Writer, and artist Curtis Kulig have turned their dynamic friendship into a book. They met in 2012 when Kulig was working on a performance piece for MOMA with a religious theme. He called on Blagg to write an unholy sermon. Although MOMA cancelled the show, fearing controversy, Blagg and Kulig became firm friends.
“That performance was ahead of its time, and the museum couldn’t put up with me,” recalls the Kulig, who says he feels like he’s known Blagg, “for a lifetime.” Their new book, Loud Money is a glorious scrapbook of their relationship. It features sketches, poems, clippings and correspondence. There’s a wonderful hand-written fax from describing a meeting with Blagg and the art photographer Ralph Gibson: “Max and Ralph came on like a speedball in a euphoric rush of language and image.”
The same kind of energy exits in Loud Money which is as much a portrait of their friendship as it is an art book. “The collaboration came about very organically. We had a mutual admiration society and one day just started compiling pages that we both liked – photos, drawings, poems, paintings…and we kept adding more random fragments…”
Eventually, they had enough material for the book, which was due to come out in 2020, but was delayed for a year, due to Covid. “So much happened in that period of time, I think the content would have been much different if it was made in 2020. It still feels as relevant now as it did then,” says Kulig.
Imagery courtesy of Max Blagg and artist Curtis Kulig. You can purchase ‘Loud Money’
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