Despite a cool breeze and an overcast sky, Provincetown buzzed with excitement as cinephiles from across the world gathered for the 19th edition of the Provincetown International Film Festival this past week. Take Magazine kept a keen eye out for this year’s gems and notable events in case you missed them: from John Waters zooming down Commercial street, to Chloë Sevigny’s white Margiela go-go boots and all the gossip in-between.

Scene: On the Street

Though there was plenty to see and overhear in the lines leading into the Fishermen Hall, Waters Edge Cinema and The Art House, we kept a nosy ear and a wandering eye on Commercial Street for all the tangential action happening in and around PIFF. Here’s a bit of what we saw:

• George Meyers, general manager of Amherst Cinema meandering down Commercial Street wearing an excellent hat, no doubt scouting for premiere films to bring back to Western Mass.

• A fox unexpectedly darting through a sea of gay men, causing quite a ruckus.

• John Waters literally everywhere. On the street, in the theater, wearing signature ill suits, striped sneakers and a beautiful small mustache.

• Independent executive producers and directors celebrating their premieres, including Sofia Coppola.

Sofia Coppola, photo by Mae Gammino

• While experiencing a small holdup in the press line, a West Coast photographer whispered, “This isn’t how we do it in L.A.” — an observation followed by zero clarification.

SCENE: On Stage and in the Theaters

In addition to the dozens of short films, documentary features, and narrative films, PIFF featured many events and conversations with all sorts of directors, actors, and film industry folks. Here are some moments you missed:

• A meta-moment of John Waters politely watching himself on screen commentating on the early career of Jayne Mansfield during the screening of the documentary Mansfield 66/67.

• Chloë Sevigny sharing her favorite roles at theater camp as a teen, which included Annie in Annie Get Your Gun, Ado Annie in Oklahoma, and Annie in Annie.

Seen at Water’s Edge Cinema: perhaps the best all-gender, inclusive restroom we’ve seen.

• Chloë dishing that movie director Harmony Korine used to almost exclusively date “thick Puerto Rican girls.”

• Sofia Coppola basically admitting to John Waters during their Filmmakers on the Edge conversation that Kirsten Dunst is her “Divine.”

• Sofia Coppola calling Paris Hilton “a hoarder” but noting she’s “much more likable than her persona lets on.”

• John Waters sharing with the crowd that Italian designer Valentino Garavani never drinks sparkling water because he believes “bubbles make you fat.”

• Audible sobbing and sniffling during the screenings of The Last Pig, 32 Pills, and The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson.

• Julie Klausner admitting (to no one’s surprise), “My best friend in the world is an homosexual man.”

Top image: Sofia Coppola, John Waters, and Chloe Sevigny, photo courtesy of Mae Gammino/Provincetown International Film Festival

The post Seen and Overheard at Provincetown International Film Fest appeared first on Take Magazine.

For the month of June, LGBTQIA* folks and allies across New England come together in thoughtful reflection and celebration of Pride, which highlights progress since the Stonewall Riots. While much progress has been made, it is also an important time to reflect on what work our LGBTQIA* communities need to do in order to promote inclusivity, safety, and basic civil rights in the face of a hostile political system. We at Take want to acknowledge this important month by highlighting the artists whose work engages with LGBTQIA* themes and issues, as well as the creatives who claim these sexuality, minority, and gender non-conforming identities. All the folks featured on this list enlivened our editorial by challenging normative understandings of gender, sexuality, and identity in general through their unique work.

The following stories are about all kinds artists: previously pregnant butch dykes, rural drag queens of color, cis gay Asian-Americans, trans femmes, lesbian separatists, non-binary babes, and many individuals and groups of people whose identities aren’t as easily summarized. This diversity in our editorial exists because that is the diversity of our region. Though it’s true that we live in a society that constantly works to erase and delegitimize the existence of LGBTQIA* people, we’re still finding artists and cultural leaders who boldly embrace this sometimes fraught, yet always beautiful, spectrum of existence.

While we are proud to present our highlighted list of artists we’ve covered since January 2015, we’re not so naive to think that these are the only LGBTQIA* folks we’ve featured. While some artists openly share their identities with our staff and contributors, other artists have asked us to keep their identities off the record, or choose to never disclose for privacy and safety concerns.

Take is proud to feature these artists and our team will work harder to bring you more creative voices from the LGBTQIA* community as we expand our web edition and return to print this fall.

