bd-studios.combd-studios.combd-studios.combd-studios.com

Cart

  • Projects
    • Angkor Wat
    • The Animal Book
    • the immeasurable fold
    • Jordan’s Journey
    • Just One More
    • muse
    • seaside magic
    • Springtime in Byzantium
  • Portfolio
    • Design
    • Drawing
    • Exhibition
    • Music
    • Performance
    • Photography
    • Video
      • All videos
    • Writing
  • Blog
    • Studio News
    • Behind-the-Scenes
    • Conversations
    • Roundups
    • Showcases
    • Notes from luke kurtis
  • Shop
    • Artists’ Books
    • Poetry Books
    • Zines
    • Music
    • Postcards and Prints
    • Wears and Wares
    • etc.
  • About
    • Artists
    • Press Room
    • Bibliography
    • Submissions
  • Contact
    • Mailing List
  • Projects
    • Angkor Wat
    • The Animal Book
    • the immeasurable fold
    • Jordan’s Journey
    • Just One More
    • muse
    • seaside magic
    • Springtime in Byzantium
  • Portfolio
    • Design
    • Drawing
    • Exhibition
    • Music
    • Performance
    • Photography
    • Video
      • All videos
    • Writing
  • Blog
    • Studio News
    • Behind-the-Scenes
    • Conversations
    • Roundups
    • Showcases
    • Notes from luke kurtis
  • Shop
    • Artists’ Books
    • Poetry Books
    • Zines
    • Music
    • Postcards and Prints
    • Wears and Wares
    • etc.
  • About
    • Artists
    • Press Room
    • Bibliography
    • Submissions
  • Contact
    • Mailing List

A poetry album 23 years in the making

  • 18 Aug 2023/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News

Five years ago this year I published the immeasurable fold, a selection of my best poems written from 2000-2015. Several years later during the pandemic, I recorded audio versions of all 42 poems in the book. I combined spoken word with original compositions and soundscapes to create a unique musical and literary experience. Now I am excited to release an album of those tracks.

Read More

Can ChatGPT interpret poetry?

  • 01 Aug 2023/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis (& ChatGPT)/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Notes from luke kurtis
an AI-generated image of a robot deep in thought while reading a book
(by luke kurtis with assistance of DALL-E 2)

I like to ask ChatGPT to interpret my poems, curious about what meaning it might pull out. Sometimes I’ve even given it abstract and surreal poems, expecting it to hallucinate something totally off the wall. But, virtually every time, it comes back with an impressive interpretation.

I find this reassuring. It gives me confidence to know that if an AI can pull meaning out of a poem that aligns with my intentions as the poet, then I must have successfully imbued that meaning within the text in the first place. And I know it’s not merely copying what someone else has said because typically, I’ve shown it poems that have yet to be published but never even seen by anyone other than me.

So, asking ChatGPT for its thoughts on a published poem you may have read and sharing that with you would be interesting. I chose “sutras,” published in Amethyst Review. Here’s what it had to say, unedited.

Read More

An update from luke kurtis

  • 01 May 2023/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News

i’ll be 44 years old this year. all the things they say about midlife crises seem to be true. it’s a thing. i haven’t been myself, creative or otherwise, for quite some time. the pandemic, middle age, and work circumstances all collided, smashed together, split apart, ripped me in two. i’m still trying to put things back together.

Read More

Celebrating five years of collaboration

  • 21 Nov 2022/
  • Posted By : bd-studios.com/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News

When Dudgrick Bevins and luke kurtis met in NYC in the mid-2010s and discovered they were originally from the same area of northwest Georgia, they knew an eventual collaboration would make sense. Both were born in the same town, though from different generations. Both made art based on their upbringing in rural Appalachia. Both knew what it was like to be rejected by family, friends, and their communities. The resulting collaboration was a 2017 chapbook titled Georgia Dusk, followed by more books by Bevins and edited/designed by kurtis.

