“toilandtrouble” in Skin to Skin

"toilandtrouble" by luke kurtis in Skin to Skin (Dec 2013)

Back in December 2013, my piece “toilandtrouble” was published in issue no. 4 of Skin to Skin. I posted about it to social media at the time but I didn’t get a chance to share it here. Though written a number of years ago, this was the first time the work had been published. “toilandtrouble” is a hybrid work that functions simultaneously as a text-as-art piece, a poem, and a flash fiction story. It deals with queer sexuality, gender issues, and feminism. It’s a thrill for it to finally reach a wider audience in Skin to Skin.

bad skin in Exposed: The Contemporary Nude

bad skin at 1650 Gallery

Saturday, 24 May marked two important milestones for me as an artist. It was both the exhibition debut of my bad skin series and also my Los Angels debut at large. Exposed: The Contemporary Nude opened at 1650 Gallery. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it out for the opening. But I’m glad to show work in LA. And it seems very appropriate that bad skin–a body of work about looking beyond the perceived imperfections of one’s body–had its exhibition debut in a city known for it’s superficiality.

If you’d like to see the full image, as well as all the other work in the show, you can do so on the gallery’s website. But remember that it is a show of artistic nude photography and therefore may be NSFW! They have included two additional photos of mine in the online annex (also NSFW). The limited edition giclée print in the show is available exclusively from 1650 Gallery. If you are interested in other prints from bad skin, you can contact me directly.

bad skin in Erotica and S/tick

S/tick cover with luke kurtis

Brian Centrone is one of my most frequent collaborators. But most of our collaborations are about the work of other people. We put endless hours in to publishing projects at New Lit Salon Press. When we decided to publish a collection of his collected gay erotic fiction, he asked if I’d like to contribute some art. He had seen some of my bad skin series and immediately asked for a specific image from that body of work. The composition, the tone, the mood–everything about the photo was a perfect match for his story “Boracay.” (I also made an original collage piece for “Mates” and collaborated with Brian on the cover design.)

Around the same time, S/tick published their “Managing” issue. The issue collects work created by men that explore the emotional impact a male-dominated society has on its male members. Sarah-Jean Krahn, the editor, liked my bad skin work and thought it perfectly expressed the emotional experiences of men. “I love the vulnerability–and luke’s courage in displaying that vulnerability–in these photos,” she said. You can find my work both on the cover and inside S/tick‘s “Managing” issue.

Erotica is available from ebook sellers everywhere. S/tick is available as a free download.

Linocut portrait of luke kurtis by Rick Villodas

"The Collaborator" linotype by Rick Villodas in Cyber Blade

Rick Villodas’s linoleum cut based on my self-portrait from the cover of INTERSECTION no. 7. His print won an award at the Richter Association for the Arts member art show. Rick is such a talented print-maker and I love the way he transformed my work into a new medium. Above is a photo I took of his print, titled The Collaborator, as exhibited in the Cyber Blade show (which also contained our Collaboration piece). Below is the cover of my zine his print is based on.

INTERSECTION no. 7

Cyber Blade group show curated by Rick Villodas

luke kurtis with his "muse" prints at Cyber Blade

This past weekend I showed some work from my muse series for the first time since last year. Rick Villodas, who first saw my muse prints in the Just Panic… show, curated the Cyber Blade show. He selected some of the works that were in Just Panic (muse no.’s 7, 11, and 12) along with muse no. 18, which had never been shown before. It was just a weekend pop-up show but I was able to make it up to Danbury that Sunday. It was refreshing to get out of the city for an afternoon (even though it was a bit cold–the venue’s furnace was out that weekend)! Above is a photo of me with my work (photo by Matthew Cales).

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INTERSECTION in ARTWACH, Daily Citizen, and Our View

ARTWACH by Tom Wachunas

Today is the last day of the INTERSECTION exhibition at Massillon Museum. I can’t believe it has come and gone so fast. I’m thankful that it has been written about for posterity, though. Here are some great pieces about the show…

Tom Wachunas of ARTWACH wrote a very thoughtful review of the exhibition. He really took the time to delve into the undertones of what the show is all about. I appreciate it when viewers probe the work and look beyond the surface like Tom did.

Misty Watson of The Daily Citizen wrote a piece about the show as well. Her article is not a review but more of a local interest story that discusses my background in northwest Georgia. Jamie Jones of the same paper had done an article about my Jordan’s Journey project back in 2012 and Misty’s piece is a followup on that.

I also appeared on the podcast Our View with Tim and Jill. We talked about INTERSECTION as well as some other projects I’ve been working on. The episode aired in two parts, so be sure to listen to part 1 and part 2.

INTERSECTION large print proofs

Going into the INTERSECTION exhibition for Massillon Museum, I knew it was going to be lots of hard work. Even before I conceived of doing the Kickstarter to help me get through it all, I had already put in months of work on developing the show and all the things that revolve around it.

But where so much of that work was digitally (and brain) based, things have moved head on into the physical plane now! I feel like the show is manifesting, bit by bit, right before my eyes. And never more-so than when I went to pick up the proofs for the two large pieces I made–with the help of my Kickstarter supporters–specifically for this show.

As they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words… so rather than write about it, I’m going to show you. In video.

A huge thanks goes out to my collaborator, Michael Harren. I love his music for this video!

INTERSECTION no’s. 8 & 9

Issue’s 8 & 9 of INTERSECTION came out in October and November last year (2013). Busy with my Kickstarter at the time, I never posted the covers here. So here they are now!

INTERSECTION no. 8INTERSECTION no. 9

Various Videos

The last I updated you here, my Kickstarter campaign was under way. If you didn’t already see the news, it was a phenomenal success. The project reached 100% funding before it was even halfway through. I’m so thankful for all of my fans and supporters who helped make it happen.

As part of the campaign I posted several videos featuring the Kickstarter rewards. I thought I would gather a few of those here.

The first video shows my We Are One People artist’s multiple. This is a new work I created earlier in 2013 but I debuted it as part of the INTERSECTION Kickstarter campaign. This limited edition boxed set contains my article “We Are One People” (originally published in Georgia Backroads) on a set of 12 cards accompanied by a set of 12 mounted digital chromogenic prints. This multiple is super deluxe and high end. See what it’s like in the video:

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INTERSECTION Debut Museum Show

I am pleased to announce that in March 2014 I will mount my debut solo museum exhibition. Massillon Museum in Massillon, Ohio will be hosting INTERSECTION, a show focused around my southern photography. This exhibition is a game changer in my career as an artist. But putting on a museum quality exhibition is an expensive undertaking and I need all the help I can get to successfully pull it off. This is a big step as an artist and I’m reaching out to art fans and supporters, friends and family, and fellow creatives to help make it all possible.

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