Mass Culture - Updates

Vol. 1 (edition of 50) - SOLD OUT

Vol. 2 (edition of 75) - Still available

Vol. 3 - Currently seeking submissions.

Send text or images on the subject of sex and/or death to lcvonhessen@gmail.com (text: TXT or DOC format; images: JPEG). All images will be reproduced in b&w/greyscale. I request that text pieces be relatively short due to limited space: the first two issues have been 28 pages, though Vol. 3 may go up to 32.

Vol. 3 is unofficially the "heterosexual issue," essentially in the same sense that Doom Generation was Gregg Araki's "heterosexual movie": meaning it really isn't, at all, but there are more women in it. Interpret that however you see fit.

Vol. 3 is due to come out in mid-to-late December (depending upon when I can afford to print it).

Offal

Offal by Madame Deficit

A bit delayed, yes, but here's a new noise/industrial track made to accompany Vol. 2 of Mass Culture. The intersection between cold meat and the living body. A boy and his guts.

Mass Culture Vol. 1 - Editor's Statement

Editor's Statement from Vol. 1:

Mass Culture originated at the suggestion of a friend, since I had no fucking clue what kind of publisher would give the time of day to something like “Dumbslut” (p. 18) from an unknown.

America’s attitudes toward sex and death are profoundly unhealthy. Media depictions of violent and sexual imagery are omnipresent, though generally sanitized, artificial, and bloodless—and yet more realistic depictions of such subjects lead to whining and pearl-clutching in the name of illusory abstracts like “human decency” and deeply-instilled myths about children’s innate “goodness.” Thus, the darker thoughts and desires endemic to human nature are camouflaged behind polite and euphemistic talk, the most unavoidably public instances subject to sensationalist distancing or reductive moral example, on top of the additional tendency to polarize complex individuals into simplistic archetypes of “monsters” and “saints.”

Mass Culture, then, serves to emphasize what is beautiful about grotesquery and perversion and what is revolting and horrible about the kind of standard lifestyle, beliefs, and media concoctions that we are “supposed” to find appealing, without resorting to reactionary adolescent contrarianism: any puerile armchair provocateur can make a Xerox collage of spread-beaver porn shots juxtaposed with Dachau inmates.

If you find it in poor taste that I would make irreverent reference to subjects like necrophilia and lust-murder, 1) I frankly don’t give a shit, and 2) you probably shouldn’t be reading this: go pick up a copy of Cosmo and learn how to use a scrunchie as a cock ring.

As a final note: there is power in limited quantities. Any asshole can make a blog. If I wanted it on the internet, I’d put it on the internet.*

—LC von Hessen, March 2011

*And now, some months on, I've decided I want this particular piece on the internet. Vol. 1 is soon-to-be sold out, after all.

Illustration for "Kindly Carcass"

Illustration for "Kindly Carcass." On p. 20 of Mass Culture Vol. 2.

A collage I assembled to accompany a short story. The line drawing is by Dennis Nilsen, reproduced from Brian Masters' Killing for Company. Used without permission: though considering Nilsen's continued struggles to publish his memoirs, he might well be quite pleased to see something of his newly in print.

Aftermath

"Aftermath" #1 and 2, spring '04 (combined in September '10). On p. 13 of Mass Culture Vol. 2.

No relation to the 1994 short film of the same title . . .

Illustration for "Grey-Scaled Icthyoid"

Untitled illustration for "Grey-Scaled Icthyoid." On p. 5 of Mass Culture Vol. 2.

This accompanied a piece about Albert Fish that was written on various substances over a couple of months. The little lass in the bottom right corner is, of course, Grace Budd.

Mass Culture Vol. 2 - Back Cover

Back cover of Mass Culture Vol. 2. Image cropped from a found photo and slightly tinkered with in Photoshop.

Mass Culture Contributor: Eric Rodriguez

Mass Culture Vol. 2 includes drawings from guest contributor Eric Rodriguez. More of his work can be found on his tumblr, "Unseen Orifice."

His work tends toward homoerotic and occult themes that would give Rick Santorum disquieting dreams. He is also quite fond of Spinoza.

The Talking Cure

"The Talking Cure," a sketch from 19 Apr '07.

The Unheimlich, the Thanatos urge, the importance of dreams and the subconscious: these are all quite solid, in my opinion. But I find that much of Freud is frankly a lot of blather about cocks and mothers.

Mass Culture Vol. 2

Mass Culture Vol. 2 is AVAILABLE NOW in a limited edition of 75 copies.

Vol. 2 is unofficially the "cannibalism and dismemberment" issue.

Compared to Vol. 1, Vol. 2 includes:
-Improved graphic design
-Writings about real, fictitious, and metaphorical anthropophagy
-Drawings by someone other than me
-Vapid celebrities appearing to give Nazi salutes
-More pictures of dead people
-More dicks (and taints)

I'll add a necessary reminder that the content is most decidedly not for the squeamish or for children. I won't be held accountable if someone's three-year-old nephew happens to get ahold of a copy and is subsequently traumatized by a morgue photo.

Copies are $5 each + $2 US shipping (email me at lcvonhessen@gmail.com for international rates). Or those in the NYC area can attempt to find me in person and not have to pay for shipping. UPDATE 16 June 2012: Vol. 2 is now sold-out.