Massachusetts

Car Wash

Wading In

This Ain’t No Game

Comfort & Discomfort

Catastrophe in Provincetown

The Insider’s Take: Eternal Slumber Party

Come Closer

Tender, Forever

Becoming The Gold Dust Orphans

Facebook-to-Face

The Kids Are Alright

Cave and the Art of Community

Connecticut

Women of Abstraction

Gender Bender

Feminine Mystique

BL&D Interview – Arien Wilkerson

From Clay to Catastasis

Life is Gross

Sacred Stones

Crossing Equators with Arien Wilkerson

Maine

Portland’s Cherry Lemonade

Notes from an Expat: Where Are You From

Not-so-Little Women

Take Q&A: Crystal Williams—Writer, Advocate, Advisor

Slow Boat to Iceland

The Simple Power of the Cup

New Hampshire

Manchester’s “Sexy Industrialist”

Hood is Downtown…For Now

Rhode Island

Kitty Eyes & Spandex

Taken: Todd Oldham at RISD

Rachel Blumberg Sees And Hears More Than You

Hustler of Providence

Aurora Catalyzes Variety and Community in Providence

ART/Crush: J.R. Uretsky

Meet Rhode Island’s Newest City Boy

Nine Months in Drag

Vermont

The Rainbow Cattle Co.

Make Some Time for Angus McCullough

What Happened Before Homosexuals?

New England

Artists to Watch 2017

10 New England Tattooers You Need to Follow on Instagram

7 New England Niche Film Festivals You Can’t Miss

The post Take Magazine Pride Month Round-up appeared first on Take Magazine.

Only John Waters, everyone’s favorite irreverent cult film director turned writer and performer would describe a show like Catastrophe as “kind of lovely.” Photos of car accidents, dead celebrities, paintings of serial killers and off-putting portraits of destitute men and women are just a few pieces Waters chose to showcase at Albert Merola Gallery in Provincetown Massachusetts. This curated set of images and sculptures isn’t just another example of Water’s exploration of bad taste as good art, it’s something more nefarious, disturbing and fascinating.

Catastrophe is the latest in a long-running collaboration between John Waters and Merola. Since 1999, Waters has shown his work at the gallery several times and previously curated a show in 2007 titled Eliminate. We briefly pinned down the Prince of Puke to learn a bit more about his newly curated show and find out just what he’s trying to pull on the care-free Provincetown cruisers and vacationers.

Can you recall a recent time when you were on vacation and a piece of art transformed you by making you feel bad in a whole new and positive way? Even though we know vacations aren’t typically your M.O.

Some people go on vacation and they go to an art gallery. This might not be what they’re thinking they want to bring home and put over their couch, but they should. Actually, these pieces would be much better.

I don’t take vacations very often. The only place I go on vacation is to London every year for a week. Provincetown isn’t my vacation because I’m always writing here…in any city I live in I go to the art galleries a lot. That’s how I found out about all these artists – which many people do not know about. That’s what I like to do when I curate a show. I like to bring these artists to collectors and other artists that they’ve never seen. I like art that generally startles me in any way…the kind of work I always buy is work that makes me say “oh my gosh” It almost pisses me off and then I laugh and then I love it…that’s usually the kind of art I buy.

Brett Reichmann Simulation Masturbation 2010 watercolor, gouache on paper 26 x 40 inches

I think everything in this show could do that to some people. I find that’s what art is supposed to do; wreck things, change things, change how you look at things. This whole show is trying to make you think, ‘if anything bad happens to me, maybe I should get a painting of it or a photograph’ because then you turn it into something else and it won’t make you feel bad…maybe, hopefully.

I don’t think anybody will come to this show and leave feeling bad. To be honest, when I go into a lot of other art galleries, I feel bad simply because they’re trying to make me feel good. I already feel good! I don’t think art should make you feel good. Meaning, good in the sense that art has to be positive or beautiful or full of craft. All those things are usually a detriment to the artwork. Talent is not enough.

Perhaps a bit of audacity as well?

Yes, yes.

You stated in the preface that you hope people can create a sort of happy distance from what’s going on in these photos, paintings and sculptures. How do you suggest the viewers go about accomplishing that happy distance when faced with such horrifying and disturbing moments and ideas?

