Luka Fisher

What Happens When A Pornstar and a Chef Come Together?

This was the question I sought to answer when I founded Wyldefire Hot Sauce with Chef Royce Burke (Secret Lasagna) and Pornstar Danny Wylde. 

We wanted to create a quality hot sauce that also provided a platform for critiquing the absurdity of celebrity branding and the incongruities that  it often produces. 

The hot sauce is also part of a larger body of work that "Danny Wylde" and I have been developing as we explore issues related to gender performativity, sex work, and social media through para-fiction and film. 

As the brand manager I have overseen the production of our commercials, photoshoots, and press releases. As part of this process Danny and I worked with artist Maggie West to design our label and are actively seeking out artists for future brand collaborations.  

The hot sauce was written about in Perez Hilton, Vice Munchies, and Amadeus Magazine. We have also received several re-tweets by Cindy Gallop. 

Somesuch & Co, a UK based commercial production company recently ventured into publishing short stories by contemporary writers. 

As part of this series they published a new short story by Christopher Zeischegg titled "On The Moral Imperative To Commodify Our Sexual Suffering"  and an accompanying illustration that I designed in response to his story. 

Because the essay blurs the lines between fact and fiction, I wanted to create an illustration that would take the reader further into Chris' world and invite them to participate in his flesh's commodification.

So I created a mixed media collage that combined scenes from his pornos and personal life, extracted his blood, and used silkscreening to create a mass market commodity.

But any good advertiser knows that a successful commodity needs a brilliant ad campaign and a healthy amount of ritualized abuse.

So I co-wrote a commercial with director Matthew Kaundart in which I ritually tortured Christopher and then engaged in aggressive product placement. Legendary performance artist Sheree Rose served as a technical advisor and Greg Keuhn (TSOL, Bob Dylan) provided the score.  You can purchase one here. 

The project went on to generate 11,000+ views and received coverage everywhere from Variety, KCET, Fleshbot, Culture War Reporters and generated multiple interview requests for Christopher. 

Collete Callaway wrote that the essay and accompanying film "paints perhaps the most powerful portrait of sex work I've ever seen". 

Danny Wylde made its theatrical premiere at the American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs, CA.

Christopher and I are now creating an immersive photographic novel and a hot sauce.

Stay tuned. 

The Cardboard Artist is a short film about LA based street  artist Calder Greenwood who creates location specific works out of cardboard. The film was directed by Matthew Kaundart and produced by myself in association with 72U.  The "Cardboard Artist" is a prototype film for "The Rolodex", a documentary film series that Matthew and I are developing with veteran producer Tiffany Naiman. 

The Downtown ART WALK held a special work in progress screening of "The Cardboard Artist" at the Regent which was covered by LA Taco, Colors in LA, and Cartwheel Art. 

As part of this screening Calder created a special installation for the theater's marquee.  There we also screened a work in progress version of our second film "Randy Land". 

The Cardboard Artist premiered on Vice Magazine's Creators Project and was later picked up by LAIST and other sites. The film went on to screen at the American Documentary Film Festival and was an official selection at the Toronto Arthouse Film Festival. 

Matthew and I are now in production on several short docs that explore performance art and food respectively. 

I was the Producer for this immersive art happening concepted by 72U. The experience was designed to encourage curiosity and challenge perceptions. 

Upon arriving at the party our guests were told to enter the party through one of three doors; each with its own elaborate facade. 

One room was filled entirely with mirrors and other reflective surfaces and felt like a disco infinity room. Another was a storage space filled with an admixture of curious objects and 3 feet of packing peanuts. The final room was pitch black labyrinth that required visitors to crawl their way into the event.

The main room optical illusions projected onto the walls and a special performance by the experimental hip-hop group BLOK. 

It was definitely one of our most talked about and provocative events that our 72U group produced at 72 and Sunny.