This year we’re remembering the passing of Rosaleen Norton, 35 years ago in 1979. The infamous Australian occultist and artist lived the bohemian life of an artist in the red light district of Kings Cross, Sydney. Norton lived openly as a witch and created then-shocking paintings that found her demonized in the tabloids and targeted for harassment and censorship by the powers that be. However, it seems that Norton’s only real sin was being a strong-willed independent woman born decades ahead of her time.

Here’s the Wiki…

Rosaleen Miriam “Roie” Norton (2 October 1917 – 5 December 1979), who used the craft name of Thorn, was an Australian artist and occultist, in the latter capacity adhering to a form of pantheistic / Neopagan Witchcraft which was devoted to the god Pan. She lived much of her later life in the bohemian area of Kings Cross, Sydney, leading her to be termed the “Witch of Kings Cross” in some of the tabloids,[1] and from where she led her own coven of Witches.

Her paintings, which have been compared to those of British occult artist Austin Osman Spare, often depicted images of supernatural entities such as pagan gods and demons, sometimes involved in sexual acts. These caused particular controversy in Australia during the 1940s and 50s, when the country “was both socially and politically conservative” with Christianity as the dominant faith and at a time when the government “promoted a harsh stance on censorship.” For this reason the authorities dealt with her work harshly, with the police removing some of her work from exhibitions, confiscating books that contained her images, and attempting to prosecute her for public obscenity on a number of occasions.

According to her later biographer, Nevill Drury, “Norton’s esoteric beliefs, cosmology and visionary art are all closely intertwined – and reflect her unique approach to the magical universe.” She was inspired by “the ‘night’ side of magic”, emphasising darkness and studying the Qliphoth, alongside forms of sex magic which she had learned from the writings of English occultist Aleister Crowley.

Check out this intense slide show featuring snaps of Norton and her diabolical art…

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I love how the New Year inspires the summing up of the year gone by. What’s the best movie you saw? What’s the best album you heard? I have a pretty sizable library of art books, artist biographies and exhibition catalogs, and this is the time of year when publishers send me their spring catalogs, looking for some press/blog buzz in the coming months.

Last year was a pretty good year for art books, but my favorite 2013 art books are two Mike Kelley titles that eclipse everything else in the category…

Pay for Your Pleasures: Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy, Raymond Pettibone – Profiling the edge of the Southern California art scene by illuminating three of its most controversial figures, Pleasures is an important volume the examines the artist’s separate oeuvres while also pointing to the overlap in their collaborative efforts. The book focuses on work produced in the 1970′s, 80′s and ’90′s, and author, Cary Levine’s investigations into the musical subcultures these artists were drawn to provides an intriguing jumping-off point for this tour of transgressive expressions which includes everything from disturbing statements on sex and gender to sculptures made of feces. The work here challenges the minds, hearts and stomachs of viewers – often simultaneously. And it’s Levine’s brave understanding of this work and these artists that makes Pleasures such a pleasure.

Mike Kelley is the most complete catalog yet produced on the work of the artist and it’s the companion book to the retrospective exhibition that followed Kelley’s death in 2012. The eponymous volume tracks the artist’s sculpture, works on paper, paintings, sound, music, installations, videos and performances from the 1970′s through Kelley’s last work, “Mobile Homestead.” The book suspends its audience between the harrowing and hilarious dichotomies that defined Kelley’s output and it’s an invaluable reference for writers, artists, teachers and the Kelley-curious, seeking a deeper, critical understanding of this important artist’s work.

Here is an experimental video project that features Kelley’s band Destroy All Monsters

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