- CremasterFanatic.com
- the Matthew Barney fan site
CremasterFanatic.com is a "fan site" dedicated to Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle. I created the site as a conceptual art project, but to the casual web surfer it appears to be a legitimate fan site. The site features a bio, summaries of all five Cremaster, films, a list of characters, news, photos of Matthew Barney (including a few with Bjork and their daughter Isadora), fan art, ephemera, links, and much more.
Although I appreciate the ambition of Barney's work and the craftsmanship of his sculpture, I wouldn't really consider myself a fan -- his films are a bit too serious and romantic for my taste. However, I was interested in using Barney as a way to explore fandom and its place in the world of contemporary art. I could have chosen another "art star", but the Cremaster Cycle has more in common with fan favorites like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings than, say, a painting by Damien Hirst or John Currin. I was also interested in the fact that most people have experienced the Cycle through photographs (or possibly sculpture) rather than by actually seeing the films (and of those who have seen the films, few really understand them). Barney is also a good subject because he is more of a visible celebrity than most artists; being a former model, dating Bjork, starring in the films, etc. It's amazing how much information about Barney is out there on the internet -- I found the address of his studio, a letter sent to casting agents to find an actor for one of his films, a snapshot of Barney with his father at the Guggenheim opening, and pictures of the bed he and Bjork sleep in.
I initially created much of the fan art and fan fiction under a variety of pseudonyms, but I have also been actively soliciting submissions for the site. At this point, its pretty much impossible to tell which items I made and which are submissions from "real" fans. The site is an ongoing project - I like the organic nature of the project: it grows steadily as I find more information. In 2007, I added a blog to CremasterFanatic.com to publish all of the latest Matthew Barney news. I welcome submissions of Cremaster-related artwork, music, photography, video, writing (fiction or poetry, not criticism) and photographs of Matthew Barney -- send them to me and I'll publish them on the blog.
In April 2006, I curated The Matthew Barney Show at Jack the Pelican in Brooklyn. The exhibition was conceived of as an outgrowth of CremasterFanatic.com, bringing together a selection of the artwork, photography, and videos featured on the site; plus items from my own collection of Matthew Barney memorabelia. The Matthew Barney Show was timed to coincide with the US release of Barney's film Drawing Restraint 9 and his Occidental Guest exhibition at Gladstone Gallery, an attempt to both feed off of and add to the hype surrounding his new projects. An expanded version of The Matthew Barney Show later traveled to boca in San Francisco, a venue located around the corner from Barney's Drawing Restraint exhibition at SFMOMA.
I also edited a publication called Cremaster Fanatic - the Matthew Barney fanzine that features fan fiction and poetry from the web site, Matthew Barney artwork, Matthew Barney paper dolls, and an article about Drawing Restraint 9 (written solely based on information found on the internet before I saw the film). Cremaster Fanatic is available for $5 postpaid, click here for ordering information.
