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My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio

Writings and Interviews, 1983–2024

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Book

Pages: 368

Illustrations: 41 illustrations

Published: October 2025

Author: Nayland Blake

Editor: Jarrett Earnest

Introduction by: Jarrett Earnest

Contributor: Jarrett Earnest

Subjects
Art and Visual Culture, Gender and Sexuality > Sex and Sexuality, Theater and Performance > Performance Studies

For four decades, artist, writer, curator, and teacher Nayland Blake has been at the center of discussions of queer aesthetics and contemporary art. Their work has examined racial hybridity, the ins and outs of the BDSM world, and the importance of self-representation. From interviews and critical essays to performance scripts and collage pieces, My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio gathers forty years of Blake’s groundbreaking thought and writing on their personal explorations of kink and creativity as well as on the making, teaching, and curating of art and queer culture. Whether delving into furry fandom or analyzing art, Blake bridges the art and queer kink communities. They also argue that queer artists must champion the work of their peers and elders. As Blake demonstrates throughout, sexual self-expression is an extension of artistic self-expression: they are the same. The volume includes an introduction by artist and critic Jarrett Earnest.

Praise

“Nayland Blake is a significant American artist who has said more about their nation than most. Their intellectual and visual acumen are a pathway, lit on either side by love, and truth.” - Hilton Als

“In their heterogeneity, humor, and sexual embrace, Nayland Blake’s writings are as good a teacher as any about the near-boundless capacities of art to unsettle and affirm one’s sense of self and the worlds that matter most to them.” - Andy Campbell, author of Bound Together: Leather, Sex, Archives, and Contemporary Art

"There’s refreshing ways here of playing along the borders between art, politics and queer sexual life. I learned a lot from Blake that I find I can apply to the frictions I find between writing, rave culture and transsexuality. . . . This book is itself such a utopia." - McKenzie Wark, ARTNews

"If you’re already a Blake fan, this book is a welcome opportunity to peek inside their mind. If you’re new to their art, take it as an invitation (leather and latex optional)." - Natalie Haddad, Hyperallergic

"This new collection of writing and interviews by the multi-hyphenated creative spirit Nayland Blake, My Studio Is A Dungeon Is The Studio illuminates the rich interconnections among their art-making, activism, curation, and teaching over the last four decades. This is a time filled with government-encouraged erasures and self-censorship, so the volume is an essential read for those interested in pioneering art practices and queer aesthetics." - John Killacky, Arts Fuse

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Information

Author/Editor Bios Table Of Contents Rights Additional Information

Author/Editor Bios

Nayland Blake is an artist, curator, and Codirector of the Studio Arts Program at Bard College. They are coeditor of In a Different Light: Visual Culture, Sexual Identity, Queer Practice.

Jarrett Earnest is an artist, writer, and author of What It Means to Write About Art: Interviews with Art Critics.

List of Acknowledgments xi
Acknowledgments xiii
A Fan Writes . . .: An Introduction by Jarrett Earnest 1
The Difficulties That Afflict Us in Art School 15
Assessing My Work 18
Tom of Finland: An Appreciation 21
The ABCs of Art Institutions 32
Performance Script 37
The Saddest Story I Know 49
Schreber, Roussel, Duchamp 58
Performance Script 64
The Secret Square 71
One Hand Clapping: Porn Reviews 85
Bay Area Conceptualism: Two Generations 102
Queer Mysteries 109
Interview by John Grange and Stephen Johnstone 114
City of Hares: A Proposal 133
Curating “In a Different Light” 136
The Story of H (Excerpt) 165
Hare Follies 169
Jack Smith: The Message from Atlantis 190
Ray Johnson: Correspondences 205
Top Ten 210
James Gobel 214
Matthew Benedict: Shroud of Truro 219
Judie Bamber: Further Horizons 225
Seven Quick Notes on Writing an Artist’s Statement 230
Kathy Acker: “Because I Want to Live Forever in Wonder” 233
Jim Hodges: “Theme from Mantrip” 245
Interview with Jesse Pearson 250
Nancy Grossman: Misrecognized 260
Free! Love! Tool! Box! Workbook 265
Anthony Friedkin: “And I'm Carmen Miranda”—What Liberation Looks Like 267
Queer at CAA 274
Samwise Gamgee Cries, with Padding 280
Interview with Tina Horn 284
100 Assignments: Toward a Curriculum 289
Shambling Monstrosity Seeks Mad Scientist 297
Embarrass, Humiliate, Degrade, Objectify: Basics of Psychological Status Play 300
In My Dream Body: For Jorge Zontal and General Idea 307
Yummy Slurp! The Pippa Garner Story 312
My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio 319
Contributors 335
Index 337

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