Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Ken Friedman on Dick Higgins



Fluxus artist and sometimes Fluxus historian Ken Friedman shared this message with friends and colleagues today:


"Dear Colleague,

Last November, Siglio Press published a collection of Dick Higgins’s writings titled Intermedia, Fluxus, and the Something Else Press. Steve Clay of Granary Books and I edited it, and Lisa Pearson of Siglio Press realised it in a beautiful edition that would have pleased Dick immensely. The book includes a lovely biographical memoir about Dick by his daughter, Hannah Higgins.

This book meets exacting standards that Dick set in the essay for the Something Else Press 1965-1966 catalogue, “What to Look for in a Book — Physically.” Natalie Kraft’s elegant design moves between well set pages with rich illustrations and Dick’s own scholarly footnotes for some writings with documentary reproductions of Dick’s own publications for key works, as well as for Dick’s cover designs for many works. Martha Ormiston’s cover uses a Wolf Vostell photo of Dick performing Danger Music, a reminder of just how lively and musical Dick Higgins was.      

In the half year since the book was published, it has been the subject of reviews in Artforum, Artist’s Books & Multiples, Brooklyn Rail, Glasstire, Hyperallergic, Kirkus, Leonardo, Svenska Dagbladet, White Hot Magazine, and more. Many of the reviews offer a deep, reflective look at Dick’s contributions to the arts of the late 20th century — and the shadows he continues to cast on the arts of our time. Siglio built a terrific web page for this book, and it allows you to link direct to most of the reviews, with essays by Natalee Harren, Dave Dyment, Jennie Waldow, Michael Galbreth (of the Art Guys), James Gibbons, Jack Ox, Mark Bloch, and Bengt af Klintberg, the Fluxus artist and a Something Else Press author.

http://sigliopress.com/book/dick-higgins/

To celebrate the advent of May, Siglio is offering a 20% discount on this book. Even if you have the book already, the page is worth a look with its links to some fine reviews.

If you haven’t yet seen it, I invite you to visit the Dick Higgins page at Siglio Press.

Warm wishes,

Ken"


See previous post for an event taking place tonight at Printed Matter.

Monday, April 29, 2019

Something Else Press: A Love Letter to the Future



An oft-repeated truism about Dick Higgins is that his profile is eclipsed by his influence. He remains little-known, despite authoring countless books, coining the term Intermedia, as well as co-founding Fluxus and the Something Else Press, one of the most important publishers of artists' books, ever. In just over a decade, the Something Else Press published almost fifty books by some of the most luminary artists and writers of the twentieth century: Gertrude Stein, John Cage, Ray Johnson, Dieter Roth, Bern Porter, Emmett Williams, Robert Filliou, George Brecht, Claes Oldenburg, Merce Cunningham, Marshall McLuhan, Daniel Spoerri, Brion Gysin, Ian Hamilton Finlay, among many others.

Tomorrow night at Printed Matter - in an event titled Something Else Press: A Love Letter to the Future - three contemporary publishers discuss Higgins' influence and legacy:

James Hoff is an artist and co-founder and publisher of Primary Information, a non-profit arts organization devoted to publishing artists’ books and art historical documents, including two reprints of SEP titles (Fantastic Architecture and An Anthology of Concrete Poetry) as well as the complete Great Bear Pamphlets.

Lisa Pearson is the founder and publisher of Siglio Press, a press dedicated to publishing uncommon books that live at the intersection of art and literature. Siglio Press published the reprint of Ray Johnson's Something Else Press title The Paper Snake, and last fall published the first major book on Higgins since his death in 1998.

Damon Krukowski is a musician (he is half of Damon & Naomi, who themselves are two-thirds of Galaxie 500), poet (Afterimage, The Memory Theater Burned), writer and critic. He has written about sound and art for Artforum, Bookforum, The Wire, and Pitchfork. He is the co-publisher of Exact Change which publishes experimental literature emphasizing 19th and 20th century avant-garde.

The three will discuss Higgins’s influence on their own publishing projects, as well as "the extraordinary lineage of the Something Else Press in the wider publishing community, and how SEP continues to ignite an expansive field of possibilities."

