Philippa Snow

On Self-Injury as Art and Entertainment

Which as You Know Means Violence

We know that celebrities can make great think of the work of Richard Phillips, who has painted an entire series of works inspired by Lindsay Lohan, Robert Pattinson, and Miley Cyrus, or of Urs Fischer, who recently showed a life-sized candle in the shape of Leonardo DiCaprio. Notoriously, the art collector Peter Brant commissioned the wickedly satirical Italian American artist Maurizio Cattelan to make a sculpture of his wife, the supermodel Stephanie Seymour. The work was technically called Stephanie, but became known in the industry as ‘Trophy Wife’. With the sculpture valued at 1.5 million dollars, while Seymour herself is purportedly worth one hundred million dollars, you might be tempted to wonder which has the claim to be the ‘better’ work of art. In this illustrated essay, critic Philippa Snow asks whether all great, or iconic, celebrities can be considered technically self-authored artworks in and of themselves. Drawing on a wide range of cultural references from the past two decades, she proposes that increasingly – as celebrities’ private lives become more visible and thus more art-directed, and especially as plastic surgery becomes de rigueur for even the most minor public figures – celebrity itself can be a medium for contemporary art, a form of mythmaking and image-making that is every bit as complex, conceptual, and compelling as the work of a traditional artist. DISCOURSE is a series of small books in which a theorist, artist, or writer engages in a dialogue with a theme, an artwork, an idea, or another individual across an extended text.

Trophy Lives: On the Celebrity as an Art Object

A blending of art and pop cultural criticism about people who injure themselves for our entertainment or enlightenment. A few weeks before he died, Hunter S. Thompson left an answerphone message for Jackass' Johnny Knoxville: "I might be coming to Baton Rouge... and if I do I will call you, because I will be looking to have some fun, which as you know usually means violence." Fun does not, of course, mean violence for most people. Those who choose to make a hobby, a career or an art practice out of injury are wired differently — subject to unusual motivations, and quite often powered by an ardent death-drive. In Which as You Know Means Violence, writer and art critic Philippa Snow analyses the subject of pain, injury and sadomasochism in performance, from the more rarefied context of contemporary art to the more lowbrow realm of pranksters, stuntmen and stuntwomen, and uncategorisable, danger-loving YouTube freaks. In a world where violence — of the market, of climate change, of capitalism — is part of our everyday lives, Which as You Know Means Violence focuses on those who enact violence on themselves, for art or entertainment, and analyses the role that violence plays in twenty-first century culture.

Charlotte Stewart

Melanie McFarland

Lindsay Hallam

Lindsey Bowden

Hannah Klein

Marisa C. Hayes

Scott Ryan

David Bushman

Mädchen Amick

David Lynch has been accused for decades of sexism and even misogyny in his work, due largely to frequent depictions of violence against women. Yet others see in Lynch's work the deification of the female, and actresses like Laura Dern and Naomi Watts jump at every opportunity to work with him. "He is the master of the juxtaposition of the creepy and the sweet, the sexual and the chaste," wrote W's Lynn Hirschberg. "And at the heart of this tense, intriguing friction, you will always find Lynch's women." The Women of Lynch is a deep, provocative dive into this paradox, featuring ten essays, thought pieces and impressionistic interpretations of Lynch's depiction of women on screen, by an eclectic array of accomplished female critics, scholars, performers, and writers, each tackling this vexing conundrum in her own unique way. The book also contains an interview with actress Mädchen Amick (Shelly Johnson in Twin Peaks) where she gives first hand knowledge on what it is like to be a woman of Lynch. Lisa Hession interviews the original woman of Lynch, Charlotte Stewart (Eraserhead, Twin Peaks) about being the actress with longest active span of working with David Lynch. This is the first essay book about the work of David Lynch by all female writers. Readers will enjoy The Women of Lynch: A Collection of Essays. This book contains essays by: x. An Introduction by Philippa Snow 1. The Uncanny Electricity of David Lynch's Women by Leigh Kellmann Kolb 2. Women's Films: Melodrama and Women's Trauma in the Films of David Lynch by Lindsay Hallam 3. A Colorless Sky: On the Whiteness of Twin Peaks by Melanie McFarland 4. Warding off the Darkness with Coffee and Pie by Mallory O'Meara 5. "This is where we talk, Shelly." An Interview with Mädchen Amick by Lindsey Bowden 6. Welcome to the Bipolar Silencio Club! by Hannah Klein 7. The Triple Goddess by Lauren Fox 8. Isabella Rossellini: The Shocking "Real" in Blue Velvet by Kathleen Fleming 9. Tea And Sympathy: Mrs. Kendal and The Elephant Man by Rebecca Paller 10. Jade: Ornamental Gem or Protective Talisman? A Character Study by Marisa C. Hayes 11. "Mary X Marks The Spot." An Interview with Charlotte Stewart by Lisa Hession 12. Impressions of Lynch: Journaling a Requiem by Mya McBriar Edited by David Bushman Concept by Scott Ryan Front Cover by Blake Morrow Art by Wayne Barnes & Hannah Fortune

A Collection of Essays

The Women of David Lynch

Philippa Snow

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