#John Boskovich

[winterlady1967]

[ID: image on the left is an art exhibit of an electric box fan mounted on a clear plastic frame. END ID]

[ID: A placard placed near the box fan describing the artwork. It reads:

John Boskovich, b. 1956 Los Angeles, d. 2006, Los Angeles. The title of the fan piece is: Electric Fan (Feel it Motherfuckers): Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephen Earabino Estate, 1997.

A description of the materials used reads as follows: Electric fan encased in Plexiglass with vinyl faux etching and Plexiglass base with casters, Gift of the artist in memory of Stephen Earabino. 2000.12

Soon after the death of his lover Stephen Earabino from AIDS, Los Angeles conceptual artist Boskovich discovered that Earabino's family had completely cleared out his apartment, including the artist's possessions, save for the electric box fan in this work. An entire person, existence, and relationship had been erased, like so many were during the AIDS crisis. Boskovich encased the fan in Plexiglass as a kind of evidence and added cutouts to allow its circulated air to escape and be felt by the viewer, almost like an exhalation. In a sense restoring Earabino's breath, at least as a facsimile in memoriam, Boskovich makes a tender and brokenhearted gesture toward some form of eternal life. END ID.]

[fleetwood-rendezvous]

[laithesque]

Electric Fan (Feel it Motherfuckers); Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephen Earabino Estate, 1997.

[schlock-luster-video]

On May 4, 1990, Without You I'm Nothing debuted in New York City.

[stelliferous2]

In his “Rude Awakening Series”, John Boskovich explores queer shame, desire, and the historical role of psychology in condemning queerness during the AIDS crisis through conceptual photography. Comprised of a framed set of Polaroids, each image depicts a mundane memory, domestic scene, or occasionally homoerotic vignette against a positive affirmation. The text itself is silk-screened and was derived from a psychology self-help book gifted to Boskovich shortly after his partner’s hospitalisation.

Each memory is curiously devoid of real human faces, with most containing no people at all. This prompts the viewer to consider who is missing, and the reasons for their absence. The person has left behind half-eaten popcorn, open books, lit stoves. Alternatively, they are invisible — pushed into the margins of heteronormative culture, ignored so harshly that they simply stop existing altogether. Why did Boskovich receive the self-help book, rather than his partner? Why must he better himself, when his partner obviously needs more help than he does?

Ultimately, Boskovich critiques the cogency of pop psychology when faced against genuine queer crises. How can queer people adapt to the increasing societal focus on psychology, knowing fully well how it has been used to harm them? How is psychology used to brush over and minimise the pain that Boskovich is feeling in this moment— a pain already so minimised solely because of his homosexuality?

He sardonically touches on his partner’s inevitable death with levity, with statements such as “Money comes easily to me” contrasted against a naked man, exploring the way queer crisis fits into the prevailing, heterosexual context from which it is borne.

The historical use of psychology to criminalise and condemn queer identity is not lost on Boskovich, who considers whether queerness can ever fit into a world of medicalisation, psychoanalysis, and diagnoses.

[totalposer]

[unicornbeck]

Signal Boost, Signal Boost, Signal Boost.

[z]

might fuck around and become a John Boskovich fan blog his art is so hard

[gallerydeath]

john boskovich, after brancusi (buttplug and mallet), 1993

[annacase]

[art-that-fucks-you-up-tournament]

SET SIX - ROUND ONE - MATCH THREE

"Electric Fan (Feel it Motherfuckers): Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephen Earabino Estate" (1997 - John Boskovich) / "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)" (1991 - Félix González-Torres)

ELECTRIC FAN (FEEL IT MOTHERFUCKERS): it makes me literally insane that’s all that’s left of him and he made sure it would stay remembered, something something the last trace of a breath immortalized the only way it could be. Feel it, motherfuckers. (courfeyracs-swordcane) (also submitted by callixton and weeweewhirlwind)

