The New Gay Novel Of Our Times: Luke Goebel Reviews Garth Greenwell's Incendiary New Novel

Happy New Year Autre Readers,

I want to tell you about a book that you should read in 2016. I have never written a book review before, but I’ve read a lot of them and had my own book reviewed a couple dozen times, and therefore know that I hate them—they are too long, usually, and too bombastic and too laudatory and too much too much. They either show off or get goopy or refer to too many old works or take shots at the work or as is usually the case are written by friends of the author and biased and shit.

Let’s talk about cocaine. There is hardly any of it that is real anymore. Agreed? I am sober, as in I don’t do drugs anymore, but let’s say that I did have a little taste of toot the other night, as fiction, let’s say that, and that the taste on my tongue was definitely watered down, i.e. stepped on, meth coke bullshit. It’s everywhere, right?

We don’t want our funk stepped on. If there was real coke, in the fiction, I would as a fictional character done a line, and as the Byrds sing, would offer you to take a whiff on me, which is what I will do later in this review. I’ll offer you to take a whiff on me of some real coke.

Garth Greenwell has got your coke, and I’m going to give you a little whiff of his supply, in the sense that Garth has the straight numb your face off wake up powder in the novel he is releasing this month with FSG titled, WHAT BELONGS TO YOU.

This novel, and no I don’t know Garth, was recommended by an author I admire, Alex Che, and so I asked for an ARC (advanced reader’s copy) from Grant and he agreed and sent me over a copy. I read the first page and was keenly aware that Grant has the coke. This masterpiece of his begins in a public bathroom underneath the Sofia National Palace of Culture in Bulgaria where the narrator tells us he first spied the object of his lust and desire, a hustler of charisma with a jagged tooth who is rolling a joint in a stall with another man when the narrator first pays the hustler to let him suck the hustler’s cock in the bathroom. The book goes from there with the intensity of interpersonal drama and identity that brings to mind Oscar Wilde, Fitzgerald, Plath, Nabokov, and is nothing short of our first masterpiece…there I go again doing the thing I hate, the book is a masterpiece. I’m going to give you those tastes I promised now, but as you will see, this book and the writing are something we don’t get anymore. They are a taste of real coke, only without the gasoline, murder, death, guilt, corruption that goes into cocaine. Writing like this simply doesn’t come around anymore. The majority of what we get to read from living authors is part meth at best. This is the pure shit. Enjoy. Text by Luke Goebel. We were going to include some excerpts from the Greenwell's new novel, but all the lit mags, like the Paris Review, claimed dibs, so you may as well just purchase "What Belongs To You: A Novel" here

A David Bowie Concert Diary By Hedi Slimane

This year marks the 10th year of Hedi Slimane's "Diary." With the passing of David Bowie, it is only fitting that we dig into Slimane's diary and explore some images he took of Bowie for a Stage book project in 2014. In one interview Slimane remarked, "I was literally born with a David Bowie album in my hand." Currently at the helm of Saint Laurent, Slimane is gearing up for a presentation of the label's fall 2016 collection at the Palladium in Los Angeles on February 10th. photographs by Hedi Slimane

First Look At Adam Green's Film "Aladdin" Starring Francesco Clemente, Natasha Lyonne, Macaulay Culkin and More

Here’s the first look at Adam Green’s Aladdin, the second feature film from musician, artist and filmmaker Adam Green. Set in the modern day world, Adam’s hyper-sensory, poetic and humorously subversive take on the classic Arabian Nights tale stars Adam as Aladdin living with his dysfunctional family in a “regular” American town ruled by a corrupt Sultan with a decadent socialite daughter. The fantasy film stars an ensemble cast featuring some of New York’s biggest arts, music and film talent, including Natasha Lyonne, Macaulay Culkin, Alia Shawkat, Francesco Clemente, Jack Dishel, Har Mar Superstar, Devendra Banhart, Bip Ling, Zoe Kravitz and more! The movie features a brand new Full Album Soundtrack composed and recorded by Adam, who will be kicking off a worldwide Aladdin Tour concurrent with the film and album's release in Spring 2016. Read our interview with Adam Green from back in 2013. 

Oscars So White: Read Spike Lee's Statement On Why He Won't Be Attending The Award Ceremony This Year

