For four decades, artist, writer, curator, and teacher Nayland Blake has been at the center of discussions of queer aesthetics and contemporary art. Their work has examined racial hybridity, the ins and outs of the BDSM world, and the importance of self-representation. From interviews and critical essays to performance scripts and collage pieces, My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio gathers forty years of Blake’s groundbreaking thought and writing on their personal explorations of kink and creativity as well as on the making, teaching, and curating of art and queer culture. Whether delving into furry fandom or analyzing art, Blake bridges the art and queer kink communities. They also argue that queer artists must champion the work of their peers and elders. As Blake demonstrates throughout, sexual self-expression is an extension of artistic self-expression: they are the same. The volume includes an introduction by artist and critic Jarrett Earnest.

Nayland Blake is an artist, curator, and Codirector of the Studio Arts Program at Bard College. They are coeditor of In a Different Light: Visual Culture, Sexual Identity, Queer Practice.

Jarrett Earnest is an artist, writer, and author of What It Means to Write About Art: Interviews with Art Critics.

“In their heterogeneity, humor, and sexual embrace, Nayland Blake’s writings are as good a teacher as any about the near-boundless capacities of art to unsettle and affirm one’s sense of self and the worlds that matter most to them.”
-- Andy Campbell, author of Bound Together: Leather, Sex, Archives, and Contemporary Art

List of Acknowledgments  xi
Acknowledgments  xiii
A Fan Writes . . .: An Introduction by Jarrett Earnest  1
The Difficulties That Afflict Us in Art School  15
Assessing My Work  18
Tom of Finland: An Appreciation  21
The ABCs of Art Institutions  32
Performance Script  37
The Saddest Story I Know  49
Schreber, Roussel, Duchamp  58
Performance Script  64
The Secret Square  71
One Hand Clapping: Porn Reviews  85
Bay Area Conceptualism: Two Generations  102
Queer Mysteries  109
Interview by John Grange and Stephen Johnstone  114
City of Hares: A Proposal  133
Curating “In a Different Light”  136
The Story of H (Excerpt)  165
Hare Follies  169
Jack Smith: The Message from Atlantis  190
Ray Johnson: Correspondences  205
Top Ten  210
James Gobel  214
Matthew Benedict: Shroud of Truro  219
Judie Bamber: Further Horizons  225
Seven Quick Notes on Writing an Artist’s Statement  230
Kathy Acker: “Because I Want to Live Forever in Wonder”  233
Jim Hodges: “Theme from Mantrip”  245
Interview with Jesse Pearson  250
Nancy Grossman: Misrecognized  260
Free! Love! Tool! Box! Workbook  265
Anthony Friedkin: “And I'm Carmen Miranda”—What Liberation Looks Like  267
Queer at CAA  274
Samwise Gamgee Cries, with Padding  280
Interview with Tina Horn  284
100 Assignments: Toward a Curriculum  289
Shambling Monstrosity Seeks Mad Scientist  297
Embarrass, Humiliate, Degrade, Objectify: Basics of Psychological Status Play  300
In My Dream Body: For Jorge Zontal and General Idea  307
Yummy Slurp! The Pippa Garner Story  312
My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio  319
Contributors  335
Index  337