UNTITLED (PORTRAIT OF ROSS IN L.A.): It fucks me up SO MUCH. The artist's partner was named Ross, and died of AIDS in the same year this was created. The ideal weight is roughly the average of an adult man. The allegory there... people taking the candy, decreasing the weight, the same way people took away from Ross and every other victim of the AIDS crisis by refusing to help, to do anything at all. Except this has an "endless supply" of candy. People can take and take and it keeps coming back. They can't get rid of us forever. We will prevail and we will rebuild and I WILL be fucked up about this forever (ceaseless-rambler)

("Electric Fan (Feel It Motherfuckers): Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephen Earabino Estate" is an electric fan encased in plexiglass with vinyl faux etching and a plexiglass base with casters by gay American artist John Boskovich--Stephen Earanbino's partner. It was the last item left in Stephen Earabino's estate after his death by AIDS and measures 56 7/8 x 22 3/4 x 12 1/2 in. (144.5 x 57.8 x 31.8 cm). It is held by The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

"Untitled (Portrait of Ross in LA)" is a modern art installation consisting of wrapped candies (constantly removed and replaced) by gay Cuban-American artist Félix González-Torres after the death of his partner, Ross, by AIDS. The weight is equivalent to a healthy human male - approximately 175 lbs (79kg). It is located at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.)

[letallthetrashraindown]

there’s so much love in the world. so much love you could drown in it.

Fred W. McDarrah, outside the Stonewall Inn in June 1969 / queering the map / Marie Ueda, “1977 San Francisco Gay Day Parade” / Wilfred Owen to Siegfried Sassoon / the Lovers of Modena / James Schuyler to John Button / John Boskovich, "Electric Fan (Feel it Motherfuckers): Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephen Earabino Estate" / Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf / Joan E. Biren / Saphho, Fragment 147 / @orpheuslament, “The Second Coming, or Jesus at the Gay Bar”

[the-goya-jerker]

portrait of ross in la?

Oh, I do not feel comfortable rating this one or searching for any eroticism in it.

This is a piece of art inspired by the death of Ross Laycock, the lover of artist Felix Gonzalez Torres, during the AIDS crisis.

Ideally this piece is 175lbs of candy (corresponding to an average body weight of an adult man). Throughout the day, pieces are taken and taken. Like Ross, it wastes away, and viewers are left with the anticipation of loss.

This piece genuinely makes me feel like my heart has been ripped from my chest. I want to wail with grief when I think about it too long.

Instead of a review, I humbly offer up, for your elucidation and viewing pleasure, relevant works.

Check out the others works of Felix Gonzalez Torres, they're very moving.

Electric Fan (Feel It Motherfuckers): Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephen Earabino Estate by John S. Boskovich, a thematically similar piece of art. It also brings me to tears when I see it.

Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman, which is based on...

The ACT UP Oral History Project, a project that seeks to preserve the history of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power and their activism through the AIDS Crisis.

United in Anger a film by Jim Hubbard, a documentary on ACT UP

If plays or films are more your style, I recommend Angels in America by Tony Kushner. My favorite version is the 2003 TV series from HBO. It stars Justin Kirk, and it is genuinely uplifting and gut wrenching all at once.

If anyone else has pieces of art they suggest, please, feel free to reblog with them! I think art is one of the best ways sometimes to engage with historical atrocities like this. Whether that art is fictionalized or factual, it connects us like nothing else.

Let yourself learn about this and let yourself feel things about this.

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Art References for Chapter 4 of underneath of your sunrise (show me where your love lies)

(Is this the longest one yet? Maybe. Listen, this was the finale, I went all out.)

Paloma à la Guitare, Françoise Gilot, 1965

"But Monty also thinks about Francoise Gilot, an accomplished painter in her own right. She and Picasso spent ten years together, him cold and distant and cruel, but in the end, she was the one who left him. There was this one friend of the family, Antony Penrose, who said that it was “proof that she never gave up her own spirit.”

And despite two years of letting Tommy color his relationship with Charles and Edwin, Monty’s not going to do that anymore."

