Gay Pulp Novel Ceramics

Gay Pulp Novel Ceramics

I was inspired to create this ceramic mug inspired by the gay pulp novel Skid Row Sweetie after looking at the gay pulp novels of the mid-20th century at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. I was intrigued by the aesthetic quality of the covers with most of them focusing on the dramatic, sensual, and salacious aspects of the books. But on a few covers, I was able to locate moments of domesticity and as a ceramic artist, I was excited to notice a ceramic mug on this novel in particular. In recreating this painterly mug from the cover of the world of Skid Row Sweetie, I'm hoping to locate a sense of domestic warmth and mundane every day not always afforded to the characters of these pulp novels.

The piece is in conversation with the artwork and craft techniques of artworks such as Allyson Mitchell and Deirdre Logue's "Killjoy's Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House" which we explored in class, as well as gay ceramic artists such as Paul Mathieu or Leopold Foulem. All these artists utilize craft techniques along with gay archival imagery or histories to unpack associations with domesticity and the everyday.

Luke Mohan