M. Lamar to Publish His First Book, Negrogothic

Artist M. Lamar is currently working on his first book of critical writing about his multi-disciplinary work, which spans opera, metal, sculpture and more. While it was the artist's goal to release the book alongside his Negrogothic exhibition in 2014, "books take a very long time and many of the writers just hadn't finished their essays at that point," Lamar explains.

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"The great thing about it taking this long is that we have had a chance to make it really perfect, getting more brilliant people to write about my work. Since that exhibition I have done two other major works, the Funeral Doom Spiritual Exhibition and a music theater piece. So that libretto and images from the exhibition are also represented in the book."

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Lamar believes his book is important as "an example of a black man who has invented himself outside of all conventions of race and gender to chart a new path of possibility in terms of how one can live and thrive in the world outside of all societal norms. I have not conformed to anything and my work brings forth an oppositional world view that reflects an uncompromising way of living a life."

Lamar is currently raising funds on Kickstarter to complete the book's publishing, with prizes including an invitation to the book launch, copies of Lamar's album Souls on Lockdown, and prints of the artist's work. Donate here.