Five years later, both the lives of these artists and the world at large have evolved. But the spirit of their collaboration remains the same. The pair came together to record their poetry just before the pandemic. kurtis later composed the accompanying music. And here we are—five years since the original book—with a spoken word EP celebrating the artists, who they were then, who they are now, and who they are becoming. After all, a life well lived and art well made is in continual transformation.

Please enjoy the Georgia Dusk EP (and the book, too if you never picked it up).


cyberspace and the sea

  • 03 Jun 2022/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News

I had gone away to spend some time out of the city. We booked a house near the sea because it seemed like a relaxing spot. The goal was to disconnect for a while, spend less time looking at screens all day. I took some creative supplies with me, markers and pencils and such, with the vague idea of, should inspiration strike, being creative in an analog way. And, of course, making photos. But I had no grand plan. I didn’t intend to develop a new project. So this is definitely a case of the work finding me instead of me finding it.

The drawings, poems, and photos I made essentially describe my experience that week. I’m literally talking about hanging out by the beach for a few days, trying to recover from a stressful time. On the surface, it’s not so profound. But it’s the mundanity that makes it relatable. I used that simplicity to tap into the subconscious.

After I got back home and realized I had created all this stuff, I wondered what I might do with it. I put together the video art and designed an experience meant to be seen in person, projected in a dark room with surround sound. I even set up a small screen prototype. The work created exactly the immersive and meditative environment I was going for. But given the pandemic, trying to plan an in-person exhibition didn’t feel right. So I began to consider what I could do digitally.

Three monitors showing the seaside magic video art by luke kurtis are the only source of light in the room.
small screen seaside magic video installation prototype

I’ve always been more comfortable in cyberspace, so it’s sort of odd I never did a digital exhibition before. But the pandemic has changed the ways we connect. Besides, I’ve always been somewhat reclusive and find it challenging to communicate with people in person, making digital spaces more effective. So, I hope other people are more open to this way of connecting than they might have been in the past.

It would be easy to think of an online exhibition as an inferior substitute for something else. But I don’t feel that way about this at all. In fact, I’m excited that I can beam this work into your home, no matter where you are in the world.

Please join me and explore seaside magic from your corner of cyberspace. I hope you will approach it with intention and feel the same sense of calm that I felt while making it.


The delicate dance of nature awakening

  • 03 Jun 2021/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News
Photograph of interior of San Vitaly, from Springtime in Byzantium by luke kurtis
Photograph from Springtime in Byzantium by luke kurtis
How to see art and architecture without leaving home

I’m so excited to tell you about my newest project, Springtime in Byzantium. This book was initially scheduled for release last year but was delayed by the pandemic, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to take the project to the next level. It’s what happens when you give an artist more time—we’re bound to come up with another idea! (That’s not always a good thing for editors, but when you are the editor… well, that’s the way things go).

So this announcement is not only about the new book but also a new postcard set and three prints featuring new designs based on photos from the book.

This project has been many years in development and is near and dear to my heart. It’s a bit different from what I’ve published before. It’s also the first title by me in the bd Artists’ Books collection. Up until now, I’ve focused on my role as editor and designer of the series. But now, I am joining the ranks to give you something of my own.

Read More

Poetry, publishing, and life two decades in the making

  • 26 Sep 2020/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News
contact sheet
Contact sheet of luke kurtis author photos by Carl Sturmer, shot for the original like an angel dead in your arms release in 2000

Twenty years ago this month, I published my first book, like an angel dead in your arms. It was a flawed collection. And really, what else could it be? I wrote much of it while I was still in high school. The book’s imperfection and immaturity are why I distanced myself from it over the years. But a few years back, when I realized the twentieth anniversary was coming up, I challenged myself to reconsider it. When I re-read it, I found, certain shortcomings aside, it was a pretty solid piece of work with strong conceptual underpinnings. I managed to pull together a pile of words that simultaneously shared my experiences as a young gay person rejected by his family and the ensuing struggles with identity, self-worth, romance, and religion, and combined it all with a poetic sense of imagination.

