convergence: new installation and video

Last year I made my first major foray into installation art. I created the site-specific work the woods are watching and released a series of videos documenting the process. While that work was part of my larger Crayon Portraiture project, it also marked the beginning of this new earth-based aspect of my practice.

Today I’m proud to debut my newest piece, which is titled convergence. This new piece takes me further down the path of creating art that interacts with the land and the environment.


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💋💋💋 New zine Kissing Hedwig out now 💋💋💋

Kissing Hedwig zine

If you’re on the bd email list, you already know we sent out an announcement a couple of weeks ago about my new zine Kissing Hedwig (if you’re not on the list, do sign up!). I debuted this new work at the 8th Annual Rainbow Book Fair in New York City. This is the second year bd-studios.com tabled along with our sister publisher New Lit Salon Press. We had a full table of artist publications and literary fiction available for purchase.

Kissing Hedwig is really special to me. The essay is a unique blend of memoir and Hedwig and the Angry Inch fanzine. The Hedwig show played an important part in my life as a young, queer artist coming of age in New York City in the late ’90’s. This zine is the first time I’ve publicly told part of my coming out story. There’s more to tell—and one day I will. But, for now, I hope you’ll enjoy Kissing Hedwig. The zine is lovingly made, hand bound, and custom stamped. It’s made with lots of love and I can’t imagine a more perfect expression of the story it tells inside. Contact us if you’d like to buy a copy!

New Zine: marie was an artist by luke kurtis

marie-snow-painting

My latest zine is marie was an artist. It’s a fully illustrated but handheld size zine featuring a single poem. The zine format is well suited to this type of intensely focused yet concise content. The idea behind this particular zine was to tell the story of my Aunt Marie, who died of cancer in 1987, through her own paintings.

Marie is a special figure in my life. Though she died before I was even ten years old, she somehow went on to influence me a great deal as I began to build my own creative path. She was the only member of my family that was an artist. Her paintings hung on the walls of my parents and other family members growing up. She watched over me in this way, making me keenly aware of how an artist’s presence radiates from her work and becomes part of something much larger. Looking at Marie’s paintings as a kid always made me wonder… could I be an artist one day?

Even now Marie still inspires me. With this zine I hope maybe I’ve inspired her—wherever she may be—a little bit too.

See the zine in the bd Library.

bd website redesign 2015

bd website redesign

Welcome to the new bd website! I’m so excited about this new design. The bd web presence had become a bit fragmented over the years. This new design not only brings things up to date and presents our work better than ever before, but it brings the different aspects of the studio together, consolidating all our activity under one virtual roof. When you arrive at bd-studios.com you’re greeted with a lovely slideshow that highlights who we are and some of our recent projects. From there you can access the Portfolio, the Blog, and the Library. These three main sections are the core of the site. But you’ll find other areas as projects and needs evolve. For instance, there’s the Press Room. For the first time, we’ve collected the press releases about our various projects all in one easy-to-access location. The site is also more accessible than ever before. The last major revision of the site was in 2011–and my what a different landscape the Internet is today. We browse the web at more screen sizes and resolutions than ever before–a situation that presents a big challenge for us artists trying to show our work in the best way possible! But not to worry, the bd site is fully responsive and looks great on whatever device you’re viewing it from.

So, please, have a look around and make yourself at home. I’d love to hear what you think, so leave a comment below! And, of course, don’t forget to check us out beyond this website too. You can follow us over on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube!

Latest News from luke kurtis (Spring 2015)

self-portrait by luke kurtis

It’s been a while since I’ve shared news about what’s going on in the world of luke kurtis. Here’s a quick update…

After an insane 2014 with projects including my own INTERSECTION and The Language of History, my collaborations with Michael Harren for Tentative Armor, numerous New Lit Salon Press projects, and lots of little here-and-there-and-inbetween stuff like one-off group shows, random publications, and more… I was happy to take a bit of a break around the holidays. After all, a little bit of boredom is good for the creative mind.

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