Photo by Keith Griffith
April’s Hot Writer: Alicia Eler
My genre: I am a writer, art critic and curator, focusing on visual art.
My literary influences: Federico García Lorca, Joan Didion, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Andy Warhol, Valerie Solanas (who shot Warhol, naturally), Ariel Levy, Susan Sontag, José Esteban Muñoz
My favorite art critics: Lori Waxman, Jerry Saltz, Kyle Chayka, Jason Foumberg, Jillian Steinhauer, Hrag Vartanian, Daniel Quiles
My favorite artists: Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Peregrine Honig, Maurizio Cattelan, Paul Chan, Rochelle Feinstein, David Ford, Cory Arcangel, Luana Perilli, Martha Rosler, Will Cotton
My favorite literary quote: “Words are loaded pistols.” —Jean-Paul Sartre.
My favorite books of all time: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll,Wayside School Is Falling Down by Louis Sachar, Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman,Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre, Female Chauvanist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy, On Photography by Susan Sontag, Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity by José Esteban Muñoz
I’m currently reading: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion. I’m re-reading the titular essay, which provides an honest, if rather depressing, look at the drugged out hippie movement in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district of the late 1960s.
My guilty pleasure book: I enjoy reading books about astrology and psychic abilities. Most recently, I read The Only Astrology Book You Will Ever Need and The Idiot’s Guide to Being Psychic.
I can’t write without: Coffee, preferably in the form of a soy latte.
Worst line I ever wrote: “How many times do I have to tell you that I am a twin?”
Brief Bio: Alicia Eler is a writer, art critic and curator whose projects focus on American pop and consumer culture, social networked identities, and the history of queer aesthetics. Her recent reviews examine our modern perception of the natural world. Alicia is currently the Chicago correspondent for Hyperallergic and Artforum.com, visual art researcher for the Chicago Artists’ Resource, and writer and editor for theOtherPeoplesPixels.com blog. In Spring 2013, she will curate four shows with ACRE Exhibitions & Residency. Her writing has been published in Art21, Art Papers, RAW Vision Magazine (UK), Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Flavorpill, ReadWriteWeb and Time Out Chicago. She holds a BA in Art History from Oberlin College.
Read the story on Chicago Sun-Times: http://blogs.suntimes.com/ourtown/2013/04/the_hot_chicago_writer_blog_12.html