The works might be depicting something that is scary, threatening or tragic. But, then you have to look at how the artist completely dealt with that…in which form and in what part of that inspired them to draw it, spend a huge amount of time painting it, or almost no time taking a picture of something terrible that happened. I think that’s where the art comes in— the artist chose some image. The Jonestown picture on the cover for example. I recognize it as Jonestown. It’s a very beautiful, calm painting. I do believe that many people who went Jonestown originally were doing the right thing. They went for the right reasons and it probably was the biggest experiment in their life that worked until it didn’t work – and when it didn’t work it was too late. Many of the Jonestown survivors today – and there is a large group of them, that have newsletters and meetings and everything – agree it was pretty much murder, not suicide. His guards were there! Not everybody did it willingly, even if they did do it willingly, isn’t that almost murder? When you brainwash someone into committing suicide? I don’t know. It’s a grey area.

Charlotte Neel Ritto Scene | Jonestown acrylic on canvas 51 x 71 inches

The show seems to be examining catastrophe at different moments. All the car crash photos and the disembodied Jane Mansfield wig–

I think it’s more her scalp than her wig. It deals with the question of what did happen that day? Was she partially scalped? Was it just her wig? She was not beheaded…so there’s so many different stories of that legend of her terrible ending and I was trying to pay tribute to them all in a way that really went along with Jane Mansfield. She was kind of known for having hideous taste, but hideously beautiful taste (laughs).

The cars by the Mexican photographer, Enrique Metinides, who I really love, I went to see his show in NYC and I did not know him at all. He did all these shots in the 40s and 50s…it’s almost like a love picture. It is a fender bender, but to me it’s a romance.

Enrique Metinides Choque de Camion y Camionetta 1950

I totally see that. The cars are convening at a moment that seems pleasant.

A gentle touch. It was almost sexual.

…and then u look at Arnold’s pictures. I’ve been a fan for a long time. A famous Swiss photographer. He mostly did insurance pictures but then he’d shoot one for art everytime. To me, that picture looks like a car with a face, that face! It’s still smiling at you…even if the people died the car still lived.

Photo by Arnold Odermatt

Sam McKinniss Portrait of T.J. Lane, Chardon Ohio High School Shooter 2016 oil paint, aqua-leaf on canvas 60 x 40 inches

And the Sam McKinniss portrait of T.J. Lane even depicts the teenager as more serene even in his possibly pre-murderous state-

It’s scary in Provincetown because all the circus boys kind of look like that, but if you know about him, he is one of the most hideous people…escaped from jail and all that. He is somebody that is much more frightening in terms of what’s inside of him as opposed to what’s outside of him. In Provincetown on Commercial Street during August, he looks like thousands of gay guys that come here to cruise and party.

You better hope he doesn’t.

Lee Ann seems a bit more friendly.

By Bruce Gilden? Oh yes! Well, [T.J. Lane] could skate through town and no one would know he’s a murderer. This woman couldn’t get away with one thing. She might get busted just for how she looks. The homeless may even through her out. But I like her! She must have a sense of humor somewhere because you can’t get through life looking like that without being able to roll with the punches.

She could very easily have a bit role in Cry Baby or Pink Flamingos?

She could have. I know many people in Baltimore who look like that. She’s celebrating it in a way – she allowed the photographer to take her picture. The photographer lends a bit of dignity to her. She had hair and makeup done for this shot. She has eyeliner and lipstick on. She has a look. God knows she has a look and that’s all that counts. It’s people that don’t have any look that are depressing to me.

Photo by Bruce Gilden Lee-Ann Milwaukee State Fair

Does living and working in Provincetown inform your selection for this show and other curated shows like this one?

It’s anti-vacation. It’s hopefully satirizing how hard it is to have a serious art gallery in a resort town.

Do you think Provincetown has notably changed or influenced your creative choices?

I’ve been here 52 years, I think I dropped a wad of gum in 1968 that’s still on the same corner. I’m for change too, god knows. However, I do find that comforting in a way.

Photo by Greg Gorman

Catch Catastrophe at Albert Merola Gallery in Provincetown Massacusetts July 22-August 11. In addition, be on the look-out for two books from John Waters. Mr. Know-it-all, a collection of essays and Wiremouth, a novel about a women who steals suitcases. 

Top photo:John Waters,Tragedy, 2015 acrylic, synthetic hair, painted silicone, urethane.  18″ x 18″ x 5″ in. in and Edition of 25.

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