QUEER FORMALISM

A work of critical theory revisits the notion of queer art-making.

In discussing Twin Peaks and David Lynch–ian female protagonists—whose depictions manage to be problematic and beautiful all at once—Simmons offers one possible definition of queer formalism: “A desire to attach and reattach to oftentimes problematic elements of culture in an effort to make them love us back, as we do with handsome and distant bodies….Queer formalism might break the cycle, but it also finds pleasure and danger in a perpetual return.” With this book, an expansion of his earlier work on the subject, Notes on Queer Formalism (2013), the author analyzes the many potentialities of the style, from those that manage to avoid the perpetual trap of in-betweenness to those that fall into it in surprising ways. The four-part essay touches on a range of artists, including painter Amy Sillman, pop singer Lana Del Rey, sculptor Greer Lankton, and actor/photographer Jessica Lange. It also draws on moments from Simmons’ personal and intellectual life. The author writes with clarity and precision and has a talent for communicating complex ideas using memorable images: “A hand-tinted photograph is nothing at all like a color photograph. A color photograph already emerges, wide-eyed, in a Wizard of Oz state, whereas the hand-tinted photograph could be either queerly reticent about the application of color or queerly overjoyed at the chance to be seen by others as it sees itself.” By turns catty and somber, Simmons interrogates the art, other interrogators, and himself. It’s a dense work, and it moves unpredictably from topic to topic. The author himself is not quite enough of a character presence to provide his arguments with a narrative element. It is difficult to imagine the book appealing to those who don’t normally marinate in theory. But at this moment, when critical theory is perhaps more mainstream than ever before, Simmons’ animated thinking may win him a wider audience.

A short, lively, thought-provoking search for a more encompassing queer art.