Gary Indiana (b. 1950 as Gary Hoisington in

Derry, New Hampshire Derry is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 34,317 at the 2020 census. Although it is a town and not a city, Derry is the most populous community in Rockingham County and the fourth most populous in the ...

) is an American writer, actor, artist, and cultural critic. He served as the art critic for the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'' weekly newspaper from 1985 to 1988. Indiana is best known for his classic American true-crime trilogy, ''Resentment, Three Month Fever: The Andrew Cunanan Story,'' and ''Depraved Indifference'', chronicling the less permanent state of “

depraved indifference In United States law, depraved-heart murder, also known as depraved-indifference murder, is a type of murder where an individual acts with a "depraved indifference" to human life and where such act results in a death, despite that individual not ...

” that characterized American life at the millennium's end. In the introduction to the recently re-published edition of ''Three Month Fever'', critic Christopher Glazek has coined the phrase ''deflationary realism'' to describe Indiana's writing, in contrast to the

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...

hysterical realism Hysterical realism is a term coined in 2000 by English critic James Wood (critic), James Wood to describe what he sees as a literary genre typified by a strong contrast between elaborately absurd prose, plotting, or characterization, on the one han ...

of other contemporary writing.

Plays

Indiana has written, directed and acted in a dozen plays, mostly during the early 1980s. Performed in small New York City venues like

Mudd Club The Mudd Club was a nightclub located at 77 White Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It operated from 1978 to 1983 as a venue for underground music and counterculture events. It was opened by Steve Maas, Die ...

, Club 57, the

Performing Garage The Performing Garage is an Off-Off-Broadway theater in SoHo, New York City. Established in 1968, it is the permanent home of the experimental theater company originally named The Performance Group (under Richard Schechner) that morphed in 1980 in ...

and the backyard of

Bill Rice Wilburn Steven Rice (born April 19, 1939 in Datto, Arkansas) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Rice charted six singles between 1971 and 1978, including the Top 40 hit "Travelin' Minstrel Man", but is better known for his songw ...

's East 3rd Street studio. Earlier plays included ''Alligator Girls Go to College'' (1979); ''Curse of the Dog People'' (1980); ''A Coupla White Faggots Sitting Around Talking'' (1980), which was filmed by

Michel Auder Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), ...

in 1981; ''The

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...

Story'' (1981); ''Phantoms of Louisiana'' (1981) and ''Roy Cohn/Jack Smith'' (1992), written with Jack Smith for performance artist

Ron Vawter Ron Vawter (December 9, 1948 – April 16, 1994) was an American actor and a founding member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group. Vawter performed in most of the group's works until his death from a heart attack in 1994 at the a ...

. The latter was filmed in 1994 by

Jill Godmilow Jill Godmilow (November 23, 1943) is an American independent filmmaker, primarily of non-fiction works, and an advocate for Post-Realism in documentary. She is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre at the Unive ...

. A more recent play, ''Mrs. Watson's Missing Parts'', was staged in May 2013 at Participant Inc. It drastically alters a 1922

Grand Guignol ''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Quartier Pigalle, Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it spe ...

theatrical adaptation of

Octave Mirbeau Octave Mirbeau (16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the ...

's novel ''The Torture Garden'' by replacing all dialogue with an "almost incomprehensible" obscenity-laden libidinal glossolalia.

Film

Indiana has acted in several mostly

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

s by, among others,

(''Seduction of Patrick'', 1979, which he co-wrote with the director),

Scott B and Beth B Scott B and Beth B (also known as Scott and Beth B, Beth and Scott B or The Bs after B Movies) were among the best-known New York No Wave underground film makers of the late 1970s and early 1980s. They went on to form an independent film ...

(''The Trap Door'', 1980), Melvie Arslanian (''Stiletto'', 1981, where he plays a bellhop at the bellhopless Chelsea Hotel), Jackie Raynal (''Hotel New York'', 1984),

Ulrike Ottinger Ulrike Ottinger (born 6 June 1942) is a German filmmaker and photographer. Early life From 1959 she was a visiting student at the Academy of Arts in Munich and worked as a painter. Her mother, Maria Weinberg, was a journalist and her father, Ul ...