The event takes place April 30, 2019, from 5 to 7pm.






Sunday, April 28, 2019

Yves Klein





Yves Klein was born on this day in 1928.

Friday, April 26, 2019

Monkey's Paw Sale



In advance of their move, Monkey's Paw bookstore is holding their biggest clearance sale ever, beginning tonight at 5 pm, and continuing this weekend. The event takes place at 1267 Bloor Street in Toronto and includes thousands of items: hardcovers, paperbacks, and ephemera; antique and scholarly books; pictorial works; classic literature; obscure non-fiction; unclassifiable oddities, etc. 

Here is the pricing breakdown and timetable: 

Fri. April 26, 5-9pm:
   “Pro Night,” all items $1-$5

Sat. April 27, 11am-4pm:
   “Browser Day,” all items $1-$4

Sun., April 28, noon-4pm:
   “Hoarder Day,” all items $1-$2

Enter via the front door of 1267 Bloor and buyers are asked to please bring their own bags/boxes/etc., as well as cash (no credit or debit cards accepted at the sale). 



Roula Partheniou: Index, book launch tomorrow



[Jennifer Matotek, ed]
Roula Partheniou: Index
Regina, Canada: Dunlop Art Gallery, 2019
260 pp., 8 x 6 x 1.75", hardcover
Edition of 550

The special edition of Roula Partheniou: Index (below) is nearly sold out (there are four or five remaining) but the regular trade edition of the book is available for $30 CDN online, here, or at the launch tomorrow from 1:00 to 4:00pm at MKG127.

The book is part overview of Partheniou's practice, part beautifully designed artist-book. Published by the Dunlop Art Gallery in collaboration with Oakville Galleries, the Art Gallery of Peterborough, University of Waterloo Art Gallery and Contemporary Calgary, the volume documents exhibitions held at these venues including Chalk to Cheese, House & Home & Garden, Odd One Out and Inventory. It also includes Doppelkopf, Five O'Clock Shadow, Twofold, and the Bank of Montreal commission Cup and Ball. Additionally, the book features critical texts by editor Jennifer Matotek, Jon Davies, Ivan Jurakic, Fynn Leitch, Peggy Gale, and an interview with Nate McLeod.

MKG127 is located in Toronto at 1445 Dundas St. West between Dufferin St. and Gladstone Ave. on the south side.




Thursday, April 25, 2019

Paul McCarthy and Damon McCarthy | Caribbean Pirates





Paul McCarthy and Damon McCarthy
Caribbean Pirates
New York City, USA: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2019
408 pp., 160 pp., 29 x 40 cm., two hardcover volumes in slipcase
Edition size unknown

Hauser & Wirth just announced the publication of a two-volume artist book by Paul McCarthy and his son Damon McCarthy, which presents photographic documentation of ‘Frigate’ and ‘Houseboat,’ two works first begun in 2001 that take the lawlessness of piracy as a departure point. The title also includes ‘Catching Mayhem by Its Tail,’ a new text by John C. Welchman.

"DISNEY DOWN DOO THE HOLE DEATH AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HOLE begins begin begin began downward downward,” McCarthy writes of this work; “hell is but a float liken a dead circus caucus past the restraint restaurant know one at the helm at the helm mate fantasy matting four abreast in a suburb boat begins with float float life is but a dream past your favorite sushi sexy house bar down you go know one knows ho ho…."
- Paul McCarthy

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

David Shrigley | Right Ear Made From Bronze




David Shrigley 
Right Ear Made From Bronze
Berlin, Germany: Little and Large Editions, 2019
Polished Bronze
8 x 5 x 3 cm
Edition of 40

"Previously I have made a left ear from bronze. Now I have made a right ear from bronze. It seemed wrong not to make the right ear. So now I have made it. And everything is as it should be."

- David Shrigley



Tonight Shrigley is at Printed Matter, for a tasting and signing, marking the release of his new package design for a 500 ml. can of extra virgin olive oil from Italian producer Agricola Due Leoni,  curated by Cornelia Lauf. 

