1 option
Kembra Pfahler / Kembra Pfahler ; [with contributions by] Anohni, Sophie Cavoulacos, Annie Sprinkle, Samoa Moriki, Carlo McCormick, Jeffrey Deirch, Michael Bullock, and Rick Owens.
Fine Arts Library N6537.P43 P43 2026
By Request
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Pfahler, Kembra, artist.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Pfahler, Kembra.
- Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black (Musical group).
- Women artists.
- Performance art--20th century.
- Performance art.
- Performance art--21st century.
- Arts--Experimental methods.
- Arts.
- Avant-garde (Aesthetics).
- Experimental theater--England--London.
- Experimental theater.
- Glam rock musicians.
- Punk rock musicians.
- Genre:
- filmographies.
- catalogs (documents)
- Illustrated works.
- Filmographies.
- Catalogs.
- Physical Description:
- 399 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2026.
- Summary:
- "Iconic rockstar and performance artist Kembra Pfahler’s life in pictures. Original New York City icon Pfahler has terrorized and tantalized audiences since her arrival in the Lower East Side in the early 1980s. Originally associated with the Cinema of Transgression, Pfahler supported her films with work at an independent porn studio. In the 1990s, she launched The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, a rock band associated with Kiss, Alice Cooper, and White Zombie. Nude and covered in paint, with blackened teeth and bouffant hair, Pfahler developed a reputation for wild performance that reached far beyond the Lower East Side. Elements of Kabuki theater, surfing, bugs, and giant sharks from her legendary shows were later repurposed for performance art. Beginning in the early 2000s, Pfahler titillated gallery-goers with openings featuring dozens of painted women, butt-prints, and performances involving endurance and strength. With galleries including Emalin and Deitch Projects, Pfahler created a visual lexicon incorporating occult imagery, bondage, and challenging forms of femininity. Through teaching, activism, and performance art, Pfahler serves as a mentor to students, and in recent years, a muse to designers including Rick Owens, Casey Cadwallader, and Alessandro Michele. Collecting four decades of ephemera, performance documentation, road pictures, and more, the book celebrates Pfahler as a countercultural star."--publisher's website.
- Contents:
- Divine Child / Onohni
- California: the queen's necklace / Kembra Pfahler
- California: Hollywood punk / Kembra Pfahler
- New York: loner boner / Kembra Pfahler
- New York: availabism / Kembra Pfahler
- I. Film. Hells Angels deliver to gotham gold / Kembra Pfahler
- Cinema of transgression / Kembra Pfahler
- Sewing circle / Kembra Pfahler
- In front and behind / Sophie Cavoulacos
- Shaving cream & steak tartare / Annie Sprinkle
- II. The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. Original lineup / Kembra Pfahler
- Paint egg piece / Kembra Pfahler
- Kabuki makeup / Kembra Pfahler
- No barriers left / Samoa Moriki
- On tour / Kembra Pfahler
- Props / Kembra Pfahler
- A crack in time / Carlo McCormick
- III. Performance. Reification playground / Kembra Pfahler
- Wall of vagina / Kembra Pfahler
- The artist as art / Jeffrey Deitch
- Future feminism / Kembra Pfahler
- Rebel without a cock / Kembra Pfahler
- Kembra's apartment / Michael Bullock
- IV. Fashion. Anti-naturalist fashion / Kembra Pfahler
- Collaborations / Kembra Pfahler
- Vamirella playboy bunny / Rick Owens
- Exhibition history.
- ISBN:
- 0847865754
- 9780847865758
- OCLC:
- 1579182361
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.