(', 1984, with

Veruschka Vera Lehndorff (German: Vera Anna Gottliebe Gräfin von Lehndorff; born 14 May 1939), known professionally as Veruschka, is a German aristocrat, model, actress and artist. She is considered the "first German supermodel.“ Early life von Lehn ...

Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical '' Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''The Picture of Dorian G ...

and

Delphine Seyrig Delphine Claire Beltiane Seyrig (; 10 April 1932 – 15 October 1990) was a Lebanese-born French actress and film director. She came to prominence in Alain Resnais's 1961 film ''Last Year at Marienbad'', and later acted in films by Francois ...

Doctor Mabuse Dr. Mabuse is a fictional character created by Norbert Jacques in his 1921 novel ('Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler'), and his 1932 follow-up novel ''Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse'' (1932). The character was made famous by three films about the character ...

), Lothar Lambert (''Fräulein Berlin'', 1984),

Dieter Schidor Dieter Schidor (6 March 1948 – 17 September 1987) was a German actor, perhaps best known for his work in Sam Peckinpah's ''Cross of Iron'', and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's ''Querelle''. Dieter Schidor was born on 6 March 1948 in Bienrode, today ...

(''Cold in Columbia'', 1985),

Valie Export Valie Export (often stylized as 'VALIE EXPORT'; born 17 May 1940) is an avant-garde Austrian artist. She is best known for provocative public performances and expanded cinema work. Her artistic work also includes video installations, computer an ...

(''

The Practice of Love ''The Practice of Love'' (german: Die Praxis der Liebe) is a 1985 West German-Austrian drama film written by and directed by Valie Export. It was entered into the 35th Berlin International Film Festival. Cast * Adelheid Arndt as Judith Wiene ...

'', 1985) and

Christoph Schlingensief Christoph Maria Schlingensief (24 October 1960 – 21 August 2010) was a German theatre director, performance artist, and filmmaker. Starting as an independent underground filmmaker, Schlingensief later staged productions for theatres and festivals ...

(''Terror 2000: Intensivstation Deutschland'', 1994, in which

Udo Kier Udo Kierspe (born 14 October 1944), known professionally as Udo Kier, is a German actor. Known primarily as a character actor, Kier has appeared in more than 220 films in both leading and supporting roles throughout Europe and the Americas. He h ...

kills his character with a machine gun). John Boskovich’s 2001 film ''North'' features Indiana reading from the

Céline Céline, sometimes spelled Celine, is a French female first name of Latin origin, coming from ''Caelīna'', the feminine form of the Roman cognomen ''Caelīnus'', meaning "heavenly".

novel of the same name. Indiana's novel ''Gone Tomorrow'' reflects his experiences on set, particularly his time working on ''Cold in Columbia''. Speaking of his acting style generally, Indiana told an interviewer, "I wasn't trained, and certainly didn't have the technique of a professional. Directors would cast me because of the way I was, not what I could pretend to be."

Art

Indiana's video ''Stanley Park'' (2013) was included in the 2014

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...

. Combining footage of a former Cuban prison, the

Panopticon The panopticon is a type of institutional building and a system of control designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept of the design is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be o ...

-like

Presidio Modelo The Presidio Modelo was a "model prison" with panopticon design, built on the Isla de Pinos ("Isle of Pines"), now the Isle of Youth, Isla de la Juventud ("Isle of Youth"), in Cuba. It is located in the suburban quarter of Chacón, Nueva Gerona ...

, jellyfish and cuts from the films ''

Touch of Evil ''Touch of Evil'' is a 1958 American film noir written and directed by Orson Welles, who also stars in the film. The screenplay was loosely based on the contemporary Whit Masterson novel ''Badge of Evil'' (1956). The cast included Charlton Hes ...

'' and ''

The Shanghai Gesture ''The Shanghai Gesture'' is a 1941 American film noir directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Victor Mature, and Ona Munson. It is based on a Broadway play of the same name by John Colton, which was adapted fo ...

'', the work connects the consequences of global environmental degradation with increasingly repressive governmental practices. Used as a metaphor for state surveillance, the jellyfish was described by Indiana as “an organism with no brain and a thousand poisonous tentacles collecting what you could call data.” Photographs of young Cuban men appeared next to the video.

