Tag: Andrew Sullivan

art

Royal College of Art REVIEW 24/25 PART THREE

Post author By Duncan Spark
Post date July 30, 2025

Chamonix July/August 2025

Gaza Body Bag RCA 24/25 Cancelled art work. Granite, paint, rope wool, cadaver bag.

‘Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.’ Pablo Picasso

Sitting at my desk in view of these great mountains. I feel calm and relaxed but aware of an impending tempest creeping toward me. I’m ordering canvases and pigment paid for by my host. I wonder how these nascent feelings will make themselves known.

I can’t help mulling over my time at the RCA. If I hadn’t been on anti depressants these past five years I would have reacted very badly to the way I was infantilised by the tutors at the RCA.

I might have laid on the floor and screamed like the baby they thought they were poking.

Sitting in the office like a naughty boy because… I didn’t say ‘they’ rather than she. Because… I took up wall space. Because… I chose a 9 by 9 canvas to paint. Because I had frank conversations about sex. Their beady eyes, condescending eyes… enjoying their opportunity to admonish the confident, award winning, accomplished film maker and performance artist. I felt like I was in a petting zoo with these curious animals nipping at me to see what I was made of.

Goading me. Will he strike back?

Ok, I made a deep dive into the fetid world of academia. I escaped… and am happy to breath fresh, mountain air. In all my days I had never been in such a toxic, competitive environment.

‘Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.’ Andy Warhol

I started taking anti depressants after I contracted covid in 2020. I stopped taking anti depressants the month before last. The veil lifted. The brain shocks took a while to fade. I want to fuck again… I began having deeper, less controlled emotions. I am far less patient and very snappy. Regardless of all this… I am pleased to be back in the world of full fat feelings… with a solid desire to express myself. Somehow I was less motivated to write and make art when I was under the chemical cosh.

Ross and others shared they were on anti depressants. I wonder what their art would be without the mind altering drugs?

I have been in and out of hospitals for decades… as and when my mental health gets the better of me. The longest time I spent in hospital was a whole year. The mentally ill are far better understood now, than we used to be. However, I never really felt my mental health was taken seriously in the RCA petting zoo. Did they expect me to be rational?

The angry Chinese guy who challenged me after my first RCA blog raised an interesting point. He suggested… I didn’t want to learn anything at the RCA and just applied to the school for ‘validation’. The first part is easily debunked. The second part of his comment is more interesting. Do I crave validation?

Well, yes… I do. I write to be read. I paint to be appreciated. I crave applause from the audience. I desire film reviews. The tears and laugher from those who watch me tell my story (flay myself) at an AA meeting. I love when people comment on my blog. I love the attention… good and bad.

That boy threatened to ‘drag’ me and I came in my pants. I love it when you tell me I’m a great cook. I love it when you praise my garden and the way I decorate my house, the art I have chosen.

I am unashamedly a validation junkie… I faint with pleasure when you hate me as vigorously as you love me.

I am the jouster and a jester… a validation junkie.

‘Art isn’t about the creator, what they think, or how they interpret their own work whether it’s poetry, music, or paintings. It’s about the spectator and how they interpret it.‘ Oscar Wilde

As the RCA recedes and the people I met… who I didn’t know a year ago, I will not remember a year from now. I can scarcely remember men I have had months long relationships with.

I am a stone skimming over the surface of life. I have little interest in knowing people for long. To meet them once is enough. Or to boast… I was there.

10 convivial moments.

I saw Joni Mitchell play Fez under Time Cafe on Lafayette in NYC. 1995
I saw Ivan Lendl play Boris Becker, Wimbledon. 1986
I stomped divots with the H.M. The Queen on Smiths Lawn. 1984
I had dinner with Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams and Ian Drew after a private Prince concert at The Roosevelt Hotel. 2007
Fred Hughes introduces me to Andy Warhol at The Factory. 1985
Rufus Sewell calls as I am driving my F150 up the PCH from Malibu to Topanga. Our friend and massage therapist DL discovered our friend Heath Ledger dead in his bed. DL doesn’t alert 911, DL calls Ashley Olsen. 2008
Jim Ede at Kettle’s Yard with Ricky DeMarco. 1988
Dinner with Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, his wife and daughter at The Mercer describing the moment Timothy Geitner calls, the banks are failing, asking what to save: The people or the banks? 2015
New Years Eve, Mercer Kitchen dinner with Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Sporty Spice, Fran Leibowitz, Alan Cumming, Calvin Klein, Martine McCutcheon and Matt Goss. 1999
Province Town, my birthday party thrown by Michael Cunningham. Guests include Jennie Livingstone, Andrew Sullivan, Douglas Friedman, John Derian, Ken Fulk. 2015

