ART AFICIONADO

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Album Cover: Kylie Minogue - Fever

Album Cover

Album: Kylie Minogue - Fever

Released: October 1, 2001

Cover Photographer: Vincent Peters

Graphic Designer: Tony Hung

Model: Kylie Minogue

Source:

Wikipedia

RANDOM WEDNESDAY: Seattle's Spite House

via Giant House Giant Journey

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

James Baldwin: The Messenger We Still Need

Literature Appreciation

A few years ago, I read David Leeming's biography of James Baldwin, a prominent author who was both prophet and participant in America's racial struggles during the 1950s and '60s.

Leeming shows Baldwin as a witness—an artist who carried Harlem in his bones and Paris in his passport, constantly navigating between cultures while writing with urgency about race, love, and belonging. Novels and essays like The Fire Next Time argue that America's "race problem" stemmed from fear of love and the invention of categories—Black, white, gay, straight—to avoid self-reckoning.

The book captures Baldwin's contradictions: fiery yet tender, deeply committed to justice yet elusive in his personal life. Reading Leeming, you get the sense that Baldwin saw his role less as a polished novelist and more as a messenger, always wrestling with the truth as he saw it.

Louis Menand's essay in The New Yorker adds another dimension, reminding us that Baldwin's influence wasn't simply literary but existential. Menand emphasizes Baldwin's relentless message—that America's divisions are less about policy and more about our inability to love ourselves and each other honestly. He highlights Baldwin's struggles: the failed relationships, the disappointments in later work, and the way he drifted from celebrity status to "has-been" before being rediscovered in our time. For me, that lens makes Baldwin even more human—less the flawless icon and more the flawed, chain-smoking, often embellishing witness who refused to stop reminding us of the fire next time.

Taken together, Leeming and Menand leave us with more than a history lesson. They leave us with a challenge about how to live in our own politically charged moment. Baldwin's life, messy as it was, insists that labels won't save us, policies alone won't save us, and that real change begins in how we see—and love—each other. It's a reminder to take ourselves a little less seriously, to laugh where we can, and to not let fear or division dictate our choices.

Sources:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/18/baldwin-a-love-story-nicholas-boggs-book-review

https://www.amazon.com/James-Baldwin-Biography-David-Leeming/dp/1628724382

Monday, September 29, 2025

Album Cover: Stone Temple Pilots - Core

Album Cover

Album: Stone Temple Pilots - Core

Released: September 29, 1992

Photographer: Katrina Dickson

Model: Maja Roble

Art Direction / Design: Kevin Design Hosmann

Illustration: Christian Clayton

Source:

https://www.stonetemplepilots.nl/forum/core/index.php?topic=11860.0

Sunday, September 28, 2025

Wet Leg - Wet Dream

Music Appreciation

Wet Leg’s “Wet Dream” was written by singer-guitarists Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, along with guitarist Joshua Mobaraki, and produced by Dan Carey. Released on September 28, 2021, it served as the duo’s second single from their self-titled debut album, following the breakout success of “Chaise Longue.”

Running just over two minutes, the song delivers a punchy dose of punk-leaning indie rock with squalling guitars, shouted vocals, and sharp, irreverent lyrics. Teasdale wrote it as a tongue-in-cheek response to an ex who kept texting her about having dreams of her—prompting the pointed line, “What makes you think you're good enough to think about me when you're touching yourself?” The track rides on a looping bassline, propulsive beat, and disco-style handclaps, mixing surf rock and post-punk vibes. Its humor is also laced with pop-culture nods, like the sly mention of Buffalo ’66 on DVD.

Directed by Teasdale herself, the music video leans fully into the bizarre. Set on the Isle of Wight, it features Teasdale and Chambers wearing oversized lobster claws at an absurdly elegant seafood feast, which quickly descends into food fights and chaos. The setting and surreal aesthetic, with clear nods to Dalí and cottage-core whimsy, mirror the song’s playfully offbeat tone.