I Would Like To Thank President Cheryl Boone Isaacs And The Board Of Governors Of The Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences For Awarding Me an Honorary Oscar This Past November. I Am Most Appreciative. However My Wife, Mrs. Tonya Lewis Lee And I Will Not Be Attending The Oscar Ceremony This Coming February. We Cannot Support It And Mean No Disrespect To My Friends, Host Chris Rock and Producer Reggie Hudlin, President Isaacs And The Academy. But, How Is It Possible For The 2nd Consecutive Year All 20 Contenders Under The Actor Category Are White? And Let's Not Even Get Into The Other Branches. 40 White Actors In 2 Years And No Flava At All. We Can't Act?! WTF!! It's No Coincidence I'm Writing This As We Celebrate The 30th Anniversary Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday. Dr. King Said "There Comes A Time When One Must Take A Position That Is Neither Safe, Nor Politic, Nor Popular But He Must Take It Because Conscience Tells Him It's Right." For Too Many Years When The Oscars Nominations Are Revealed, My Office Phone Rings Off The Hook With The Media Asking Me My Opinion About The Lack Of African-Americans And This Year Was No Different. For Once, (Maybe) I Would Like The Media To Ask All The White Nominees And Studio Heads How They Feel About Another All White Ballot. If Someone Has Addressed This And I Missed It Then I Stand Mistaken. As I See It, The Academy Awards Is Not Where The "Real" Battle Is. It's In The Executive Office Of The Hollywood Studios And TV And Cable Networks. This Is Where The Gate Keepers Decide What Gets Made And What Gets Jettisoned To "Turnaround" Or Scrap Heap. This Is What's Important. The Gate Keepers. Those With "The Green Light" Vote. As The Great Actor Leslie Odom Jr. Sings And Dances In The Game Changing Broadway Musical HAMILTON, "I WANNA BE IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS." People, The Truth Is We Ain't In Those Rooms And Until Minorities Are, The Oscar Nominees Will Remain Lily White. Text by Spike Lee. Watch the World premiere of the new Spike Lee Joint MICHAEL JACKSON’S JOURNEY FROM MOTOWN TO OFF THE WALL at Sundance Film Festival with screenings from January 24 to January 30. The documentary will be on view on Showtime on February 5, 2016.

Watch The Incredible Music Video For Odesza's Track "It's Only" Featuring Zyra

Odesza has unveiled a new video for In Return song “It’s Only (feat. Zyra)". Directed by Dan Brown, the video comes ahead of another headline run of major festivals this spring and summer including stops at Mysteryland, CRSSD, Boston Calling, Moogfest, Shaky Beats and more to come. “It’s Only” will also be accompanied by a forthcoming remix package including remixes by RÜFÜS DU SOL, 20syl, Kania, and Fei-Fei, out February 19.

John Stezaker "The Truth of Masks" at Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago

"The Truth of Masks" marks the latest exhibition of new collages by English artist John Stezaker, the largest U.S. exhibition of his work to date. For the past forty years, Stezaker has searched meticulously through vast archives of antique travel postcards, Hollywood film stills, and anonymous photographs to create collages that are sharp, poignant, and surreal. Through the reappropriation, alteration, and repurposing of these forgotten worlds, Stezaker creates new ones. Both minimal and complex, the collages are “transmissions of a Mass Age dream world.” "Truth of Masks" is on view until January 30th at Richard Gray Gallery, 875 N Michigan Ave #3800, Chicago. Text and photographs by Keely Shinners. 

"Like-ness" Group Show At Albertz Benda Gallery in New York

Albertz Benda presents "Like·ness," a group exhibition featuring works by seven contemporary artists – Del Kathryn Barton, Sara-Vide Ericson, Dongwook Lee, Kalup Linzy, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Terry Rodgers, and Dennis Scholl –that focus on physical egocentricity in the digital age. Through a variety of mediums including film, painting and sculpture, like·ness offers an aesthetic overview of social pressures, the human body and the correlation between vanity, insecurity, and self-obsession. Like-ness will be on view until February 13, 2016 at Albertz Benda gallery. Photographs by Scout MacEachron  

Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia @ The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis

It is a strange wonder to see the past's imagination of the future. The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis presents Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia. This psychedelic, powerful, and comprehensive exhibition examines the intersections of art, architecture, and design with the counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s. A time of great upheaval, the works radically challenge social norms that are relevant to the present--the control of female sexuality, domestic & international warfare, ecological destruction, implicit & explicit racisms... As they comment on their present moment, these artists, architects, and designers in turn imagine alternative utopias--communities of empowerment, creation, education, and freedom. Challenging traditional mediums, the exhibition features experimental furniture, alternative living structures, immersive and participatory media environments, alternative publishing and ephemera, and experimental film. Check out Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia at the Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, Minnesota, until February 28th. Text by Keely Shinners. Photographs by Keely Shinners and Neelufar Franklin.

Read Our Review Of London Collections: Men →

It's been a full week since LCM, which is an eternity in the world of fashion, but we like to take our time to really analyze the collections for their sartorial craftiness, relevance in culture and wearableness. Anyway, another season another killer London Collections: Men.. Bless Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion, because as we’ve said before, London is far and away smoking the menswear game in terms of new and subversive talent. Click here to read more. 