Christian Marclay | My Bad Ear




Christian Marclay
My Bad Ear
Zurich, Switzerland: Parkett Publishers, 2004
6.8 x 4.1 x 1.8 cm
Edition of 60 signed and numbered copies


Produced for the seventieth issue of Parkett magazine, this life-size bronze cast was manufactured by the Modern Art Foundry, Astoria, NY.


“A great deal of Marclay’s output, possibly the majority of it, is visual or plastic in nature. And yet even this is as much about sound recording; perhaps more so, because it concerns the ubiquity of sound in culture. Marclay’s work is about the socially inscribed ‘flip side’ of sound; it is about the very fact that I could use the phrase ‘flip side’ as unthinkingly as I just did, realizing only as I typed it that the term derives from records, and is thus infinitely apropos for use there.”
- Philip Sherburne Parkett No. 70, 2004

Monday, April 22, 2019

Meret Oppenheim | Das Ohr von Giacometti












Meret Oppenheim
Das Ohr von Giacometti 
Schwetzingen, Germany: K. F. Schimper-Verlag, 1987
11 x 7.5 x 1.4 cm.
Edition of 500 monogrammed, numbered and dated copies

A bronze casting of the ear of artist Alberto Giacometti, in a felt bag housed inside a cardboard box, with an accompanying certificate of authenticity. 

Louise Bourgeois | Ear






Louise Bourgeois
Ear
New York City, USA: Carolina Nitsch Editions, 2002
11.4 x 20.3 x 23.5 cm
Edition of 20 [+ 3 AP] initialed, dated and numbered copies

Against an estimate of between six and eight thousand dollars, a copy of the Ear edition copy sold at Christies in 2017 for over twice the high estimate - $17,500. The work is made of urethane resin with the artist's initials and date incised on the label affixed to the verso.

Publisher Carolina Nitsch began her involvement with Bourgeois in the 1990s, as director of Brooke Alexander Gallery and eventually published her own editions with Bourgeois and also become her primary print dealer.


Sunday, April 21, 2019

This week on Tumblr










This week on Tumblr: weblogs from the Italian artist, illustrator and graphic designer Robert Rebotti's site garadinervi.tumblr.com, which bills itself as being about "Graphic Design, etc." and includes many artists' publications including classic conceptual work, concrete poetry, Fluxus, Intermedia, and so on. For a tumblr, it's extremely well-curated and sometimes discreetly topical.like last week's redacted artworks (Christopher Knowles, etc) coinciding with the release of the Mueller Report.


Saturday, April 20, 2019

Roula Partheniou Book Launch



Roula Partheniou
Desk Set with Book
Acrylic paint on MDF and wood
8 x 6 x 1.75" (8.25 x 10.5 x 2.5" with included monograph)
Signed edition of 40
$375

A week from today MKG127 will launch a beautiful new monograph on Partheniou's work, titled Roula Partheniou: Index. Published by the Dunlop Art Gallery in collaboration with Oakville Galleries, the Art Gallery of Peterborough, University of Waterloo Art Gallery and Contemporary Calgary, the hardcover book retails for $30 CDN.

The book is part overview of her practice, part artist-book. It features documentation of House & Home & Garden, Odd One Out, Chalk to Cheese, Parts and Wholes, and the BMO commission Cup and Ball, 2018, among others. The book features critical texts by Jennifer Matotek, Jon Davies, Ivan Jurakic, Fynn Leitch, Peggy Gale, and an interview with Nate McLeod.

The Special Edition, pictured above, is comprised of a four-piece handmade sculpture mirroring the work reproduced in bird's eye view on the publication’s cover. Made in Partheniou's signature materials and style, produced as a signed edition of 40, the sculpture is designed to sit atop the book obscuring its own image and integrating the monograph itself to complete the sculpture.

The launch takes place Saturday April 27 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. To reserve a copy of the Special Edition contact the gallery at info@mkg127.com.

MKG127 is located in Toronto at 1445 Dundas St. West between Dufferin St. and Gladstone Ave. on the south side. Hours are Wednesday to Saturday from 12 to 6 PM or by appointment. For more information call 647-435-7682.