XXX
“What a Ride I’ve Had”: Peter Berlin on Sadness, Immortality, and Good Sex
February 19, 2025
“I’m constantly entertained by my thoughts,” the legendary 82-year-old artist tells writer Brontez Purnell. “Usually, I find myself more interesting than the people I’m dealing with.”
RETROSPECTIVE
“If You Can Walk, You Can Dance”: Inside the Whitney Museum’s Alvin Ailey Retrospective
December 31, 2024
Three titans of contemporary dance—Masazumi Chaya, Donna Wood Sanders, and Sylvia Waters—joined Brontez Purnell to reflect on the Whitney’s retrospective on the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
FIRST LADY
“At Least Her Dress Is Pretty”: Brontez Purnell Reviews Melania Trump’s New Memoir
October 30, 2024
The experience of reading Melania Trump’s new memoir, Brontez Purnell writes, was one of “lobotomized boredom punctuated with turbulence and terror.”
PERFORMANCE
“I Want To Terrorize Americans”: Crackhead Barney Strikes Back
June 19, 2024
Following a dramatic guest appearance on Piers Morgan, the artist called up Brontez Purnell to talk Trump rallies, Black titties, and babysitting men.
RIOT GRRRL
“We’re Trauma Bonding”: Kathleen Hanna, In Conversation With Brontez Purnell
May 14, 2024
Before publishing her memoir “Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk,” the Bikini Kill singer looked back at her place in the Riot Grrrl movement with fellow punk rocker Brontez Purnell.
INSIDE
10 Queer Books I’m Packing in My Bottega Veneta Andiamo Bag
March 20, 2024
We took Bottega Veneta’s latest iteration of the Andiamo bag to the local bookstore to see how many queer reads the carryall could fit.
SUPERSTAR
Brontez Purnell on Paul Morrissey, the OG Edgelord
February 22, 2024
The writer explores how the filmmaker and Warhol collaborator’s legacy lives on in mumblecore, viral fame, and reality TV.
KINK
Photographer Florian Hetz Wants to Abolish Artist Statements
January 9, 2024
“Berlin has turned into this kind of weird sex and drug resort.”
OPENING
Brontez Purnell and Charlie Engman on Branding, Bottoms, and Being Objectified
June 30, 2023
“We are so clearly going to be future ex-husbands who never in actuality fall out of love.”
CLASSICS
Brontez Purnell Has Some Thoughts on The Little Mermaid
June 9, 2023
“Ariel, in her universal heroism, represented that part of us that would sacrifice everything just to get to something new,” writes Brontez Purnell in his review of the 2023 remake of “The Little Mermaid.”
EXCERPT
The Late Sean DeLear Lives On in His Intimate Teenage Diaries
May 11, 2023
“I didn’t go to school today at all. I went to Hollywood and I was on the corner of Santa Monica and Vine and stuck out my thumb.”
derrière
“Firm, Full, Sweaty”: Inside Bottega Veneta’s BUTT Magazine Launch Party
March 13, 2023
“I couldn’t possibly limit myself to one butt.”
LIT
A Selection of Pornographic Poetry Courtesy of Perverted Book Club
February 14, 2023
The members of New York’s smuttiest reading series make their print debut.
muse
Brontez Purnell on Bed, Boyfriends, and Betrayals
July 1, 2022
The multi-hyphenate exposes himself in our work questionnaire.
Icon
John Waters and Brontez Purnell on Dirt, Scams, and Sensitivity Readers
June 17, 2022
The King of Filth spoke to the divine writer about his debut novel “Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance.”
IN CONVERSATION
Adam Baran and Brontez Purnell on New York’s Lost Cruising Spots
September 13, 2021
“I like the idea of going to a place and digging through men, like a thrift store.”
rough draft
Melissa Broder Likes to Write at Funerals
August 3, 2021
The “Milk Fed” and “Superdoom” author takes us beyond the blank page and into her process.
club mel
A Star-Studded Legends-Only Club Mel Video Party for MTV’s 40th Birthday
July 30, 2021
On the 40 year anniversary of MTV, we asked 40 legends about the music videos that shaped them.
required reading
Brontez Purnell’s New Book 100 Boyfriends Feels Right at Home in 2021
February 17, 2021
“I come from a lineage of disruptive, fucked-up Black artists.”