I don’t currently have communication with any of the people mentioned above. I don’t need to. I knew them as much I needed to know them, at the precise moment I met them. I didn’t need to go to Wimbledon again, I didn’t need to know Sporty Spice… and she didn’t need to know me.

Although… quite unexpectedly, I was taken to the home of Joni Mitchell by her ex husband on Laurel Canyon the night we thought we saw Elizabeth Taylor dining at the Chateau. It wasn’t Elizabeth.

Jennie Livingstone Provincetown MA 2015

The friends I have are on borrowed time. I will know them… until I tire of them. I suppose that’s why gay life suited me, the transitory nature of gay life, one night stands… casual sex… anonymity. The social mobility of my gay life, one day a Duke another a dustman. Listening to their stories then passing on… cum in my beard.

This is why AA suited me… the constant flow of desperate people with desperate stories flushing through the rooms of AA. Never settling, skimming… like me, over the surface of life.

This is why Hollywood suited me, meeting people but never engaging with them for anything than the duration of the ‘meeting’. I am at Leo’s house showing my movie in his very own cinema… I will never see him again. I am on Malibu Pier with Jen and Brad having breakfast… I will never see them again. I am walking with Channing on the beech… I will never see him again. All I am left with is the story of a fleeting moment and that’s all I want to be left with.

I was at the RCA with Xavier, I’m bound to say… when he is a huge star. ‘We drank hot chocolate made with oat milk at Parker’s as he fretted over which major gallery to sign with.’

Gaza After Guernica 2024/25 RCA Paper Graphite Oil Stick

Every day I see the most atrocious, sickening and heartbreaking images from the killing fields of Gaza. The mass murder curently happening in my name to the people of Palestine. Kids murdered. Kids starving. Kids full of hope over a bag of lentils then shot in the head. A five year old child shot in the head holding a bag of lentils.

The UK government is fully complicit in these murders. Starmer, our sinister Zionist leader, makes dreary, unemotional speeches promising action but does nothing. He and other European leaders like Macron, are making Israel’s genocidal dream come true. I tried to address this in my work at the RCA but it was removed by Harold Offeh, like the work of another anti Israel artist Zina Karaman… controversial elements of her work removed by the staff.

Art. Making art. I just donated 40 years of diaries to a national diary archive. The rest of my archive and all of my finished movies are held at the UCLA Library Film & Television Archive.

I have never stopped making work. Perhaps my most audacious artistic endeavour is this blog. First a diary… now a blog. There are huge gaps I am trying to fill, playing catch up writing the missing years by hand.

My friend has an atelier I will use as my studio. Tomorrow I’ll clear it out. I want to finish the series of black paintings. Paintings to remember the burned Malibu garden.

Cactus Tree

by Joni Mitchell

‘There’s a man who sends me medals
He is bleeding from the war
There’s a jouster and a jester
And a man who owns a store
There’s a drummer and a dreamer
And you know there may be more
I will love them if I see them
They will lose me if they follow
And I only mean to please them
My heart is full and hollow
Like a cactus tree…’

art Film Gay NYC Photography Queer Travel

Provincetown/NYC June/July 2014

Post author By Duncan Spark
Post date July 15, 2014

They had the complexion of wealth, that white complexion that is heightened by the pallor of porcelain, the sheen of satin, the luster of fine furniture, and is kept in perfect condition by a moderate diet of exquisite foods. Those who were beginning to age seemed youthful, while those who were young had a certain look of maturity. Their faces wore that placid expression which comes from the daily gratification of the passions; and beneath their polished manners one could sense the special brutality that comes from half-easy triumphs which test one’s strength and flatter one’s vanity.

Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

It’s a hot and humid morning in NYC. Tompkins Square Park is dripping. The dog walkers are melting.

We drove from Provincetown yesterday, leaving the pretty streets, the clapboard houses and verdant gardens to Bear Week. Thousands of large, hairy shouldered men smiling and engaging not scowling or isolating like the circuit boys who infested the town two weeks previously during the 4th July celebration.

The past six weeks in Provincetown were, on the whole, a great deal of fun. I met a huge assortment of extraordinary and not so extraordinary people. I saw people I knew from LA and NYC. I met men and women from DC, Nashville and Florida. Mostly enjoying their week off, some of them… not so much. Americans get so few vacations.

The A gays who live in Provincetown were kind and considerate. They have beautiful homes and make them readily available to those they trust.

The extraordinary designer Ken Fulk has restored a perfect gem of a house in The East End where I was privileged to spend the 4th July and then see photographed by famed society doyenne Douglas Friedman for Elle Decor. Editor Robert Ruffino scampering around arranging flowers wearing his Florentine winkle pickers.

The walls are the color of raspberry mousse, the windows frames and architrave painted chocolate-brown.

My birthday dinner: an anonymous donor very kindly paid for.

I really didn’t know anyone very well at my party, except Michael Goff and Michael Cunningham. So when it came to making my speech, after the candle was snuffed, I said: “I don’t know any of you at all… but this delightful group of strangers came together to celebrate the birthday of another stranger… and with such magnanimity it brings tears to my eyes.”

The following day I told someone from the party that I had no intention of making friends with him beyond Provincetown because our friendship could only flourish on the Cape. He looked a little perplexed but one has to be realistic. When we return to the city a tsunami of gay gossip will drown the truth and ones expectations will be dashed.

The utterly adorable Michael Cunningham (who I had known previously through Amelia Rizo) made a necklace for my birthday. We sat in his exquisitely decorated water front home, surrounded by magnificent art, picking out trinkets for a silver chain. I had a moment of unrestrained excitement as I realized that a Pulitzer Prize winning author, writer of The Hours, was making me a birthday present with his bare hands. He continued, throughout my stay, to delight and engage. We discussed Emma Bovary. We… of a certain age, share the same literary starting blocks… but he won the race.

We talked about Neil Bartlett‘s beautiful book Who Was That Man. Required reading for any young gay.

There were many occasions these past weeks when I noticed how relaxed I was, at peace, living in my own body, inhabiting the life I have rather than the life I thought I wanted. There were, of course, other occasions when a face from the past popped into view and caused momentary consternation. The vile, blond publicist/image consultant, owner of Black Frame Brian Phillips who, wether he likes it or not, is in my social orbit but never bothers to be cordial. Or the ex boyfriend Chris Shipman who cycled around town with his thin calves and sad eyes. I ignored the ex and engaged with fey Brian Phillips who sat in his chair as I forcefully reminded him what an evil cunt he can be and how he seems unable to keep and love another man due to his crippling narcissism.

I met Jim Lande, producer of the hit burlesque/freak show Audition and talked about his flawed film: Love is Strange directed by Ira Sachs. Shown at The Provincetown Film Festival this beautifully shot and directed film promises so much but fails to deliver… relying on coincidence and melodrama. The film lacks any real emotion. Two old gay married men separated by circumstance and bad choices. Could have been brilliant but… wasn’t.

I kept away from the drag shows and the theatrical events but I saw Ryan Landry‘s inventive and surreal Pantomime: Snow White and The Seven Bottoms which reminded me of Charles Ludlam. Go see this if you can.

I spent a great deal of time chatting with the adorable Andrew Sullivan and his husband Aaron Tone. The gays, on the whole, are openly hostile to Andrew, they accuse him of being a ‘traitor to the gays’ because he aggressively posits an alternative view. Our politics couldn’t be more different yet we agreed about so much, mainly our loathing of powerful lobby groups like AIPAC, GLAAD and the HRC. I found him to be gracious and engaging.

