The Year of The Zine: Read Our Picks For Some Of The Most Exciting and Scintillating Zines Of 2015 →

2015 is when the zine went mainstream. Some of our fave artists dabbled in the fine craftsmanship of the stapled chapbook that many people think dates back to the early days of punk, but it actually can be dated all the way back to 1776 when Thomas Paine published his famous pamphlet, Common Sense, which rifled enough feathers for thirteen colonies to declare war and independence from the British. Fancy that. However, the modern zine, which is shorthand for fanzine – not magazine as many believe – was a photocopied, hastily stapled together collection of appropriated imagery and art school angst. In 2015, the zine has held true to its DIY Xerox aesthetic, with a few surprising contributions – and of course some obvious contributors from the likes of one of our favorite photographers working today, Sandy Kim, and from one of our favorite new Los Angeles queer-cult collective, Gurt. Click here to check out ten of our favorite zines that came out in 2015, so far.

Premier Of The Final Installment of Haelos' Music Video Trilogy For the Track "Dust"

Today Autre premiered the last two parts of Haelos' music video trilogy directed by Jesse Jenkins - the one above for the track "Dust" and for the track "Pray."  In August, we premiered the first installment, for the track "Earth Not Above" and a link to purchase their new EP on the Matador record label. We're excited for whatever Haelos puts out next. 

Part Two Of Haelos' Music Video Trilogy for the Track "Pray"

In August, Autre featured part one of London-based trio Haelos' music video – for the track "Earth From Above" This time around, we feature part two of the trilogy – for the track "Pray" – which takes further the journey of heartbreak, lust and euphoria. Haelos have just been announced for next year’s SXSW. This weekend the band will play the Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris. The music video trilogy, directed by Jesse Jenkins, is a powerful introduction for the band that just signed to the Matador records label. 

Subculture Capital: Valerie Steele Dishes On The Fine Line Between Fashion and Reality, And Her New Book About Queen Of New York Nightlife Susanne Bartsch →

Fashion and nightlife are enmeshed in a seductive tango that relies on the notion of the pleasure. I often wonder if the pleasure of fashion is about dressing for yourself or for being seen? One could make the same argument about going out on the town. Indeed, there are many ways fashion and nightlife mirror one another. Each is an art as well as enterprise; each is mercurial; each can convey status and each sets and rejects trends, most typically from the ground up. Click here to read our conversation with Valerie Steele. 

William Pope.L "Forest" @ Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects

Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects presents "Forest," their first solo exhibition with the legendary William Pope.L. The exhibition features paintings and sculptures in an architectural installation surveying the artists object-based practice from the mid-1990s through the present. William Pope.L is a visual and performance-theater artist and educator who makes culture out of contraries. "Forest" will be on view until December 5, 2015 at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, 6006 Washington Blvd Culver City, CA. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Sightings: Alex Israel @ The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas

For his Sightings exhibition at the Nasher, Israel presents new sculptures and paintings, some related to his first feature length film, SPF-18, currently in production. The work explores the genre of the teen surfing movie, using visual and narrative conventions common to the after-school special, a series of made-for-TV movies for adolescents. Israel's installation combines new sculptural objects derived from Hollywood movies, his own and others', with self-portraits incorporating classic images of Southern California to create a quasi-narrative installation within the gallery. Israel has also made an intervention in the Nasher Collection Gallery upstairs, placing sky and decorative backdrops among the works. "Sightings: Alex Israel" will be on view until January 31, 2016 at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas. photographs by Ouitney Lorin

Art In the Age of Afrogallonism: Read Our Interview With Ghanaian Artist Serge Attukwei Clottey On Turning Refuse Into A Symbol of Reclaimed Idenity for the People Of Africa →

There are not a lot of artists willing to get dragged by a noose through the streets of Accra, the capital of Ghana, in the name of social justice. Gallon by gallon, Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey is returning your used plastic refuse in the form of beautiful masks and mask-like sculptures that take on haunting human expressions. In the artist’s native Ghana, yellow canisters are ubiquitous and have become a seamless part of the country’s landscape. Where these containers come from has become a source of plight for the people of Ghana and central to Clottey’s artistic practice. Click here to read the full interview. 

