The Monstrous Art of Pop

by Davide Panagia[This is a revised version of a piece that appeared in The Contemporary Condition (March 20, 2010)].The issue is one of coming to terms with one’s relation to one’s culture. Nothing less is what the intensity of Lady Gaga’s feats of the spectacular make available.Her songs and videos – and her artistic life in general – relentlessly pursue the limits of Pop, not as a representational genre but as a medium. It is in this sense that...

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Golden Arrow Holy Face Devotion: Thoughts on a Catholic Gaga

by Joyelle McSweeney 1. I read that singer Katy Perry called Lady Gaga’s Alejandro video ‘blasphemous’ so of course I had to watch it again. 2. I was the 82, 307, 530th person to do so. That is, mine was the 82, 307, 530 viewing on YouTube. Am I a person or a viewing?3. Je suis un visionnement (Rimbaud.)4. Blasphemy: it is a verbal injury against the name of God. The concept of a ‘verbal injury’ is already a mixed metaphor—that is, it’s...

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rixatrix

by Angela SimioneArtist Bio: Angela Simione is a multi-disciplinary artist working in San Francisco, CA. She received her BFA in Painting and Drawing with High Distinction from California College of the Arts in 2008. Her work is held in both private and corporate collections, most recently The Microsoft Art Collection. Her creative work explores the nature of loss by examining the act of redaction and erasure as both fact and metaphor. She creates...

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mad props: lady gaga invitation number two

Author Bio: Jon Rutzmoser (b. 1982) is an artist, writer and educator living in Los Angeles.  He recently received an MFA in Writing and Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts. His work engages with notions of ethical subjectivity within a world of collapsed metaphor, linguistic slippage, and self-exploitation.  His blog is www.hystericallyreal.c...

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The Mall

By Jon Leon  THE MALLI'm at the mall with Sasha. He's wearing new Marithe + Francois Girbaud jeans held in place with a braided leather belt. The slack tip of his belt is looped twice at the waist and hangs toward his crotch. He's sort of sagging wearing a t-shirt that says Just Do Me above an upside down red swoosh. I'm talking to some babes from out of town in front of a large cardboard display of Lady Gaga and this one girl is like uh...

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Gimme Some of That Bad Girl Meat Dress!

A discussion with Kate Durbin, Lara Glenum, Cheryl Helm, Eddie McCaffray, Danielle Pafunda, Vanessa Place, Marie Smart, Carolyn Thompson, and Meghan VicksFacts The Meat Dress (including boots, hat, and purse) was designed by Franc Fernadez. Lady Gaga wore the dress while accepting the Video of the Year Award at the 2010 VMAs. She famously asked Cher to “hold her meat purse” as she gave her acceptance speech. Yes, it is indeed real, raw meat....

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