Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Hump Day Hottie: Matthew Barney

Because some days, like days in which you return to New York City from Utah (just... hypothetically speaking), nothing but a Mormon obsessed art world superstar will do.

Matthew Barney in "The Order" from Cremaster 3

There's nothing like a man who likes to toss his own sculptures around, wear feather headdresses, pink kilts and shove bloody rags into his mouth.

The many faces (and bodies) of Matthew Barney

Sometimes there's nothing like a man who dresses his nude body in intricate outfits and squids, obsesses about viscous fluids, shrinks his own testicles for art and then ties ribbons on them, chops up his pop star girlfriend in rising water before transforming into a whale, and reworks the Guggenheim as a video game setting.

There's nothing like a man who makes things with his hands.


Today is one of those days. No other man but Matthew Barney will do.

10 comments:

John P. said...

Nat, based entirely on screen caps, I've always wanted to see me some Barney, but I have no idea where to start. What would you recommend?

NATHANIEL R said...

They're tough to see outside of museums but if you ever get the chance, see anything. I much prefer Cremaster to the Drawing Restraint series. The only thing that I know you can see on DVD is "The Order" which is less than a third of Cremaster 3 but it's still fascinating.

My favorites are easily 2 and 5 -- but the order is unimportant

Peter Chan said...

He's wearing far too much pink to be my 'hump day hottie'. Welcome back from Utah, Nat. Hmm... Mormans... now there's some candidates for hump day hotties. :P

NATHANIEL R said...

pink, so what? Check those guns. and that talent!

re: mormons
it's that clean living thing. It's how I still look younger than my years despite my heathen fall from grace many moons ago

Joel said...

They played the Cremaster series when the Guggenheim collection came to Melbourne.
It was the greatest to see parents bring their kids into the room, and then see what was actually happening on the screens and quickly usher them back out again...

André said...

I love him! He´s egocentric and his work is very hermetic. But it´s visually espectacular! And a hottie indeed.

Anonymous said...

//re: mormons
it's that clean living thing. It's how I still look younger than my years despite my heathen fall from grace many moons ago//

Hey, at least you got SOMETHING out of the deal. Trust me, the older you get, the more grateful you'll be - especially as your friends start ending up in nursing homes early (my sweetie is a physical therapy assistant at such a facility and she tells me that, surprisingly, a lot of her patients there are in their 50's and even younger. Strokes, head injuries, you name it.) Or start looking completely wasted thanks to their frivolous youth (if they aren't already) while you're still turning heads, ever the dapper and well-preserved fellow.

RedSatinDoll

Mike z said...

I heartily support this H.D.H.

Anonymous said...

His segment from "Destricted" is also avaliable on DVD (you should write about that film, Nathaniel! Or did you hate it?)... and john p., you know, you can download the entire Cremaster series, and Drawing Restraint 9, and lots of stuff by Paul McCarthy, Pipilotti Rist, Bill Viola, Vito Acconci and many, many others from the Internet. You can start by checking that Ubuweb Film & Video page, which has a lot of great stuff (and sorry for advocating piracy but what else could we poor, miserable souls doomed to live in the Third World do?).

Oh yeah, and Matthew Barney was a great choice for this.

NATHANIEL R said...

i haven't seen Destricted. Do tell.