Semiotext(e) Semiotext(e) is an independent publisher of critical theory, fiction, philosophy, art criticism, activist texts and non-fiction. History Founded in 1974, ''Semiotext(e)'' began as a journal that emerged from a semiotics reading group led by Sylv ...

published 22 pamphlets for the biennial, including Indiana's ''A Significant Loss of Human Life'', which extends the video's themes by juxtaposing the artist's experiences of Cuba as it is slowly being drawn into the global economy with commentary on the ideas of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

. In addition to ''Stanley Park'', publicly screened

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...

by Indiana includes ''Soap'' (2004–2012), inspired by the

Francis Ponge Francis Jean Gaston Alfred Ponge (; 27 March 1899 – 6 August 1988) was a French essayist and poet. Influenced by surrealism, he developed a form of prose poem, minutely examining everyday objects. He was the third recipient of the Neustadt Inter ...

poem; ''Plutot la vie'' (2005), concerning

the Society of the Spectacle ''The Society of the Spectacle'' (french: La société du spectacle) is a 1967 work of philosophy and Marxist critical theory by Guy Debord, in which the author develops and presents the concept of the Spectacle. The book is considered a seminal ...

and mass hypnosis; ''Unfinished Story'' (2004–2005), which records readings by and conversations between Indiana and photographer Lynn Davis; and ''Young Ginger'' (2014)

Bibliography

Fiction

* (1987) ''Scar Tissue and Other Stories'' * (1988) ''White Trash Boulevard'' * (1989)
Horse Crazy
' * (1991) ''Disorderly Conduct: The VLS Fiction Reader'' (contributor) * (1993)
Gone Tomorrow
' * (1994) ''Rent Boy'' * (1994) ''Living With the Animals'' (editor, contributor) * (1997) ''Resentment: A Comedy'' * (1999) ''Three Month Fever: The Andrew Cunanan Story'' * (2002) ''Depraved Indifference'' * (2003) ''Do Everything in the Dark'' * (2009) ''The Shanghai Gesture'' * (2010) ''Last Seen Entering the Biltmore: Plays, Short Fiction, Poems 1975–2010'' * (2011) ''To Whom It May Concern'' (limited edition

artist's book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects. Overview Artists' books have employed a ...

with Louise Bourgeois) * (2016) ''Tiny Fish that Only Want to Kiss''

Nonfiction

* (1987) ''Lucas Samaras: Chairs and Drawings'' (for Pace Gallery) * (1987) ''Roberto Juarez'' (for Robert Miller Gallery) * (1989) ''Life Under Neon: Paintings and Drawings of Times Square 1981–1988'' (Jane Dickson catalogue for Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art and Design; contributor) * (1996) ''Let It Bleed: Essays 1985–1995'' * (1996) ''Aura Rosenberg: Head Shots'' * (1997) ''Front Pages'' (Nancy Chunn catalogue for the Corcoran Gallery of Art; contributor) * (1997) ''Hunt Slonem: Exotica'' (for Colby College Museum of Art; contributor) * (1998) ''Christopher Wool'' (for the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; contributor) * (1999) ''Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You'' (for the Museum of Contemporary Art; contributor) * (2000) ''Valie Export: Ob/De+Con(Struction)'' (for Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art and Design; contributor) * (2000) ''BFI Film Classics: Salò or The 120 Days of Sodom'' * (2004) ''BFI Film Classics: Viridiana'' * (2004) ''John Waters: Change of Life'' (for the New Museum of Contemporary Art; contributor) * (2005) ''The Schwarzenegger Syndrome: Politics and Celebrity in the Age of Contempt'' * (2005) ''Kathe Burkhart: Bad Girl: Works from 1983–2000'' * (2005) ''Paul Kostabi'' * (2006) ''Cameron Jamie'' (contributor) * (2008) ''Utopia's Debris: Selected Essays'' * (2009) ''Paul Pfeiffer'' (contributor) * (2009) ''Chaos and Night'' by Henry de Montherlant (introduction to the NYRB Classics edition) * (2010) ''Dike Blair: Now and Again'' (for the Weatherspoon Art Museum; contributor) * (2010) ''Andy Warhol and the Can that Sold the World'' * (2010) ''

Roni Horn Roni Horn (born September 25, 1955) is an American visual artist and writer. The granddaughter of Eastern European immigrants, she was born in New York City, where she lives and works. She is currently represented by Xavier Hufkens in Brussels an ...

