As an artist, the late James Lee Byars was known for his unique approach that encompassed performance, sculpture, and installation, delving into themes such as memory, absence, and mystery. In a surprising turn of events, Byars achieved a significant moment in his career in 1958 when he convinced a curator at the Museum of Modern Art, despite showing up unannounced, to allow him to showcase his work in the museum’s stairwell. This event is now recognized as Byars’ first museum exhibition. In 2014, “James Lee Byars: 1/2 an Autobiography” was held at MoMA PS1, featuring a comprehensive collection of the artist’s work. Even as his health deteriorated from cancer, Byars continued to produce impactful pieces, such as his renowned performance work, The Death of James Lee Byars (1994). Alongside his exhibitions, Byars also published books and materials that encompassed his artistic endeavors.
You may be familiar with the phrase “money for old rope.” Perhaps you’ve had the good fortune of selling some of your old belongings at a car boot sale and making a surprisingly profitable sum. I know I have – who could have guessed that there would still be a demand for dusty old VHS tapes? But today, we will delve into the tale of a man who took this concept to a whole new level, selling his own excrement as art and raking in a hefty profit, I might add.
In 1961, an Italian artist by the name of Piero Manzoni jumped on the bandwagon of contemporary abstract and conceptual art by collecting his bowel movements in steel cans. Now, one can may seem absurd, but a collection of movements preserved in multiple cans – well, that can only be the work of a true genius.
The project was aptly titled “Artist’s Shit” and consisted of 90 numbered cans filled with sewage. Each can was ironically labeled in English, German, and French, mimicking the packaging of a food product, with the statement: “Artist’s Shit, contents 30 gr net freshly preserved, produced and tinned in May 1961.”
Modern art enthusiasts and eccentric individuals of the time praised Manzoni for his sociopolitical statement (or dirty protest, some would say). They also admired him for infusing a deeply personal element into his work. One such individual, Alberto Lucia, even exchanged 30 grams of 18-karat gold for one of Manzoni’s limited edition cans. While Manzoni only made around $37 from the sale due to the price of gold at the time, the same amount today would be worth approximately $1,400.
Manzoni’s bizarre idea is said to have originated from a conversation with his father, who owned a cannery and disapproved of his son’s artistic pursuits, telling him, “Your work is shit.” In a strange turn of events, Manzoni seemingly took his father’s criticism as inspiration and set out on his rather unpleasant business venture. One can only hope that he took precautions to ensure his cans were stored far away from his father’s factory or that he thoroughly cleaned any machinery used in the process.
The actual increment of gold’s value within the timeframe of 2000 to 2016 remains a mystery to me, but I am confident that Manzoni’s unconventional project has exceeded its worth.
Amidst skepticism surrounding Manzoni’s work, doubts arise over the contents of his cans, allegedly filled with excrement. Alas, the steel cans prevent the use of X-rays to ascertain their contents. However, one can did burst, revealing only plaster, much to the chagrin of its owner and the relief of the cleaner.
Manzoni’s artistic endeavors also included signed hard-boiled eggs with his unique thumb impression, a collection of inflated balloons containing his breath, and a colossal block of concrete with a meticulously etched 7,200-meter line. As a true Dadaist, Manzoni favored absurd ideas over traditional artistic talent. As he famously declared in reference to his work “Artist’s Shit,” “I sell an idea, an idea in a can.”
Tragically, Manzoni’s untimely death in 1963 at the young age of 29 due to a heart attack. However, his legacy lives on, preserved in 89 steel cans worth $300,000 each, a massive concrete block, and a collection of boiled eggs.
In 2000, the Tate museum in London purchased one of Manzoni’s cans for $30,000 – a reasonable price compared to the record-breaking sale of $300,000 at an auction in Milan in 2016.
Renowned mortal lensman, Greg Gorman, was brought into the world in 1949 in Kansas City, US. Through his expert use of cameras, he is heavily captivated by his subjects. Graduating from a masters program in fine arts in 1972, his focus was on photo-journalism and film art.
Gorman has culminated a collection of the most notable and esteemed individuals of the past four decades. These icons, who have left a mark on the 20th century, will be presented for the first time at the Graz exhibit. Notable figures captured through Gorman’s lens include Johnny Depp (1989), Marlon Brando (1994), Michael Jackson (1987), Muhammed Ali (1994), Sophia Loren (1994), and many others. This includes studies of Martin Scorsese, Elton John (2001), Jeff Bridges (2009), Sharon Stone (2005), Barbara Streisand (1981), and Andy Warhol (1986). Despite their instant media and cult recognizability, these photographs have yet to be showcased as a single exhibit in Europe.
Gorman’s work has been praised in the most esteemed photogenic magazines and prominent commercial publications. While working alongside LA Eyeworks, he has earned numerous prestigious accolades in recognition of his artistic proficiency.
Throughout his illustrious career, Gorman has captured the portraits of almost every notable film star and pop musician, making the Graz exhibition comprehensively comprehensive. Instead of following traditional methods of dramatic miming and gesturing, Gorman focuses on the smaller details, such as the individual’s eyes and personality, in order to capture the true essence of his subjects.