Andrew told fascinating stories about his private dinners with President Obama, his short-lived stay in NYC, the history of his three-legged dog. We sat outside The Wired Puppy coffee shop on Commercial Street where I witnessed at first hand the disdain the gays show him and the delight straight people have… in equal measure.

The white gays may never understand his POV because by now they think they rule the world.

I spent time with Michael Goff and Andy Towle in town to promote their site towleroad.com, we greeted the first of the bears at the dock with 20 drag Goldilocks who boasted that they had eaten all the porridge. We sat in their charming house and ate whatever they had in their fridge. We took my friend Caroline Reid to a Bear-B-Q, Caroline is cult performer PamAnn. We took her to more bear events where she was the only woman. Her fans adore her.

And that was that. There were other amusing people to play with who I haven’t mentioned. There were less amusing people who I hope I never see again.

Thanks Provincetown and… adieu.

[wpvideo OJZtXkAz]

Tags Andrew Sullivan, complexion, Douglas Friedman, Gustave Flaubert, Michael Cunningham, Michael Goff, New York City, Provincetown, Provincetown Massachusetts, Tompkins Square Park

Gay Love Queer Travel

Provincetown MA – Ten Things To Do

Post author By Duncan Spark
Post date June 24, 2014

Provincetown, for those who have never been, is basically one long Victorian street… Commercial Street. Primarily an LGBT resort most everyone seems welcome here. At all times of night and day Commercial Street teems with pedestrians, bicycles and many dogs. Cars edge cautiously amongst the chaos. During the season (June-September) there are themed entertainment weeks (Saturday to Saturday) for gays, lesbians and trans visitors.

Near the Town Hall at town’s center there are bars, candy stores and tourist favorites like The Lobster Pot serving lobster rolls and oysters. Provincetown has become an unlikely hen night/bachelorette party destination. Rowdy, drunk girls dressed in cheap veils patrol the streets screaming raucous songs and hitting men on the head with large dildos… true story. Drag queens, by the way, love dildos and hate Bachelorettes.

Commercial Street is divided into East and West Ends. It’s probably best to work out which end is which within minutes of arriving here. So, facing from the bay where the ferry disgorged… the west will be to your left, the east to your right. I start my day, every day at 7am, after my beach walk with the dogs… unleashed, on the patio at:

1. Joe‘s

170 Commercial St, Provincetown, MA 02657 Phone: 508 487-6656

Hours: 7:00 am – 7:00 pm

West End.

Delicious, fragrant coffee served by an attentive bunch who remember both your name and what you want. Joe’s is a staple breakfast haunt for most of the cool ‘townies’ (locals). It’s common to see straight-backed, imperious Andrew Sullivan arrive with his husband on their ancient dutch bikes or watch John Waters sail elegantly by dressed in Issy Miyake. Ryan Murphy and his adorable family chowing down on their morning baked goods.

Try the delicious, freshly baked almond croissant… but get there early to avoid disappointment.

A perfect place to eavesdrop! Who fucks who? Learn all the local gossip: “They bring their terrible taste from the suburbs…” A great way to start the day with everyone who works or lives in Provincetown… and a few tourists.

Meet this man drinking coffee and eating his breakfast:

2. Loveland

West End.

120 Commercial Street Provincetown, Massachusetts 02657 Phone: 508 413-9500

Run by Josh Patner ex Rome based fashion journalist and stylist, this charming haunt is brimming with local and international art. Possibly the chicest most eclectic store in town. Beware! By August almost everything has been sold. Look out for beautiful and reasonably priced ceramics by: Gail S. Browne.

I bought a beautiful vase by Gail Browne and a gorgeous 18th Century throw.

3. Room 68

East End

377 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA 02657 Phone: 617-942-7425

Room 68 is Eric Portnoy’s 21st century gift shop. Originally out of Boston’s Jamaica Plain – 68 South Street, originating the store’s name. Look for Debra Folz ingenious extending ash table and more of her award-winning work. For those drowning in bad art glass and cat portraits… Room 68 is a welcome high style lifeboat on the choppy sea of capey mediocrity – quite unlike any other found on Commercial Street… or on Cape Cod.

