Thank you to everyone who attended the show opening of Germophilia in Philly. It was a great time and the show looks incredible. I’ve got a few announcements to make, but I’ve already been posting photos on flickr and facebook and tagging and describing, and I’ve got to take a few minutes more to relax.
The show hangs until 9-20-2009, get down to Fishtown if you didn’t make it to the opening. Germ is normally open Friday through Sunday.
Until then!
Date: Friday, August 7, 2009
Time: 5:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: Jennifer Bates Gallery @ Germ Books
Street: 2005 FRANKFORD AVE
City/Town: Philadelphia, PA
Underworld Amusements presents:
GERMOPHILIA is about loving the disease. The disease is one of this world, the reason why your parents lied about there being a god and the Easter bunny. It’s the flesh, the darkness, the idea that freedom is not given – but taken. GERMOPHILIA presents a collection of artists with a wide range of styles and mediums together to serve as a catalyst to spread just that sickness…
The cutesy cheesecake of Stacey Barich will stir the loins, the totalitarian and infernal collage and painting of Peter H. Gilmore (Church of Satan), the disturbing clash of beauty and tragedy of the photos of Christopher R. Mealie (SexCats!), the worship of strength found in the paintings of Jack Malebranche (author of Androphilia: A Manifesto), the perverse misanthropy of Stephanie Crabe (Motel Bizarre), the haunting dreamworld canvasses of Stephen Kasner (Stephen Kasner: Works 1993-2006), and more. Nine artists presenting a collective picture of the world that subverts that status quo without slipping into the arms of the usual suspects. As a thirst for knowledge is a sin, GERMOPHILIA is a disease that will feed your eyes, mind and passion.
Underworld Amusements Variety Hour conducted interviews with all of the artists participating in the show and made them availablevia podcast. Available from the UA website, iTunes, and RadioFreeSatan.com. Two truncated versions of the print catalog are available in PDF form to view along with the podcasts.
UAVH Germophilia Special 1 – Donovan, Mealie, Barich
UAVH Germophilia Special 2 – Kasner, Crabe, Gilmore, Slaughter, Tydings
Germophilia event on Facebook
Germophilia event on MySpace
In part two of this very special episode we will be talking to some of the artists that are featured in the gallery show opening at Germ Books in Philadelphia in August of 2009.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Germophilia event on Facebook
Germophilia event on MySpace
Stephen Kasner was born in 1970 and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. The cloudy, icy winters and cold steel mills of the Northeast Coast ingrained a sense of murky, existential struggle for survival and spiritual introspection in the artist early on.
Kasner studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art, earning a BFA in 1993 with a major in Illustration, and double minors in Drawing and Photography. His interest in marrying art to music blossomed very early on, and has continually surfaced throughout his career. He has contributed visuals to many eclectic musicians and albums, including Martin Grech, SUNN 0))), darsombra, Khlyst, Integrity, Lotus Eaters, Justin Broadrick/Final, Skullflower, Runhild Gammelsæter, and many others. Kasner pursues his own personal exploration and experimentation in music under the moniker, Blood Fountains, and is currently collaborating with Dwid Hellion and Jacob Bannon as a trio, Irons.
Stephen Kasner’s work has been exhibited worldwide, with exhibitions in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Berlin, and throughout Australia. His work has been featured in dozens of newspapers and magazines, including The Washington Post, SECONDS Magazine, Parable Visions, NY Arts, Descent, and most recently, Coilhouse.
His first solo exhibition in New York City was held at Last Rites Gallery in February 2009. GERMOPHILIA marks the first exhibition of his work in Philadelphia. He currently resides in Northern California.
Stephanie Crabe was born in, and currently resides in the beautiful state of New Jersey with her 2 cats, her dog, and her boyfriend.
She is a graduate of School of Visual Arts Photography program in New York. She has worked extensively in the art and photo industry and as a designer, getting her start by dressing the windows at Trash and Vaudeville. At a very young age she fell in love with photography when her father took her to art shows by Weegee and Diane Arbus.
Currently, Stephanie Crabe is working on several other projects that further expose the disturbing and humorous aspects of everyday life.
Coney Island – Official website of Coney Island, USA.
Motel Bizarre – Stephanie’s Book direct from the publisher.
MotelBizarre.com – The website, not updated much anymore, but some good stuff on there.
Born in the industrial town of Paterson, New Jersey. Childhood was spent exploring the natural environment of the Hudson Valley and reading SF, archaeology, mythology, biology and horror fiction as well as drawing monsters from the Id. He cared for innumerable animals while helping in his father’s pet shop. At first passionate about late-night horror and science fiction movies, in high school, he became fascinated with classical music, eschewing the popular tunes of the day. After graduating as Valedictorian of his class, having already accepted the title of Satanist to quantify his world view, he followed his passion for music and eventually received both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in musical composition from NYU.
In 1989 he founded The Black Flame, the world’s first newsstand magazine by and for Satanists, and in 2001 was appointed the Church of Satan’s High Priest. For over two decades he has represented Satanism in international media. In 2007 a collection of his writings was released as The Satanic Scriptures by Scapegoat Publishing. He resides with his wife, High Priestess Peggy Nadramia, and their black chow dog Contessa Bella Lugosi in New York City.
Discrimination - A definition.
The Exit Collection – George Petros’ books page.
The Satanic Scriptures – The website for the book.
Catfight! Photography is Jen Tydings & Ida Slaughter. They joined forces in 2007 to turn everyday girls into Puuuring beauties of the past. Jen Tydings is a trained shutterbug, a coffee shop owner (Patterson Perk), and a Motown singer (The Motorettes). Ida Slaughter is a licensed make up artist and silk screen designer (BitchCraft Apparel). They specialize in Pin Up with a modern edge. Inspired by classic cheesecake and The Cramps, you might see a retro Pin Up gal lying on a hot pink leopard blanket in one of their photographs. They also do nudes but nothing nasty.
Underworld Amusements Variety Hour can also be heard on Radio Free Satan.
E-Book PDF: Open in New Window | Download
This post is to make available part 2 of the catalog preview PDF for Germophilia.
The artists featured in this truncated version of the catalog are interviewed in Part 2 of the Germophilia Special of the Underworld Amusements Variety Hour podcast.
iTunes Subscribers will find the PDF available automatically in their podcast section.
Click the cover below to download!
UPDATE: A version of this PDF that was downloaded by a few people had an extra page it wasn’t supposed to, that has been fixe in the version available now.
E-Book PDF: Open in New Window | Download
This post is to make available part 1 of the catalog preview PDF for Germophilia.
The artists featured in this truncated version of the catalog are interviewed in Part 1 of the Germophilia Special of the Underworld Amusements Variety Hour podcast.
Click the cover below to download!
UPDATE: It just occured to me that I can send the PDF out through iTunes in the podcast, so I’m doing that after the fact. Hopefully it works.