Dreams In Blue: Read Our Interview With Artist and Painter Phillip Mueller On The Eve Of His Solo Show At Carbon 12 Gallery In Dubai →

Viennese artist Phillip Mueller’s art is mythical, fantastical and deranged. It exists on a plane somewhere between Hieronymus Bosch splashed with modern pop references, Thomas Kinkade on acid and a print out from your brain of a recurring nightmare. However, there is also something so sweet, alluring and romantic about his work. Mueller, whose solo show opens tonight at Carbon 12 Gallery in Dubai, is a genuine painter and he is studious about his work. In a world devoid of figurative meaning in painting, Mueller uses his paint and brushes almost like a protest, and the depth of his work is a war against contemporary’s artist stodginess. Click here to read more. 

Politicians Are Criminals: A Special Message From Vivienne Westwood

Politicians R Criminals / COP 21 is a lie - say one thing + mean another. Business as usual will kills us. A green economy will save us.

Be Specific: Save Venice - Stop the Cruise Ships - weareherevenice.org
Be Specific: Save our Rainforest - Cool Earth - coolearth.org
Be Specific: Save our Ocean - Stop $ubsidies to Industrial Fishing - seashepherd.org
Be Specific: You - switch to Green Energy - www.ecotricity.co.uk
I like Save OUR Rain Forest
Save OUR Ocean
Who do OUR! politicians think they are? 
Who gives them the right to WRECK the Earth? 
www.climaterevoltuion
 

A Happy 70th Birthday Shoutout To Discreet Comedy Legend Michael Barrie

For the last five decades, comedy writer and ultimate gentleman Michael Barrie has penned jokes for Joan Rivers, biting barbs for comedy roasts (when they were good), and he has written the monologues for the likes of the late Johnny Carson and the recently retired David Letterman. In fact, he has been with Carson and Letterman through most of their careers. There is about a 99.9% chance that if you have watched Carson or Letterman in the last few decades, you have laughed at a joke written by Barrie. If you meet him, you would think he were a spy – he is that discreet about his legendary status in the realm of comedy. Happy birthday Michael Barrie! photograph by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Marcel Dzama and Raymond Pettibon "Forgetting the Hand" @ David Zwirner in New York

David Zwirner presents an exhibition of collaborative works by Marcel Dzama and Raymond Pettibon, on view at 533 West 19th Street in New York. Gallery artists since 1998 and 1995 respectively, this is the first time the pair has worked together. The drawings were originally created for a zine published by David Zwirner Books to coincide with Printed Matter’s New York Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1 (September 2015). The collaboration began in Summer 2015 with the artists swapping the first of a series of drawings to be completed by the other. In a variation of the “exquisite corpse” method in which a partner is only given portions of an otherwise concealed drawing to work on, Dzama and Pettibon developed each other’s compositions through illustrations, collage, and writing. Just as the surrealists invented the technique in the early twentieth century as a playful and ultimately enriching exercise, the present drawings combine the two artists’ distinct styles in a revealing and often seamless fashion. In several works, it is almost impossible to determine who made what, which indicates how both strove to assimilate the other’s vision or anticipate his response. Marcel Dzama and Raymond Pettibon "Forgetting the Hand" will be on view until February 20, 2016 at David Zwirner Gallery, 533 West 19th Street in New York. photographs by Adam Lehrer

Sistaaz of the Castle Explores Transgender Sex Workers That Roam The Streets of Cape Town, South Africa

Photographer Jan Hoek and fashion designer Duran Lantink present Sistaaz of the Castle, a project about the style and fashion of transgender sex workers in Cape Town, South Africa. Together they created a series of photographs and a fashion collection around their fashionable appearances, and their ability to make the most exuberant creations of everything they find. The project will be shown during FashionWeek Amsterdam and an exhibition at Foam Photography Museum Amsterdam. The local sex workers’ organization, S.W.E.A.T., gave Jan and Duran the opportunity to meet and collaborate with their transgender support group Sistaazhood. For this project, Jan and Duran zoom in on six girls from the community: Coco (25), Cleopatra (23) Sulaiga (30), Gabby (29) Flavinia (33) and Joan Collins (57). Most of the girls are homeless, living under a bridge beside the castle of Cape Town. Jan Hoek made photographs of them, their lives and their outfits. The documentary images serve as a lookbook for the collection of Duran Lantink. The designer was inspired by the creative ability of the girls to produce beautiful creations from found garments. He recognized a similarity to his own process, using different recycling methods and collage techniques. Along with the creations, the artists were interested in how the girls would like to look if they had unlimited possibilities. One of the girls would like to work in a luxurious Victorian brothel. The 57-year-old Joan Collins dreams of a wedding dress and a third wants to become Miss Africa. All these fantasies are translated into a dream-couture capsule collection by Duran, which is also photographed by Jan. In addition to the fashion show and exhibition, a printed publication (APE) will be published and distributed worldwide in March 2016. Eventually, Jan and Duran will return to South Africa to present the Sistaaz of the Castle project on its original site. Usually, transgender sex workers are presented as perpetrator or victim in the South African media. The girls of Sistaazhood expressed their wish to be seen positively in the news. The collection will be presented during FashionWeek Amsterdam at the Gashouder on January 16 at 7p.m.. The Foam exhibition will be on view until January 20.