The Archival Impulse as Devotion

excerpt from anne carson’s translation of the bakkhai // midsommar, starring florence pugh, dir. ari aster

Agnes Tait (American, 1894-1981)

Bacchanalian Scene, n.d.

Oil on canvas

39 x 39 in. (99.1 x 99.1 cm)

like that dick might be mythologically plausible for a Cis Man shaped deity, but I can name any number of folks using aftermarket dicks the size of my forearm to fuck their baby in the sling at the party - and THOSE are the kind of perverts I can connect with

(I know that hypothetically other types of people CAN and do use impractically large sex toys, I'm just thinking about butch tops, flesh genitalia irrelevant, irreverently packing the biggest most cartoonish fucking strap ever seen)

(this 100% includes trans fem butches, I realize I cannot take for granted that this is implied)

how drag king coded is this?

you know?

and the physical genital changes that trans dudes (etc) experience on testosterone also fall under this category, to me - like, oh you (onlooker) thought you knew what this kind of anatomy looked like? you fool. you utter buffon. bigger. no, bigger than that

So happy to be able to work on Spirit Chimes again! They will be getting an upgrade this year/2025.

For those unaware, “Spirit Chimes” are just my re-invention of Door Harps, which originated in Scandinavia around 700 years ago. The ones you see in stores (it at all) are mostly just decorative, but the original idea was to hang it on your front door to repel evil spirits with the sound of the chimes, similar to the hanging of bells.

What I do is blend this idea, plus making them more aesthetically witchy and adding a spiral/wood grain pattern in the background to further confuse spirits (similarly to witch balls and other methods of protection/warding), idea being that the spirit gets turned around trying to find a way in.

Then, I add crystal prisms as the chimes to also act as a sun catcher, which I feel has a protective and positive nature as well! This one needs new strings and a chain, but paint comes first.

All of the door harps I use are thrifted locally, so they’re not always perfect 🤍

Felt silly and had the overwhelming urge to draw my version of Dionysus, which proved to be a bad idea because that means he is now running around rampid. Sorry.

I felt like Dionysus' god of madness side isn't recognized as much, so my version has mad as his main trait; he's unpredictable, says strange things, always yelling, etc. I always think of the Horrifc Neck Tie from Disco Elysium (yes, the necktie talks) when I think of him. And of course, he is an absolute party animal (Wild Mike from Barnyard has competition).

He is always wearing a mask, showing off three faces of different emotions to show he is the god of theater, and also very fickle emotionally. The eyes peering through the mask are based off of leopard eyes.

New Wine