INTERSECTION

by luke kurtis

INTERSECTION is a collection of poetry, photography, and found texts by luke kurtis created as part of the artist's rediscovery of his southern heritage. It's his self-described "ode to the south." Paired with the companion INTERSECTION zine, also published by bd-studios.com, the artist's rural upbringing is contrasted with his adult life as a New York artist.

58 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2014

About the author

luke kurtis is an interdisciplinary artist focusing on the intersection of visuals, text, and tech. Ideas are the root of his work, forgoing any signature style in favor of conceptually-driven aesthetics and design. Select books include Angkor Wat and exam(i)nation, both part of an ongoing series that combines photography, writing, and design. His albums of experimental music include obscure mechanics and electronic quartets. He also makes short films, including the woods are watching and convergence, both documenting his installation art projects of the same names. His studio, bd-studios.com, publishes work both by himself and other artists and writers, and he is the co-founder of New Lit Salon Press. He lives and works in New York City’s Greenwich Village.

Reviews

[WabiSabiZinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

luke kurtis's new book, Intersection, is not a work of academic research, nor is it simply a book of poetry paired photography. Yet, it is somehow both of those; an amalgamation of many forms that represents the current state of the American South - that is, a state of constant and glorious collision. Intersection goes beyond the physical landscape to represents the emotional landscape of the author. By using a mix of traditional photography styles and heavily edited digital photography, the author shows his audience the beautiful friction of multiple states of emotion at work in a single person and place - pure love of the pastoral appears in landscapes and floral studies then slams against the question of identity via self portraits, multiple exposures, and images that use "image" to communicate a state of constant reinterpretation. Likewise, hundred year old articles from local newspapers butt up against kurtis's new poetry, and reveal how the personal, political, and geographical history of place continue to influence identity in the present. Intersection is both a study of place as an entity all its own, and a study of place as a metaphor. If you love the south, you will love this book; if you've ever questioned the meaning of your existence in a particular space, this book can commiserate all the while offering a means of bringing those disparate pieces of ourselves together. That solution is to live, and live happily, at the intersection of contradiction.