Currently, Greg Gorman resides in Los Angeles and Mendocino, California.
In 1955, at the ripe age of 51, Pinot Gallizio turned his attention to painting after previously immersing himself in archaeology, botany, and studying popular cultures and the phenomenon of nomadism. This particular exhibition showcased a curated selection of his entire body of work, spanning less than a decade. His paintings boast an abstract foundation, executed in a gesture-heavy style that layers thick brushstrokes of oil paint onto the canvas. At times, these clusters of paint coalesce into perplexing symbols, resembling small round eyes or mouths twisted into menacing grins. Many of the pieces feature surreal and ironic titles such as “Death of a Common Traveler” (1955) and “Elliptical Paranoia” (1956).
Gallizio’s bold use of colors and thick, childlike forms were heavily influenced by his collaboration and friendship with Asger Jorn, a prominent member of the CoBrA group. Both men worked in the experimental workshop in Gallizio’s hometown of Alba, where the Italian artist conceptualized and produced his “Industrial Paintings” (1958-59), consisting of canvases over 40 feet in length with heavy impasto and tumultuous colors. Rather than being confined to a frame, each of these canvases could be rolled out in an exhibition space, creating an immersive environment. In fact, some pieces could even be entered as a tunnel, such as “Cavern of the Antimatter” (1958). Gallizio’s search for an alternative to traditional painting and the limitations of the canvas mirrors the works of Lucio Fontana’s “Spatial Environments” (1948-1950) and Yves Klein’s “Architecture of the Air” (1958-1959). As described by Mirella Bandini in a catalogue for Gallizio’s 1974 exhibition in Turin, his art embodied the “ideation of a new culture, in opposition to institutionalized and compartmentalized art.” This movement slowly began to infiltrate the artistic landscape of Turin, aligning with the ideas of the pioneering Arte Povera artists like Mario Merz and Marisa Merz.
www.ftn-books.com has the Gallizio catalog published by the Stedelijk Museum available.
During the early 1960s, the renowned Ad Dekkers (1938-1974) was known for his extensive research on plane, form, and line. Dekkers often began his works with a circle, square, or triangle, connecting his art to pre-war artists such as Piet Mondriaan. Like Mondriaan, Dekkers shared the belief that the most universal concepts could be expressed through the purest visual means. From 1965, he began creating reliefs in editions, often cast in polyester but also in various other materials like wood and aluminum. By painting his reliefs monochromatically and usually in white, Dekkers was able to fully utilize the effect of light on his work. Additionally, he significantly reduced the number of compositional elements and emphasized the distinctive nature of each geometric basic shape through a single systematic intervention.
Dekkers was represented by Riekje Swart, the Amsterdam gallery owner who also worked with international artists such as Lucio Fontana, Sol Lewitt, Agnes Martin, François Morellet, Peter Struycken, and Gerhard von Graevenitz. With the support of Jean Leering, director of the Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, his work was also featured in groundbreaking exhibitions such as the 1967 São Paolo Biennale alongside Jan Schoonhoven and Peter Struycken, as well as Documenta 4 in Kassel in 1968, in a gallery space shared with Elsworth Kelly.
In 1965, Fieret devoted himself to photography. Prior to that, he mostly created gouaches and charcoal portraits. Henri van de Waal (1910-1972), professor of Art History at Leiden University, was one of the earliest admirers of Fieret’s photographic work.
Thanks to Van de Waal’s efforts, Leiden University now possesses the largest collection of Fieret’s work in the world and his photography has been brought to the attention of institutions such as the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. In 1971, this museum presented the first major solo exhibition of Fieret’s work.
Fieret was actively involved in photography until around 1980. During those years, he produced an enormous amount of black and white photos. His subjects were everything he encountered in his immediate surroundings: women, himself, animals, children, and objects on the street.
Genuine essence His photos were always quickly taken with a simple 35mm camera, often from an unusual angle, and frequently show blur and a messy composition.
The developing and printing process was hasty, using not particularly pure chemicals, and with little respect for the photographic paper. This is what gives the prints their characteristic yellow spots, tears, and other imperfections.
A large portion of Fieret’s photos are signed with a felt-tip pen and often stamped with one or more stamps. All of this adds to the genuine essence exuded by Fieret’s photographs.
“The Pigeon Man” For years, Gerard Fieret was a noticeable, well-known figure in the city center of The Hague. He was nicknamed “The Pigeon Man” because he would ride around on his bike every day with two buckets of bird feed, stopping at around thirty places to feed his favorite birds.
