From Chaos to Creation: Deleuze, Francis Bacon, 'On Painting', and 'The Logic of Sensation' with Charles J. Stivale

What happens when the painter’s hand breaks free from the eye, and chaos reorganizes the entire field of vision? In this episode of Acid Horizon, we join Charles Stivale, translator of On Painting and The Logic of Sense, to explore Gilles Deleuze’s rare 1981 seminar on painting. Together we trace how concepts like catastrophe, diagram, and modulation emerge from Deleuze’s live philosophical “laboratory” and feed into his landmark work Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation. Along the way, we uncover the historical, conceptual, and translational stakes of bringing this dynamic moment in Deleuze’s thought into English for the first time.

Buy the Book: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517918408/on-painting/

Review of 'On Painting': https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/deleuze-seminars-painting-1234749008/

Link to the seminar: Painting and the Question of Concepts, https://deleuze.cla.purdue.edu/seminar/painting-and-question-concepts/

Support the show

Support the podcast:

Current classes at Acid Horizon Research Commons (AHRC): https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-main

Website: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizon

Acid Horizon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast

Boycott Watkins Media: https://xenogothic.com/2025/03/17/boycott-watkins-statement/

Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438

Merch: http://www.crit-drip.com

Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform: https://pod.link/1512615438

LEPHT HAND: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHAND

Happy Hour at Hippel's (Adam’s blog): https://happyhourathippels.wordpress.com

​Split Infinities (Craig’s Substack): https://splitinfinities.substack.com/

​Music: https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/ and https://thecominginsurrection.bandcamp.com/