4. Canteen

Town Center

225 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA 02657 Phone: 508 487-3800

Opened in 2013 Canteen continues its stunning success. This charming restaurant is perfectly situated at the heart of Provincetown, offering a simple, unpretentious menu that capitalizes on local favorites like the ubiquitous Lobster Roll but served in a wholly original way. Like the interior of this nautical themed dining room the food is fresh, clean and authentic. The deep-fried smelt with tartar sauce are not everyone’s cup of tea… but I love them. Order everything with re-fried Brussels sprouts doused in an aromatic balsamic reduction and remember to sit in the newly opened garden overlooking the dunes and the spectacular sunset.

5. Red Inn

West End

15 Commercial St, Provincetown, MA 02657 Phone: 508 487-7334

Away from the madding Provincetown crowd, either a 30 minute walk or a ten minute rickshaw ride is the legendary Red Inn. Consistency, taste and prompt service make this elegant venue an essential but expensive must see. Last night we ate perfectly prepared filet mignon, served by delightfully charming staff at the bar over looking the spectacular bay. Older bearded gay men with their well behaved hounds sit on the terrace and drink cocktails. One eats reasonably priced oysters during happy hour (4pm-5pm) or lounge in the very British country garden: lavender, roses and sweet-william perfume the early evening breeze.

6. Mimere’s Homemade

Town Center

281 Commercial Street #4, Provincetown, MA 02657 Phone: 917 670-7561

Opened by ex-banker Andrew Hood just this year to sell his vast array of delicious home-made, seasonal jams and jellies using old-fashioned techniques. I bought 6 different flavors including hefeweizen (wheat beer and orange) and red onion preserve. The chunky peach jam is particularly delicious, slathered on crusty toast from the Pain D’Avignon French Bakery found at Provincetown Farmer’s market held every Saturday by the Town Hall.

7. Provincetown Film Festival

Town Center

Provincetown Town Hall, 260 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA 02657 Phone: 508 487-7000

This years Provincetown Film Festival, hailed a huge success, attracting viewers from all over the world. I met women from Europe and a couple from Australia who coincided their holiday with the film festival. A well-organized and international feeling festival The Provincetown Film Festival grows in reputation every year. This year I saw Andrew Sullivan rip a new ass hole in the makers of the ghastly Chad Griffin propaganda film: The Case Against 8, at a festival breakfast. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend $25.

As I left the breakfast feeling exhilarated, I bumped into a huge and handsome man, I said, “Did you see that! Andrew Sullivan is my hero!”

He replied, “Me too, that’s why I married him.”

8. Fag Bash at The Governor Bradford

Town Center

312 Commercial St Provincetown, MA 02657

I’ve already written at length about this wonderful, subversive spectacle. A delightful Wednesday night basement party. Arrive at 11pm, leave at 1am. Wear your finest drag. I expect the ghost of Leigh Bowery to make an appearance at any moment. Remember, most everything closes at 1am in Ptown.

9. John Derian

East End

396 Commercial Street Provincetown, MA 02657 Phone: 508 487-1362

The queen of decoupage Derian runs a tiny showroom a world away from his NYC empire. It is packed with essential nick nacks at the back of his Greek revival Ptown home. Black, $500 paper hollyhocks are not immediately alluring or justified… but… with time… anything is possible. I love the meat dolls by Nathalie Lete and the papier-mache hippo head. At night, as you pass by, envy his candle lit parties for Martha Stuart… and other gorgeous celebrities.

This boy will serve you. His name is Kevin and he is DIVINE.

10. Monument Barbershop

West End

145 Commercial Street, Provincetown MA Phone: 508 487-5151

Once a week I drop into see the charming, flirtatious Joey to have my hair and beard trimmed. It’s essential whenever you are anywhere for longer than a week to locate a great barber and Joey is he. Very reasonably priced, very funny and he’s… totally gorgeous. In fact, I’m off there, right now to get my neck shaved.

Tags Andrew Sullivan, Australia, Boston, Film festival, Gail Browne, John Waters, Leigh Bowery, Lobster Roll, Massachusetts, Provincetown, Provincetown Massachusetts, Rome, Ryan Murphy

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