you with it.
...moreBOMBlog interviews Julia Solis. The artist opens up about her explorations of underground spaces and urban decay.
“…I’ve never been fearless. Being fearless just means you have no imagination. It’s always about taking a step into the darkness and not knowing what you’ll encounter, but being willing to face it; that’s what drives the exploration.
...more“One of the things I like about short stories is that you can place such huge importance on tiny objects and moments. If they’re there, taking up space in a genre where space is precious, they have to mean more than their face value.
...moreBomblog’s Friday “Page Break” series “embraces long-form writing on the web by showcasing original works of fiction by emerging literary talents.” Today they feature Rumpus columnist Alina Simone’s “Late Bloomers,” which is excerpted from her novel-in-progress, Titillation Plus.
...more“I’m more of a realistic artist than anything else because life always changes on us. I’m trying to embrace that rather than trying to reject it. It’s something that’s definite and we have to accept it. Change is definite, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”
Bomblog takes a close look at the work of artist Michael Alan, revealing his mastery at turning life traumas into “positive creations;” the ways that his work reflects the continuous transformations of the city and the self; and how his belief in living in the present translates to the canvas.
...moreIn this Bomblog piece, Sarah Gerard ruminates on choice, relationships, Occupy, and existentialism while taking a closer look at Alexander Maksik’s You Deserve Nothing (which you can find Rumpus reviewed here).
“Choice is separate from anguish, from desire, from will, from action.
...moreAt Bomblog, Evan Karp interviews Josh Mohr. They discuss Damascus (Rumpus Reviewed here), and Mohr elaborates on his fourth and current project, a second-person comedy.
“I was trying to do something that I’d never seen, and whenever you do that, the big debate becomes, Cool I just tried something that’s never been on the page before, but maybe it’s never been on the page before because it’s a stupid fucking idea.
...moreLitquake talks with Swamplandia author Karen Russell in a final interview before the festival’s kick-off tomorrow! The conversation reveals abhorred writing styles; overused phrases; favorite writers, words and fiction heroes; and more.
“I like assigning The Waves and Geek Love to students, or a book like Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son, because you can practically watch their pupils dilate as they read them—I think there are certain books that are so stylistically innovative or so wholly “other” that they detonate inside readers.
...moreIn anticipation of their annual festival on October 7-15, San Francisco’s Litquake has teamed up with Bomblog for an interview series. This week, fiction writer and poet Jesse Ball—whose new novel, The Curfew, is on shelves—discusses favorite writers, words and fiction heroes; desired eras, talents and deaths; greatest achievements, and more.
...moreBomblog interviews Cole Rise, whose landscape photographs are described as both cinematic and surreal.
The conversation gets at the artist’s process, the importance and difficulty of subtlety, travel and Mount Tamalpais. Rise also speaks to the floating quality of his subjects, and the inspiration he finds in dreams, space, and—above all—in the “question of how we got here, or rather ‘why’ we’re here.”
...moreAlex Shakar, author of Luminarium—this month’s Rumpus Book Club selection—is interviewed at Bomblog. Topics addressed include the author’s take on technology and science, spirituality and the sacred, as well as the concepts of entertainment, and the city that come through in the novel.
...moreJohn Maus converses with BOMBLOG about his recently released album.
Topics include utopia, isolation and collaboration, the “language of pop,” lyrics as an afterthought, gender as an effect of language, Minnesota, and more. Stick with the philosophy-dense interview and the musician’s mixtape at the end will be your reward!
...moreThose of us who can only stomach the stock market when paired with poetry (or vice versa?) may be in need of a mash-up.
We are in luck. This week BOMBlog juxtaposes a video on the stock market with poetry by Susan Briante, as part of their ongoing project coupling videos and poems.
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