Beau Rice - An experiment between the epistolary and the ectype, Tex is a performance act in print. Featuring walk-ons by various interlocutors, this mnemonic outpour examines the potentiality of relationships in the digital ag

Beau Rice, Tex, Penny-Ante Editions, 2014.


In the twenty-first century, relationships have been transformed in unprecedented ways. Technology has birthed a paradoxical space between isolation and connectivity profoundly expanding the possibilities for how and with whom we create intimacy. An experiment between the epistolary and the ectype, Tex is a performance act in print. Featuring walk-ons by various interlocutors, this mnemonic outpour examines the potentiality of relationships in the digital age. Metonymic displacements, grammatical violations and verbal spillage form this rowdy non-narrative documenting one LA artist's sexual exploits, an evolving attachment to Texas-based former fling, Matt G, and the determination and opportunism involved with the continually forthcoming publication of this, his first book. (Rated X for strong language and sexual content.)

It’s part of my queer optimism to say that people are affectively and emotionally incoherent. This suggests that we can produce new ways of imagining what it means to be attached and build lives and worlds from what there already is – a heap of conventionally prioritized but incoherent affective concepts of the world that we carry around. We are just at the beginning of understanding emotion politically. —Lauren Berlant

It’s a pretty common to hear someone say “there’s no privacy on the internet” or “there’s no such thing as a private conversation anymore.” But if that were true, it wouldn’t be as fascinating as it is that Los Angeles artist Beau Rice is publishing a book culled from almost two years worth of Gchats, emails, and text messages called Tex.
Rice describes the book as “performance act in print,” and according to him all of the material in Tex is made up of real, authentic communications between himself and various friends, colleagues, and strangers. That old commercial for the Navy that asks “if somebody wrote a book about your life, would anybody read it?” springs to mind.
For more information on Tex by Beau Rice, you can check out a feature on the book in Dazed here, where you can also find out how to pre-order a copy of the book in advance of its November 18th release date. - www.refinedguy.com/2014/10/29/tex-beau-rice/


Matt G talks to Beau Rice Courtesy of Penny-Ante Editions

Dubbed a "performance act in print", Tex is an extended Gchat of internet babble between artist/author Beau Rice and his circle of friends, strangers and colleagues (which includes former flame "Matt G", a cameo by someone named Mojito and references to artist Ryan Trecartin). Choice quotes include: "newborns do like 5 things and 4 of them suck" and "i'm being a horrible employee by texting you right now. i'm like crouched behind the register counter, hiding. i did just oversee the gift wrapping of a lorrie moore book though".
From December 2012 to May of this year, Rice filed away hilarious and emotionally-charged snippets from emails, texts and online chats. Even sexual quests are logged, making this a commentary of a non-fabricated slice of life post-internet. It's a bit like the plot of Jason Reitman's new love-in-the-digital-age film Men, Women & Children, but the real deal. Below are two exclusive excerpts from the book, a printed compendium of one LA artist on a search for true connection:

[Thu, May 23, 1:28PM]
FROM:
TO:
Nice posting. Very dominant and like a boy in his place. I’m not into fucking... more into having you completely immobile - hands, feet, cock/balls tied, blindfolded, gagged. Once securely bound, then I like to experiment with cbt/tt - clothespins, hot wax, ben gay, more. Also love a guy in mummification - saran wrap and duct tape. How much discipline can you take... like to push you until you are in tears.  I respect all limits… just need to know them upfront. Can I have you bound all night? I get up at 6am :)
I’m 47, 6’1, 177, 33w, 41c, smooth, gay, ddf/neg. I’m in town (I come here weekly for work) and can host at my hotel – Westin LAX. Would love an ongoing boy to train.
Send pics and if you are interested.
Far from the Westin? Very serious... no BS.
FROM:
TO:
Hey Sir, thanks for the response.
You sound like fun, I really like the things You mention here (not so into mummification, but not completely opposed to it either). Here are some photos. Do you have BDSM gear with you at the hotel?
[Attachment: Three Beau selfies]
FROM:
TO:
Traveling so I don’t.... Could you pick up some rope, clothespins, etc.? I could pay you back... Otherwise I could go out before you come. Can I have you bound all night? Limits?  Most into? Very serious here.
FROM:
TO:  
Hi...I just checked and there is a home depot 5mins away. I could pick up plenty of toys for tonight. Interested? Game?
FROM:
TO:
Interested but not sure, at least not about tonight. Sorry to do this but let me get back to you in a bit, I’m about to go out shopping for a bit.

Beau Rice selfie Courtesy of Penny-Ante Editions

[Sun, Sep 22, 2013 9:35PM]
BEAU R
[Photo: A shiny purple cane on the ground]
i am using a cane
MATT G
What happened
BEAU R
i was doing ballet moves in a
hot tub with ryan T
(famedrop? sars) and i tore a
ligament attached to my big toe.
MATT G
Is that real
BEAU R
yeah
MATT G
You would have a cane
BEAU R
why
MATT G
I dunno i can see you
getting beaten up or
having too much fun
--------------------------------------------
[Sun, Sep 23, 2013 4:21PM]
FROM:
TO: ,
Hey bosses,
Last night I was doing ballet moves in a hot tub (I know) and I injured my foot. It’s swollen and sore and I can’t put any weight on it at all. The Internet seems to indicate that I tore a ligament attached to my big toe. It’s a bummer.
Tomorrow morning I’m going to see a podiatrist who will hopefully give me a clear prognosis. I don’t think this should cause me to miss any shifts, and I’m still planning to go to New York this week, but I wanted to let y’all know now because I’ll probably be limited to cashier work and other low-mobility activity for about four weeks. I’ll stay in touch as I learn more. And you can expect me to come in tomorrow night on crutches.
; /,
Beau
- www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/22308/1/this-la-artist-published-18-months-of-gchats