In recent decades, Fieret’s photographic oeuvre has remained underappreciated, but in recent times, there has been a growing appreciation for his work, evidenced by the popularity of his pieces at auctions in Amsterdam and New York.
www.ftn-books.com has some very special Fieret titles available
Lee Bontecou, an American abstract sculptor, has gained recognition for her unique wall sculptures. Using unconventional materials such as canvas, conveyer belts, and mail sacks, attached to welded steel frames, her artwork showcases dark openings that draw parallels to bodily orifices. While some may interpret her work as having vaginal connotations, its true purpose lies in its focus on materiality and its conceptual significance, placing Bontecou in the same conversation as Minimalist artist Donald Judd and feminist pioneers like Judy Chicago. “The natural world, with its astonishing beauty and terrifying horrors, man-made inventions with their mind-boggling engineering achievements and destructive atrocities, and the elusive human nature and its various manifestations from the sublime to shocking abominations – to me, they are all intertwined,” explains the artist. Born in Providence, Rhode Island on January 15, 1931, Bontecou honed her skills at the Art Students League in New York under William Zorach and furthered her education at the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in Maine, where she mastered the art of welding. Bontecou’s work was showcased at the renowned Leo Castelli Gallery in New York in the 1960s, alongside the likes of celebrated artists such as Frank Stella and Robert Rauschenberg. Today, her sculptures can be found in esteemed collections including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Bontecou livedd in Orbisonia, Pennsylvania.
Renowned artist Claes Oldenburg (1929-2022) was born in Sweden and raised in the United States, where he pursued his artistic education. His art evolved in the 1960s, establishing him as one of the foremost figures of pop art. Initially inspired by Jean Dubuffet, Oldenburg created collages and assemblages using materials such as cardboard and burlap. He molded these materials into imitations of objects he found on the streets. In the spirit of pop art, his favored subjects were primarily everyday objects and food items. In 1961, he presented a store full of clothes and food made of plaster, available for purchase. His expressions were playful and surprising, yet critical, and were a part of the American version of pop art, which questioned the concept of art itself.
From 1962 onwards, his objects grew larger and often had a disorienting effect. Sometimes, this was due to the scale Oldenburg employed, and sometimes due to the deceptive suggestion of the material. For instance, he crafted a wooden replica of a saw and sculptures in the form of a power outlet using foam rubber and fabric. In this way, he emphasized the properties of these mundane objects by denying them.
In 1965, Oldenburg designed colossal monuments, consisting of greatly magnified mundane objects, placed in existing locations. He depicted these fantasies in collages and drawings, using dramatic perspective to evoke a sense of grandeur. Some of these ideas were brought to life in the 1970s and 1980s. The demands of creating objects for public spaces and the scale at which they were executed made durability a necessary consideration. The materials used may have changed, but the subjects remained banal. A trowel, a clothespin, a screw: these are everyday objects on a heroic scale and location.
David Salle, a modern American artist, showcases his talents through painting, printmaking, and photography. Considered a prominent Neo-Expressionist, his innovative pieces combine a collage of diverse elements, sourced from a multitude of outlets such as magazines, interior design, and art history. His vibrant compositions feature a simplistic yet captivating style, interweaving various figures and patterns. As the artist himself has expressed, “Ever since I began painting, I have strived to capture the fluidity and surprise of image connection, the same simultaneity found in film montage, within the realm of painting.” Originally hailing from Norman, OK in 1952, Salle obtained his BFA and MFA degrees from the esteemed California Institute of the Arts. During his time there, he studied under the renowned Conceptual artist, John Baldessari, whose influence can be seen in Salle’s work to this day. In addition to his studio practice, Salle has become a prolific writer, contributing to notable publications such as Artforum, The Paris Review, and Art News, among others. His illustrious paintings can be found in prestigious collections, notably at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Salle currently resides and produces his art in Brooklyn, NY, continually pushing the boundaries of contemporary art.
Richard Deacon is a leading figure in British sculpture, renowned for his voluptuous and abstract forms since the 1980s. His extensive influence is reflected in the prominent public commissions of his works across the world. Deacon’s ingenuity lies in his insatiable desire for material, as he deftly transitions between laminated wood, stainless steel, corrugated iron, polycarbonate, marble, clay, vinyl, foam, and leather. As he eloquently puts it, “changing materials from one work to the next is a way of beginning again each time (and thus of finishing what had gone before)”.
Deacon himself identifies as a “fabricator”, highlighting the underlying construction of his completed pieces. Although his works are often cast, modeled, or carved by hand, the logic of their fabrication is laid bare. Sinuous curves may be bound by glue oozing between layers of wood, or screws and rivets may protrude from sheets of steel, exposing their inner workings. This transparency serves to underscore the interactive nature of the artistic process, as a constant dialogue between the artist and his chosen medium transforms the mundane into the metaphorical.
The concept of “fabrication” also conveys a sense of inventiveness, of creating something false rather than true. This clever play on words is evident in Deacon’s titles, which often juxtapose unexpected ideas or imbue new meaning in familiar phrases or cliches. Some noteworthy examples include Let’s not be Stupid (1991), No Stone Unturned (1999), Water Under the Bridge (2008), and Shiver My Timbers (2016).
Artist/ Author: Oliver Boberg
Title : Memorial
Publisher: Oliver Boberg
Measurements: Frame measures 51 x 42 cm. original C print is 35 x 25 cm.
Condition: mint
signed by Oliver Boberg in pen and numbered 14/20 from an edition of 20