6 Things You Must See & Do During FIAC Art Fair Week in Paris

1. Palais de Tokyo presents two exhibitions for FIAC 2015. "I <3 John Giorno" presents a retrospective on the life and work of John Giorno. "Seul celui qui connait le désir" features new work by Ragnar Kjartansson (pictured above). Visit Palais de Tokyo Tuesday through Sunday from noon to midnight. 2.  Sterling Ruby's first solo exhibition are being shown at Gagosian across its two Paris galleries. See the artist's new "YARD" paintings (pictured above) at Gagosian Rue de Ponthieu. 3. Galerie Perrotin presents "Paulin, Paulin, Paulin" featuring the work of designer Pierre Paulin next to contemporary artists. 4. See Robert Montgomery's newest installation aptly entitled  'CHAPTER SIX IN WHICH WE SIT LIKE DOCILE CATTLE WHILE YOU USE THE AESTHETICS OF PUNK ROCK TO SELL CREDIT CARDS BACK TO US." The exhibition, presented by Galerie Nuke and ISTANBUL '74, explores the Montgomery's fascination with ecological and social concerns. 5. "Jack Climbed Up the Beanstalk to the Sky of Illimitableness Where Everything Went Backwards" at Almine Rech Gallery is a mini-retrospective of 12 works by painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel. 6. Galerie des Galeries hosts the first solo exhibition of artist and filmmaker Alex Prager, best know for her photographs that draw on the drama of Golden Age Hollywood films. The exhibition features her most recent works, including her latest film, "Face in the Crowd."

For This Week's Friday Playlist, Jam to the Deliciously Sweet Sounds of Motown Soul and Funk →

Whenever I get the proverbial gun to the head and am asked if I could only listen to one genre of music forever, I go with soul and funk. Why? Because it's everything: amazing lyrics, amazing singing, political, emotional, makes you dance, makes you cry, makes you sex. Click here to listen to the playlist.

When Savage Culture Was The Norm: Smiler Captures The Wayward Visages Of London's Squatters

An exhibition of unseen photographs by Smiler (aka Mark Cawson) of London squats from the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s is currently on view at the ICA in London. The content of the exhibition focuses on a body of work that Smiler mainly shot between West London and Kings Cross. The exhibition consists of black and white images taken on an analogue camera. “I used the camera like a storm anchor helping me to navigate and freeze a spinning world of change and flux.” Smiler Against the backdrop of social and political upheaval, young people across the city were drawn to squats by the prospect of a place to live, but also by an identity and a sense of community. Smiler’s photographs document the people who lived in squats across the city, at a time when salvage culture was the norm. Smiler: Photographs of London by Mark Cawson will be on view at the ICA until November 29, 2015, 12 Carlton House Terrace London

Continuous Surfaces: Sara Cwynar, Lukas Geronimas, Josh Reames, Cole Sayer @ Andrea Rosen Gallery

Andrea Rosen Gallery presents Continuous Surfaces. The exhibition features new work by Sara Cwynar, Lukas Geronimas, Josh Reames, and Cole Sayer. Writing in Artforum, Alexander Provan proposed that “every era has its interface, and every interface determines how we relate to the world.” If the late 20th century was defined by the graphical user interface made popular by personal computers, the early 21st century is marked by the proliferation of touch screens, which mediate increasingly broad swaths of everyday life. Touch screen devices like phones and tablet computers represent a radically new kind of surface, one that is both physically flat and thin, but experientially depthless. Continuous Surfaces will be on view until October 24 at Andrea Rosen Gallery, 544 West 24th Street, New York. 

The Kid Stays In the Picture: Read Our Convo With The Illuminating Star Of Jake Hoffman's First Film, Asthma, Which Premiers Today In New York City →

In the following interview, Autre has a casual conversation with Benedict Samuel – star of Jake Hoffman's first film Asthma – over the phone while on his way to a cemetery in Australia to have his portraits taken for this feature. We talk about the weather, his acting style, how he prepares for an intense role like that of Gus, working with Iggy Pop, and why redemption and hope are precious things in which to hold on. Click here to read the interview and see our amazing exclusive editorial featuring photographs by Elvis Di Fazio shot in a cemetery in Sydney, Australia. 

Opening Of "Present Conditional" Group Show @ Mier Gallery in Los Angeles

Mier Gallery presents Present Conditional, the first group exhibition of the gallery. With eight major contemporary female painting positions, Present Conditional will form a powerful, heterogeneous and intergenerational exhibition as a visual and contextual snap-shot. Artists included: Rita Ackermann, Amy Bessone, Ida Ekblad, Sophie von Hellermann, Joyce Pensato, Jana Schröder, Odessa Straub, Anke Weyer. Present Conditional will be on view until November 27, 2015 at Mier Gallery, 1107 Greenacre Ave West Hollywood, CA

