Jeff Wall turns 72 today

Jenny Holzer | Truth before power

Jenny Holzer
Truth before power 
Munich/New York City, Germany/USA: Edition Schellmann, 2004
4 pp., 56 x 46 cm., loose leaves
Edition of 40 signed and numbered copies [+7 AP, 2 PP]


Set of four digital pigment prints on Hahnemühle photo paper housed in a grey paper folio.

Laurie Anderson | Hearring

Laurie Anderson
Hearring
Zurich, Switzerland: Parkett Editions, 1997
10.2 x 4.5 x 2 cm.
Edition of 150 signed and numbered copies

Produced for Parkett issue #49 (which featured Anderson, Jeff Wall and Douglas Gordon), this single earring consists of a brass, copper, circuit board, loudspeaker, lithium battery, Plexiglas and wires. It features a playable sound message of approximately twenty seconds.

Released in 1997 for $440, the edition remains available from the publisher, though the price has now more than tripled. In 2008, it was raised to $600 US and to $900 US by 2012.  A copy sold in September of 2013 at a Christies auction for 750 GBP ($1205 US) and the Parkett site now lists the work at € 1,400.00.

The jewelry is by Josiah Dearborn, and the 'engineering design' is by Bob Bielecki, who previously collaborated with Anderson on works such as her signature magnetic tape violin. The audio varies, and may include a violin solo, or a short story.

The above fax to Jacqueline Burckhardt indicates that Anderson had originally considered a pair of earrings, along with five alternate ideas: a thermometer, a tie, a grain of sand, a wine glass and a laser earring.

Hearring is available here, from the publisher.



“Firmly rooted in time and in the world, her art explores a territory between keen wakefulness and (day)-dreams, where things of the real world and visions together penetrate consciousness, where perception stimulates dreams, and dreams sharpen perception. …For almost three decades, ceaselessly circling themes and motifs in text, image, and music have been coupled in Laurie Anderson’s performances and installations with new material, forever evolving in a cosmology-in-flux, in the endless flow of a great work in progress.”

- Jacqueline Burckhardt Parkett No. 49, 1997 

Pitchfork Top 200 LPs of the 80's

Today Pitchfork ran an article titled The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s. Included on the list were several artist's records - mostly by women - including: Yoko Ono's Season of Glass at #188, Pauline Oliveros and Stuart Dempster's Panaiotis at #164, Meredith Monk's Dolmen Music at #153, La Monte Young's box set of The Well-Tuned Piano at #150 and Laurie Anderson for Big Science, at #22.

Also on the list: David Bryne, Philip Glass, Psychic TV, Malcolm McLaren, Steve Reich, and Brian Eno, who appears twice for collaborative albums and twice as a producer (for U2 and Talking Heads).

Four of the two hundred discs have covers by visual artists: Fischli & Weiss contributed the cover image to Liliput's 1982 debut, Gerhard Richter's 1983 painting Candle was used for Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, and Robert Longo appears twice: once for the cover of Glenn Branca's The Ascension from 1981 and later for The Replacements' 1985 album Tim. 

Read the full article here: https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1980s/

Micah Lexier | 8-pc Puzzle

Micah Lexier
8-pc Puzzle
Calgary, Canada: TrépanierBaer Gallery, 2003
7.5 x 9.9 x .65 cm.
Edition of 24

A laser-cut acrylic puzzle in a custom-printed box, each copy unique. Available from Printed Matter, here, for $900.00 US ($810.00 for members).

Nam June Paik | Reclining Buddha

Nam June Paik

Reclining Buddha, 1994

2 color televisions, 2 Pioneer laser disk players, 2 original Paik laser disks, found object 'buddha'

50.8 × 61 × 35.6 cm.

Edition size unknown

Claudia de la Torre | The Silver Metal Lover

Claudia de la Torre
The Silver Metal Lover
Berlin, Germany: Back Bone Books, 2018
21 x 29.7 cm.
Edition of 3 signed and numbered copies [+1 AP]


The Silver Metal Lover by Claudia de la Torre takes the 1981 science fiction book of the same name (from the S.I.L.V.E.R. series, by Tanit Lee) and folds the corners pointing to colors within the story, and then paints the dog ears the appropriate colour, creating new abstract compositions.

de la Torre is the founder and proprietor of the Berlin-based Back Bone Books.

The John Giorno Band | I'm Rock Hard

The John Giorno Band
I'm Rock Hard
New York City, USA: Red Bull Arts, 2017
2 12" vinyl LPs
Edition of 200 signed copies

Released in collaboration with the Vinyl Factory, this double-LP features nine tracks from between the years 1982 and 1989, including Scum & Slime (1985); Stretching it Wider (1982); Life is a Killer (1982); Sucking Mud (1986); Exiled in Domestic Life (1983); It’s a mistake to think you’re special (1989); I gambled with my anger and lost (1983); The Strength of Pleasure (live) (1984); and Stretching it Wider (live) (1982).

It's available here, for $120 US.