Read More

We are masked artists and poets in quarantine and solidarity

  • 29 Apr 2020/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News

I reached out to the artists and poets I’ve published to see how everybody is doing during the pandemic. Some of us are creating, some of us are crying, and some of us (most of us?) are somewhere in between, depending on the day. The state of the world is a lot to process. But we are here. We are well. We are wearing masks. We are hunkering down and taking the situation seriously. I thought it would be fun to share photos of us all masked-up, socially distanced, and going about our days. Here we are, the masked artists & poets of bd-studios.com

Read More

On pride, protest, and finding home 🏳️‍🌈

  • 29 Jun 2019/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Notes from luke kurtis

This weekend we celebrate Pride here in New York. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how vital Pride is because I live just steps away from Stonewall, the epicenter of where the gay rights movement began. It’s not because I’m unaware of the persecution against LGBTQ+ folks—I’ve lived through my share of hardships because of my sexual identity. But amid the comings and goings of everyday life, it’s sometimes too easy to become comfortable.

Read More

Poetry as protest and expression of pride 🌈

  • 16 Nov 2018/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News

During the 2016 US Presidential Elections, I began to write more and more poems in reaction to current events. Before long I realized I had enough poems to make up a chapbook-length collection, and that’s what I thought it would be. But as time went on, I continued to write. I ended up with a collection of 40 poems, which I call exam(i)nation.

People often say politics aren’t personal. But that’s actually not true. What goes on in the political sphere affects me very directly as a queer person, just as it does for women, people of color, immigrants, and all the other groups of people under attack by conservative politics. It can’t be anything but personal when our lives are at stake.

exam(i)nation is both a protest and expression of pride. I hope you will be curious to learn about my experiences.


A Decade and a Half of Poetry: New book! New music!

  • 30 Apr 2018/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News

These new releases have been a long time coming! Over fifteen years in the making! Finally here, the immeasurable fold: selected poems 2000-2015 is out now! Get a preview of the original drawings from the book above!

As a bonus, obscure mechanics, my first full-length album which I originally released on my website in 2008, has been remastered with bonus tracks and is available wherever you like to get your music (including embedded below)!


bd Year in Review 2017 🎉

  • 29 Dec 2017/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News

2017 is almost over! We can hardly believe it. It was a busy year for bd-studios.com, and we accomplished a lot. Below are the highlights from our most significant projects!

Read More


electric wire video single out now

  • 07 Aug 2017/
  • Posted By : luke kurtis/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under: Studio News

I’m so happy to share with you electric wire, the first video single from my Angkor Wat book and album. electric wire represents the genesis of the entire project, it being the first poem I wrote during my first visit to Siem Reap. It’s based on my experience of exploring the town and the things I experienced and saw there. The video is a visual interpretation of the poem (and the experiences it describes). There’s also an electric wire zine and even tote bag you can get as gifts over at my fundraiser for Cambodian children. Check it out and enjoy.


1234


Featured project

the immeasurable fold

Read More

Featured products
  • Hang Five Hang Five $20.00
  • Cover of "Now That You've Gone and Come Back" by Jonathan David Smyth, showing a nude portrait of the artist closely cropped with his hands crossed across his chest. Now That You’ve Gone and Come Back $30.00
  • Springtime in Byzantium Springtime in Byzantium $20.00
  • Architecture and Mortality Architecture and Mortality $30.00
  • Vigil Vigil $20.00

bd-studios.com is the art and publishing studio by luke kurtis. We publish artists’ and poetry books, organize exhibitions and performances, and more. We perform creative experiments and transform them into bold works of art. Learn more about what we do. Support our work at the Shop.

From the blog
  • A poetry album 23 years in the making August 18,2023
  • an AI-generated image of a robot deep in thought while reading a book
    Can ChatGPT interpret poetry? August 1,2023
  • video still from "fissure..." video art by luke kurtis
    An update from luke kurtis May 1,2023
From l.k.'s photostream
self-portrait
More Photos
Copyright © bd-studios.com. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy policy