The Wonderful World that Almost Was by Andrew Durbin review – the queer artists who shaped New York cool A tender but unflinching account of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek, forgotten stars of the 1960s scene

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...

I’ve said for years that in order to blast a bit of spark into our dying city centres, the councils could let out some of their long-empty retail units on a peppercorn rent to artists and entrepreneurs to help them kickstart their businesses. I’ve never believed in that more than now.

It’s more than a little soul-crushing. Will think of something…

dhuartson: Don't let anyone talk you out of spending $15 on a new hobby. That $50 will be the best $400 you ever spent.

This is not wrong.

I bloody hope so

Very much an ‘oh fuck’ situation

I really don’t think it will. I hate not getting my own way

I have exhausted every avenue. I’m looking at buying a parcel of land now, so I can build something. Seriously. (This will never happen, but it’s a comforting fantasy).

Megapaws, leader of the Decepticons

The struggle to find a studio looks like it is reaching its conclusion, and the result is that I cannot find one that suits my needs and doesn’t have an exorbitant rental rate. Not even with caveats and compromise.
So that’s it, dead in the water.

Fuck.

I just said to Andy this evening that it was very Prisoner-esque!

If you appreciate art and artists and want to encourage their ability to create, for spaces in which to do so to exist, please sign this petition.

A brilliant art piece by Christopher James featuring a deconstructed image of the actor Rock Hudson.

Aspects of Roy Scherer, Jr
Transparency and Print, Post-Processed
2026

Hudson was a physically perfect male. It offends some that he died of a physically imperfect disease contracted from fucking other men, and so he’s dismissed as the closeted star of limp-wristed fluff.

He was magnificent.

The genius Kieran Evans has reposted my post on it so that should get some traction.

Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin stand side by side in the movie Midnight Run.

Robert De Niro and #botd Charles Grodin in Midnight Run (1988) dir. Martin Brest 🎬
Our discussion about this favourite 80s classic: moremovies.co.uk/podcast-epis...
#filmsky #moviesky #cinema

100%
There is no civilisation without art, and therefore we are diminished when hubs of creativity shutter. We become less civilised, lesser people, semi-feral, disconnected from each other, distant, repressed, unheard, trampled.
Fuck those who would have us be lesser.

Iggy is 79 today.

Good. It looks likely that the National Glass Centre will close this summer after what has been a massively corrupt land acquisition process and exploitation by the university of a gift from the city. Utterly disgraceful and Labour have sat back and allowed it to happen. Rooting for you ✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼

Will put out to my instagram followers too

Done.

Sign the Petition Save Trongate103 from closure

Please sign
c.org/NSDkGF9tgb

Sign the Petition Save Trongate103 from closure

Please sign. This is an essential arts space in Glasgow that's threatened with closure, and we've had enough spaces closing over recent years. Stop the rot!
c.org/RxYLd9qps4

Satellite images reveal scale of Israeli demolitions as Lebanese villages destroyed BBC Verify analysis found more than 1,400 buildings had been destroyed since 2 March.

It's easy to succumb to outrage fatigue. But this was four days ago. 2,000 killed. 1.2 million displaced. Entire villages demolished. A 40km 'buffer zone' (10% of Lebanon's territory) annexed. It's barely raised a resigned shrug, but it meets the criteria for war crime. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

That's a shame- it is a bit of a commute.

I wouldn’t know where to get it from these days.
He’s hugely underrated

We used to talk on Facebook years ago. David invited me backstage to a show in Islington in 2014 where I made a total arse of myself because I was so pissed. He was very sweet about it, but I was embarrassed. So it has been a long time. I think he’s a spectacular talent.

Surreal when ‘Yes’ comes on the radio this afternoon…

Marx

I really like these images, this method; they offer the chance of a different way of interpreting identity and that which we are familiar with.
And faces. And memory. Identity. And how far you can push an image before the person becomes unrecognisable. Marx and Rock are my favourites.

James//Osterberg//II
Print and Acetate on Aquarelle Paper, post-processed.
2026