Vile Days

As well as offering shrewd judgments of artists whose stature has only grown since—Indiana can be equally fervent and persuasive in his analyses of the brilliant, the charlatans, and all those in between—he frequently used the column as a space for experimentation, both formal and philosophical. An intellectual with a precise sense of history, he nonetheless writes with a quality he ascribes to Kathy Acker in one of the articles here: “a liberating, combative irreverence and glee” that puts many other critics to shame.

A thought-provoking read.

It is… impossible to read the columns without savoring their radioactive wit and aphoristic intelligence.

Vile Days is a jolting reminder that there were once prominent critics who viewed the dominant culture of their day not with occasional skepticism but permanent hostility.

Gary Indiana is a novelist, playwright, critic, essayist, filmmaker, and artist. Hailed by the Guardian as “one of the most important chroniclers of the modern psyche,” and by the Observer as “one of the most woefully underappreciated writers of the last 30 years,” he published a memoir, I Can Give You Anything But Love, in 2015. He is also the author of Three Month Fever- The Andrew Cunanan Story and Resentment- A Comedy (both published by Semiotex(e)).Bruce Hainley is the author of Under the Sign of sic - Sturtevant’s Volte-Face and Art & Culture,both published by Semiotext(e). The editor ofCommie Pinko Guy, he wrote, with John Waters, Art-A Sex Book. He cochairs the Graduate Art program at ArtCenter College of Design and is a contributing editor atArtforum.

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