Apocalypse Tapestry, Jean Bondol and Nicholas Bataille, 1377-1382

"Monty’s fingers drum against the steering wheel. Just because he logically knows that things are alright- that they are more than alright- he can’t help the slight sting of unease, of doubt, of insecurity that is sewn through him like revelations through the Apocalypse Tapestry."

Arches of the Great Mosque of Córdoba, 785-787

"Because to be touched like this, to be bare beneath their attention, their touch, is like the first time he stood inside of a mosque, looking up at the arches, understanding how geometry could truly be divine."

Persian Ceiling, Dave Chihuly, 2008

"Though, of course, nothing takes Monty’s breath away like the two men highlighted by the glimmers of blue and green and yellow and orange reflecting and refracting off the sculptures above their heads, like walking beneath the kaleidoscope swimming above their heads in an aquarium."

Woman In A Yellow Dress, Max Kurzweil, 1899

"Monty is pushed back against the bed, laid out like a yellow dress draped over a Kurzweil lady, and he goes without protest. He goes with fucking reverence."

Electric Fan (Feel It, Motherfuckers), John S. Boskovich, 1997

"Such an idea would have been staggering a couple of weeks ago. It would have been impossible to believe, like someone trying to argue that modern art is garbage, seriously, have you ever seen Boskovich's Electric Fan (Feel It Motherfuckers) and not felt the absolute agony of the ghosts of your community screaming out at you louder than any painting ever has?"

Madonna painting on caterpillar silk, Chester Cathedral

"He feels as fragile as a gossamer painting, art painted on delicate cobwebs, as he catches his breath."

Radha and Krishna Walk in a Flowering Grove, the Kota Master, c. 1720

"The woman looks rather familiar. In fact, Monty’s pretty sure he’s seen her photo in their apartment, all long dark hair, a striking profile, and warm, familiar brown eyes, as beautiful as Krishna walking in the garden with Radha- if Krishna’s golden earrings gleamed against a pea coat."

At the Moulin Rouge- The Dance, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1890

"This is what Kala and Edwin walk in on: Charles dipping Monty in the middle of the kitchen, helpless laughter spilling from Monty's lips, like two dancers in a Lautrec painting of the Moulin Rouge."

@deadboy-edwin @icecreambrownies @anonymousbooknerd-universe @ashildrs

@tragedy-machine @just-existing-as-you-do-blog @orpheusetude @mj-irvine-selby

@pappelsiin @itsbitmxdinhere @rexrevri @sweet-like-h0ney-lavender @saffirez

@the-ipre @sunnylemonss @days-light @agentearthling @helltechnicality

@sethlost @catboy-cabin @secretlyafiveheadeddragon @vyther15

@anything-thats-rock-and-roll @queen-of-hobgobblers @every-moment-a-different-sound

@nix-nihili @mellxncollie @tumblerislovetumblerislife @lemurafraidofthunder

@likemmmcookies @wr0temyway0ut @thelakeswillbreakourfall

[fookinstevienicks]

So, admittedly, I don't have a strong opinion on whether Buck and Tommy actually do the traditional wedding and kids thing. Actually, no, I'm realizing that as I write this, I don't have a strong opinion about them having kids. But I actually think it would be an interesting twist for them to decide not to get married and just be happily un married but committed to each other. Anyway, that's not the point. For me personally, I kind of want to see a different path forward for Bucktommy than the Henren or Tarlos path. Just because that allows for another different queer story. I don't know if my rambling makes any sense at all. I just hope they tell a different but just as loving story with Buck and Tommy.

personally i am team BuckTommy Elope To Vegas On Impulse One Random Weekend And Wait To See Who Notices First and that is because i'm the funniest bitch in the room

on a more serious note i remember the AIDS crisis and personally stole personal effects of dying AIDS patients to give to their partners who were denied the right to be with their dying loved ones before their parents could discard all of it so i will always advocate for queer couples to take advantage of the most rigorous legal status to which they have access for their own protection, especially if they have difficult relationships with any living family

but i do yearn for queer grown up stories that aren't about remaking the hetero nuclear family

Electric Fan (Feel It Motherfuckers): Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephen Earabino Estate, 1997, John S. Boskovich (source)