Dorothy Iannone
(Ta)Rot Pack
New York City, USA: New Museum Store, 2009
[27] pp., 13 x 9.8 x 1.6 cm., loose leaves
Edition of 60 signed and numbered copies
In 1967, Dorothy Iannone accompanied Emmett Williams on a trip from New York to Iceland. Williams was going to meet up with Dieter Roth, whose forthcoming book he was editing. After an eight day long sailing trip - with only a few other passengers - they arrived in Reykjavik. Roth was waiting for them at the pier, with fresh wrapped fish in newspaper under his arm.
"And when I saw Dieter," Iannone writes in An Icelandic Saga, "I knew I would change my life". She separated from her husband a week later.
The pair lived together in Düsseldorf, Reykjavik, Basel and London until 1974 (which Iannone called “their seven year embrace”). He became a muse to her and features in much of her artwork.
Many of these works appeared in her first solo show in the US, which was held when she was 75 years old. To accompany the exhibition The New Museum published this deck of twenty-seven tarot cards.
Based on drawings made in 1968 and '69, the cards depicts scenes from artist Roth’s life, often together with Iannone. They are pictured fishing, hunting, cooking and fucking. The card for patience portrays Roth teaching class, indigestion features him dining with friends, reverence depicts him giving Iannone oral sex (as does Pacifies, above, bottom).
In the top right corner of each card Iannone illustrates an image of Roth’s own artwork. Depending on the context of his work, he used many variations of his name: Dieter Roth, dieter roth, DITERROT, Dietrich Roth, etc. The title (Ta)Rot Pack refers to the common variation where he dropped the 'h' in his name.
In addition to the deluxe set of cards which are signed and numbered and housed in a handmade cherry wood custom box, a trade edition (unsigned, unboxed) was also produced in an edition of 190, for a total of 250.