Mark Grotjahn "Painted Sculpture" @ Anton Kern Gallery In New York

In his fourth solo exhibition at Anton Kern Gallery, painter and sculptor Mark Grotjahn presents a new body of painted bronzes. In a radical act of transformation, Grotjahn takes the most casual throwaway material, the cardboard box, and turns it into the most solid and noble of art mediums: the pedestal-mounted bronze sculpture. With their rough cutouts for eyes and mouths, glued-on cardboard tubes and toilet paper rolls for pipe-like noses, and ripped cardboard surfaces for texture and definition, these assemblages resemble primitive, child-like masks. Cast in bronze, Grotjahn paints them in decisive hues of green, purple, and red, inflected with smaller doses of other colors that are applied in gestural, expressionistic trails of paint and chromatic networks. Elevated on pinewood pedestals, the masks function simultaneously as paintings and as three-dimensional objects. Mark Grotjahn "Painted Sculpture" will be on view until October 29, 2015 at Anton Kern Gallery, 532 West 20th Street New York, NY

“Paulin, Paulin, Paulin" Features The Work Of Designer Pierre Paulin Next To Contemporary Artists @ Galerie Perrotin In Paris

On view now: “Paulin, Paulin, Paulin,” at Galerie Perrotin, Paris offers a dialogue between Pierre Paulin designs produced in limited editions by Paulin, Paulin, Paulin (in particular the “Déclive” from 1966, plus the “Jardin à la française” armchairs, tables and rugs made specially for the Palais d’Iéna in 1985; “Dune” and “Tapis-Siège” designed for the Herman Miller project in 1970, etc.), with works by contemporary artists such as Mike Bouchet, César, John De Andrea, Tara Donovan, Elmgreen & Dragset, Laurent Grasso, Candida Höfer, KAWS, Bertrand Lavier, Heinz Mack, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Jesús Rafael Soto and Xavier Veilhan. A number of these artists have used Paulin designs in their own work (Bertrand Lavier, Elmgreen & Dragset, Candida Höfer) while others have created pieces that suggest loose formal affinities or evoke Paulin’s universe. Paulin, Paulin, Paulin opens today and will be on view until December 19, 2015 at Galerie Perrotin, 76 Rue de Turenne, Paris  

Read Our Conversation and Step Into the Residence Of Claressinka Anderson Who Has Turned Her Los Angeles Home Into An Art Gallery →

Step into Claressinka Anderson’s beautiful, but modest-by-comparison, contemporary home on the border between Santa Monica and Venice Beach in Los Angeles and you are stepping into a new breed of art gallery: part home, part gallery, and part breeding ground for ideas. Lately, there is a trend amongst gallerists ­­– from Los Angeles to New York to Miami – who are eschewing the traditional white-walled platform and exposing art in a much more organic environment; one that is conducive to conversing, socializing, and yes, collecting. Click here to read the full interview and see a house tour. 

Read Audra Wist's Essay On the Demystification Of Sexual Urges And Why Men Need To Be Touched More →

“I love to be caressed,” he said to me, my hand on his chest. Color me impressed. As I get older, I continually notice the need for men to be touched. I’ve been a long time proponent of strip clubs, sex work, and so forth – physical sites designed for and marketed to men for sexual pleasure – even before I could really justify it legally or intellectually. I always had a hunch that something was going on there that was good for women and for sex, and that the usual bad mouthing on the grounds that men were sniveling tit-obsessed cretons was ill considered and lacked any constructive thought about the potential of these venues for sexual progress. Click here to read the full essay. 

Men Should Be Touched by Audra Wist

photograph by Brooke Frederick

text by Audra Wist

“I love to be caressed,” he said to me, my hand on his chest. Color me impressed. As I get older, I continually notice the need for men to be touched. I’ve been a long time proponent of strip clubs, sex work, and so forth – physical sites designed for and marketed to men for sexual pleasure – even before I could really justify it legally or intellectually. I always had a hunch that something was going on there that was good for women and for sex, and that the usual bad mouthing on the grounds that men were sniveling tit-obsessed cretons was ill considered and lacked any constructive thought about the potential of these venues for sexual progress. For me, porn has always felt like a fall-back to these other privileged spaces in my mind, and for good reason. Though direct, quick-and-dirty and getting the job done for the most part, porn lacks something essential to desire, to sex: touch. These arenas I describe provide a context for touch and a real time one-to-one interaction that is becoming increasingly more important and unavailable. 