: Well and Truly'' (for Kunsthaus Bregenz; contributor) * (2010) ''Coma'' by Pierre Guyotat (introduction to the Semiotext(e) edition) * (2011) ''Dead Flowers'' (monograph on Timothy Carey; contributor) * (2012) ''Bye Bye American Pie'' (for MALBA Fundación Costantini, Buenos Aires) * (2013) ''Damián Aquiles'' * (2014) ''Edgewise: A Picture of Cookie Mueller'' (contributor) * (2014) ''A Significant Loss of Human Life'' * (2015) ''Tracey Emin: Angel Without You'' (for the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami; contributor) * (2015) ''I Can Give You Anything But Love'' * (2015) ''Tal R: Altstadt Girl'' (for Cheim & Read) * (2017) ''Roni Horn'' (contributor) * (2018) ''Ivory Pearl'' by Jean-Patrick Manchette (afterword for the NYRB Classics edition) * (2018) ''Vile Days: The Village Voice Art Columns, 1985–1988''

Critical studies and essays on Indiana's work

* (1992) ''Shopping in Space: Essays on American "Blank Generation" Fiction'' by Elizabeth Young, Graham Caveney * (1998) ''Blank Fictions: Consumerism, Culture and the Contemporary American Novel'' by James Annesley * * (subscription required) * Christopher Glazek (Winter 2016). "Cunanan/Bovary". ''Semiotext(e)/Native Agents''. * * Sarah Nicole Prickket (October 4, 2018)
"The Dry-Eyed Mourning of Gary Indiana."
''LitHub''. *

References

External links

Fales Library New York University's Fales Library and Special Collections is located on the third floor of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at 70 Washington Square South between LaGuardia Place and the Schwartz Plaza, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhat ...

, New York University
Gary Indiana
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Gary Indiana's articles
for ''Vice''
"Diaries 1989–90 by Gary Indiana"
in ''BOMB Magazine'', Issue 34; January 1, 1990
"Rent Boy by Gary Indiana"
an excerpt carried in ''BOMB Magazine'', Issue 46; January 1, 1994
"Resentment: A Comedy by Gary Indiana"
an excerpt carried in ''BOMB Magazine'', Issue 60; July 1, 1997
"Ackerville"
Indiana's posthumous profile of

Kathy Acker Kathy Acker (April 18, 1947 isputed– November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, playwright, essayist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that dealt with themes such as childhood trau ...

in ''The London Review of Books'', Vol. 28 No. 24; 14 December 14, 2006
"Diary: In Havana"
an article by Indiana in ''The London Review of Books'', Vol. 35 No. 10; May 23, 2013
"Gizmo"
a story by Indiana in ''Sensitive Skin'', Issue 10; September 2013
"I Can Give You Anything but Love: A Memoir by Gary Indiana"
an excerpt carried in ''BOMB Magazine'', Issue 127; April 1, 2014
"This is Cannibal Island Now"
an interview with Indiana in ''Flash Art'', Issue 297; July, August, September 2014
"Unhappy Thoughts: Gary Indiana Gets Personal In New Memoir"
a review of ''I Can Give You Anything but Love'' in ''ARTnews''; September 15, 2015

an interview with Indiana in ''The Los Angeles Times''; October 8, 2015
"Interview with Gary Indiana"
in ''The White Review'', Issue 16; April 2016
"The Book Jean-Patrick Manchette Didn’t Live to Finish"
an excerpt from Indiana's introduction to ''Ivory Pearl'' by Jean-Patrick Manchette (NYRB Classics); ''The Paris Review''; April 23, 2018
The Art of Fiction (250) Interview with Gary Indiana, The Paris Review, Winter 2021
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indiana, Gary 20th-century American novelists American art critics 1950 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American film critics American male novelists American LGBT novelists American gay writers The Village Voice people 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers