Kelly Mark

Last month the CBC asked me to write about Toronto artist Kelly Mark, and in particular, an ill-fated collaboration we worked on together for two years. That story can be read here: 

More recently, Momus ran a piece called “Remembering Kelly Mark”, featuring recollections from publisher Sky Goodden and other close friends, collaborators, and supporters, including Micah Lexier, Christina Ritchie, Anthony Cooper, Dell Pohlman and Lauren Raymore Pohlman, Dean Baldwin Lew, Paulette Phillips, and Paul E. Bain. Roula and I both contributed brief remembrances, also. 

It can be read at Momus.ca, here. 

"Kelly Mark had big dick energy. She was a total cunt. I loved her. [...]

Kelly was a master of minutiae. She was ever-dissecting work patterns, isolating fragments, and process into component parts for examination, where actions in repetition help dissolve our illusions.

Refusing an artist fee in lieu of minimum wage, she gives us a lens to observe our unpaid labor. The drywaller earns more. I began conversations about potential projects with, “What’s your catering budget?” (it’s always higher than artist fees). These institutional critiques aimed at assumed patterns were a delight to unbalance in cahoots. I take joy in playing bartender to patrons who treat me as one and Kelly’s “STAFF” jacket is emblematic of this cloak-and-dagger where we hide in plain sight to gain entry. As artists our unique power can be a chameleonic approach to social class. [...]

Kelly, I am angry at you for not letting me in on the plan. Angrier at myself, far away, for not knowing. I’ll carry on your light, flickering off this Zippo you left me . . . sleep well, friend.”

- Dean Baldwin Lew

James Riddle | E.S.P. Fluxkit

James Riddle

E.S.P. Fluxkit

New York City, USA: Fluxus, 1966

3.5 x 4.75 x .75 cm.

Edition size unknown

A plastic box with a George Maciunas designed label containing a number of coloured cards. An instruction sheet reads: “DOP Instructions/Blindfold yourself securely and rub your fingers lightly over the colored papers. With practice you can learn to distinguish between the colors.”

In a letter to Paul Sharits dated July 1966, Maciunas wrote “Fluxus has no position on [William S.] Burroughs or psychedelics. Jim Riddle (a flux man) is very interested in psychedelics, ESP, LSD, etc. has done two Flux events last summer. One was ESP event across the country (by mail). Interesting results. [Brion] Gysin piece included for itself, not for his position on junk”.  

Jon Hendricks' Fluxus Codex notes that E.S.P. Fluxkit was "issued as an individual edition, and is a component of some Fluxkits and most copies of Flux Year Box 2”. It was also produced as an envelope edition (see earlier post, here, and below). 

The work - which originally was offered for sale for $3.00 - is held in numerous collections, including the Walker, MoMA, The University of Iowa Libraries, and Harvard Art Museum.

Herman de Vries | Rationele Structuren 1969

Herman de Vries

Rationele Structuren 1969

Apeldoorn, Gemeentelijke: Van Reekum Galerij, 1969

12 pp., 22 x 16.5 cm., staple-bound

Edition size unknown

A rare early exhibition brochure by Herman de Vries, published to coincide with the show Random Objectivations which was held in early 1969 at the Gemeentelijke van Reekum Galerij in Apeldoorn. The twelve-page booklet is illustrated with eight sculptures of objectivations and a portrait of the artist. It also includes a list of the artwork featured in the exhibition. The text is in Dutch. 

Available from The Idea of the Book, here, for £131.33.

Cindy Sherman | Madame de Pompadour (née Poisson)

Cindy Sherman

Madame de Pompadour (née Poisson)

New York City, USA: Artes Magnus, 1990

36.8 x 55.9 x 28.6 cm.

Edition of 75 

A 21-piece breakfast tea service, with a setting for six: cups and saucers, breakfast/dessert plates, a teapot, creamer and covered sugar bowl. Produced in an edition of 75 in each colour: yellow, Pompadour pink, apple green and royal blue. 

Still available from the publisher (thirty-five years later) for ten grand. If this seems steep, an incomplete set sold at Christies earlier this year for $32,760 US. 

"This limited-edition tureen was manufactured in the famed pottery factory at Limoges, France, according to designs by the noted contemporary American photographer Cindy Sherman. The highly embellished Rococo style of the tureen became popular during the reign of the French king Louis XV (1715–1774), and porcelain was an important vehicle for its spread throughout Europe. The object is decorated with printed photographic images of Sherman in the guise of Madame de Pompadour, a mistress of Louis XV’s and an avid collector of porcelain. These images are typical of Sherman’s work: the artist is known for turning the camera on herself in order to raise questions about a variety of issues, particularly the role of women in society. Madame de Pompadour’s maiden name was Poisson, French for “fish,” and the interior bottom of the tureen is embellished with a still-life image that combines fish with luxurious jewelry in an amusing reference to both Pompadour and her social status.”

- Brooklyn Museum