Spending time in strip clubs across the U.S., I find something interesting yet not so surprising happens: people quickly open up. The awkwardness of being seen in a place like your local strip club melts away in an instant behind the closed doors, and an intimate ease comes forth. The low lights and typically recessed seating below the stages stake off a specific arena for erotic play with clear-cut boundaries. I’ve eavesdropped on numerous conservations between strippers and clients, men and women of all sexualities, and they are remarkably docile and cheerful, very inquisitive, albeit sometimes a little shy. Women seem to have a refined understanding of pleasure and people of all creeds are drawn to our innate knowledge of carnal ambiguities. In discussing the pornographic nature of the strip tease or naked body, people also want to talk with these women about their bodies, interests, and peculiarities in relation to their own, ultimately gaining a better understanding of themselves and others in the process. When women facilitate touch, touch facilitates acceptance and understanding. Porn cannot necessarily answer your burning questions on how to please a woman, but a woman probably can. 

To be able to see and converse with a real person in a sexual context with distinct boundaries is an important interaction – and one I feel should be encouraged and coveted as a sexual savior amidst a sea of pornographic images. Touch, or the possibility for touch, makes all the difference.

Although I encourage all genders and sexualities to touch more, I focus on straight men here because they tend to reject the idea of being touched as it goes against the prescribed masculine position of assertive doer. To be touched could be likened to being held, being acted upon rather than in pursuit of action. I see an inconsistency here. The drive to participate in any sort of sexual spectatorship comes from a desire to get off, to be connected, to be with someone and that “with” denotes a want to touch them – someone, something, to be in unison, 1+1. Touch is the literal connection between us and unifies our experience. Touch is also reciprocal. When I touch you, you also touch me. I’ve felt the power in someone’s casual graze of my arm or playful grab of my side. It’s unparalleled – incredibly exciting and comforting to feel someone’s body come in contact with mine. I’m there with them in an instant. I find I surprise men when I touch them before they touch me. They like the change and surrender to being touched, a passive appreciator of my invitation to intimacy.

In a recent conversation with a sex therapist friend, we were discussing porn’s bad rap. I told him I never felt bad about porn, just that it sometimes made me feel gross afterwards. I wondered why. He asked when those gross feelings came to the surface and we deduced that it was after a period of continual porn watching with subsequent masturbation. He summed up the “is porn good or bad” controversy in a neat way that I liked and that I frequently share with my clients and friends dealing with sexual loneliness and/or heavy porn consumption. Think about porn like your go-to delicious greasy food and eating as masturbation. The occasional treat yourself moment can be tasty and it certainly won’t ruin your body if practised here and there.

"Strip clubs, massage parlors specializing in extracurriculars, professional domination sessions, escort services, physical smut – these are all ways in which sexual urges can be evenly distributed, demystified, and depressurized."

In a similar vein, eating is essential and keeps us alive and alert, it can even be fun and exciting, relaxing sometimes. However, if your entire diet becomes that delicious greasy item, then you are likely going to run into some problems, mentally and physically, during your slow build binge. Use your common sense and don’t overdo it. Though, do have as many sexual experiences (including masturbation) as you wish. Remember, I liken this to eating; it is healthy and good to do so.

There are small seemingly innocuous ways to do this. Annie Sprinkle and her partner Beth Stephens have coveted the term ecosexual and are currently making work based on “intersections of sexuality and ecological relations.” In my own similar experience of collecting erotica, I find the simple act of touching the magazines, the books, even seeing the typeface contributes to the objectness, the sexual nature, of the material itself. To touch the image, to touch the thing that contains the words is a sexual experience that I would liken to a modern day sexual encounter. Touch is inherently fetishistic as it signifies objecthood which gets me off.

Strip clubs, massage parlors specializing in extracurriculars, professional domination sessions, escort services, physical smut – these are all ways in which sexual urges can be evenly distributed, demystified, and depressurized. Varying a sexual diet assists in understanding our desires, and talking with like-minded folk helps to normalize our experiences with our bodies and others’ bodies, as well. Instead of having a one-to-one relationship between yourself and a screen, these other arenas offer up the benefit of having another person present that you interact with and casually discuss your likes/dislikes, fantasies, and so forth. While I do not disparage porn or its performers, I do privilege seeing a body before me under lights, on a stage, sitting next to me, on top of me, below me, kissing me and touching me as an absolute sexual essential.

Audra Wist is an artist, writer, social commentator and provocateur - she is also an avid collector of erotica and erotic ephemera. She is also a professional dominatrix based in Los Angeles specializing in all sorts of punishment and humiliation. As Autre's sex editor at-large she will be covering all sorts of naughty content in the realm of sex and sexuality – from masturbatorial musings to photographic editorials. Follow Autre on instagram: @AUTREMAGAZINE