June 17, 1989
Saturday, 11:10 pm

If you asked me what the Kali-Filme was about I couldn't tell you except that it had seven parts. The first consisted of Japanese erotic prints with background music by Vivaldi; then a vintage porno film tinted blue -- very slow, very sexy; followed by more contemporary porno -- not so slow, nor sexy but graphic. Next were stills from slasher movies with a concentration on dead women, they looked like snuff films; then women getting revenge on captors/lovers. Those were followed by battle scenes from movies, then scenes from real battles and finally a shot of two women kissing from Edison's "The Kiss."

Images came at you then left before they could be digested. I told Birgit Heine, the woman who made it with her husband, I was relieved that it ended with a kiss instead of something more brutal. She laughed and took a swig of beer.

I dropped by Simon's after the gym this morning to give him clippings about the Corcoran but his xerox wasn't working. The rest of the day I worked on a new "tree" painting using euphanisms for falling/failing and going to extremes. I bought a copy of "The Great Gatsby."

It looks like I'll be moving into David's studio in July. Terrance offered to help me silkscreen.

There are some people you have to be careful about what you say to them or you end up in very dumb arguments. That's what happened when I told Rick (not Thompson, another Rick) about Simon and Gary Indiana's plan to remake all the Warhol films. Rick took me seriously and said it sounded like another one of those art world jokes nobody else gets. People who think of themselves as artists yet don't do anything are draining and I'm surrounded by them. It's so easy to call yourself an artist -- though everybody is, in some sense, an artist -- but there comes a time when you have to show the goods and put yourself up for criticism.

I'm being negative again. I wonder if Rick is writing? I don't see him at ACT UP much any more.

A postcard from Paul and Mark came today, they're coming back tomorrow. If I can stay away I'll go to the bar and see what's up later.