ASIH – In a Town to the East

Afrogalaxy. 2007

Mequitta Ahuja.

We don’t actually believe that, of course, which is why we will start in all caps: DO NOT VISIT THE TARGET OF THIS POST IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE LOOKING AT PORNY NAKED DUDES.

If you do visit, you will be treated to clever commentary on crazy photos collected from the internet. True cleverness, not the juvenile lampoon ubiquitous on sites like Unhappy Hipsters. You will likely read multiple posts, because LD offers more than just lulz – the commentators’ interiors-savvy gives the posts a pleasing weight, pointing out elements such as escritoires and Frank Frazetta prints. But the real triumph here is the consistently decor-focussed commentary juxtaposed with images whose focus was never intended to be the setting.  And there you are, looking past the what-is-he-putting-in-his-bum, to the vinyl tablecloth. Genius.

LURID DIGS : Horrifying Gay Amateur Interiors.

Gillian Welch – Black Star

A very small detail of You Can Live Forever In Paradise On Earth #4. The huge rest is all like this. Or all different from this. We are pissed at Beautiful Decay because they led us to believe you could hear the audio Simmons and Burke match with this stuff on the website. Or we are grateful to them.

That Dog – Never Say Never

Goblin Cock – Stumped

The card on the wall says “2 channel video, miniature model, mirrors, glass, black light, ghost video, cut-out projection, audio, false walls”. Makes you instantly dig for the price of admission, doesn’t it? Hoffos has said in interviews that he feels artists should give themselves a second childhood. Entering a carnivalesque installation like Scenes From The House Dream feels like joining him there. Learning the grownup thinking behind this atmospheric trip (Jung, bla bla, house as self, bla bla) does not break the spell – it only adds the sensation of the top of the head raising like a drawbridge, giving your moat some air. The work is currently touring out of the National Gallery of Canada.

David Hoffos.

Grouper – Heavy Water_I’d Rather Be Sleeping

We are uptight about our regular online destinations. With limited time and limitless destinations, decisions on whether to view something even once are made hastily and with enormous anti-click bias. Decisions on whether to subscribe or follow or bookmark or otherwise invest repeated time in a site are made with less haste but even more reticence.

The Os Gêmeos blog reassures me that we have not gone too far with the filter. It’s not in English and includes something that prevents Google translate from working. It’s not part of any of our existing “follow factories” like Tumblr or Posterous or Flickr. (There is a link to Flickr but it returns a locked or possibly empty account). It appears not to be designed, not even mediated by the designs of a blogging platform. Yet we visit regularly, using that clunky old school system of memory and bookmark.

The contents range from the expected (documentation of their work), to the classic (“watch this music video we love”), to the whimsical (snapshots of their travels, some with Portugese commentary that would have to be clipped offsite for translation). Scrolling the page, the overall feeling is – surprise - Os Gêmeos: colourful, human, joyful.

And perhaps the absence of bells, whistles, or even helpful features is part of the experience that keeps us coming back. It’s not a gallery with perfect light and soft seating. It’s a wall viewed from inside a speeding train.

Os Gêmeos.