Paul Sharits

Paul Sharits died on this day in 1993, in Buffalo, New York, the same city as his colleagues James Blue and Hollis Frampton. 

In 1982, Sharits was shot in the stomach by a patron at a Fillmore Avenue tavern in New York, where he was drinking. The incident is thought to have been a case of mistaken identity. Years earlier, he had been stabbed in the back by a woman in an alley. 

His mother committed suicide when he was twelve years old. His brother Greg attempted suicide and later died charging the LA police with a gun in his hand. 

Sharits took his own life at age fifty. 

Paul Sharits | Open the Door: An Incision

Paul Sharits

Open the Door: An Incision

Bloomington, USA: Indiana University, 1966

1 pp., 16.6 x 24 cm., accordion fold

Edition size unknown

An accordion fold artist's book made of blue crepe paper, letterpress printed.

Paul Sharits was born on this day in 1943. 

Paul Sharits | Flux Wall Poem

Paul Sharits
Flux Wall Poem
New York City, USA: Fluxus, [circa] 1968
10 x 12 x 1 cm.
Edition size unknown

A thin plastic box with a label designed by George Maciunas containing six double-sided offset printed cards. The illustration above (by Harry Ruhe) indicates how they are to be hung on the wall, hanging from chains.

Maciunas said very little about this work, other than writing to a collector "Not very good"*. The below prototype is certainly baffling: why such a large box for six cards that would fit into an envelope. Jon Hendricks, in the Fluxus Codex, remarks only "Handy words, packaged by Fluxus".

The work is in the collection of Harvard Art Museums, The Museum of Modern Art in NYC and the Bonotto Foundation.


*"Sharits wall poem is available, not very good...". George Maciunas to Dr. Hanns Sohm, late 1972.

Paul Sharits | Death

Paul Sharits
Death
Bloomington, USA: Indiana University, 1965
12 pp., 10.1 x 18.5 x 0.7 cm., spiral bound
Edition size unknown

A letterpressed book whose sole content appears to be the word death, surrounded by two hearts.

Paul Sharits | Open the Door: An Incision

Paul Sharits
Open the Door: An Incision
Bloomington, USA: Indiana University, 1966
1 pp., 16.6 x 24 cm., accordion fold
Edition size unknown

Concertina book of blue crepe paper, letterpress printed.

Flux Paper Games: Rolls and Folds

Paul Sharits, Bob Grimes, Greg Sharits, David Thompson
Flux Paper Games: Rolls and Folds
New York City, USA: Fluxus, [circa] 1969
13.5 × 18 × 4.8 cm., hinged plastic box
Edition size unknown

The contents of Flu Paper Games were printed by Paul Sharits and Dave Thompson, and mailed to George Maciunas, who designed the label (and at least one other unused design) and housed them in boxes. Maciunas wrote to Sharits in the fall of 1966 and called the materials "Absolutely Superb, first rate" and offered to produce wooden boxes for them.

There may be some of these floating around (like the one below, a unique work in the collection of Galerie A in Amsterdam) but most were distributed in Canal Street plastic boxes. A version in a jar was also announced in a newsletter. The Fondazione Bonotto collection has another, in a cardboard box, without a Maciunas label (bottom). It is unclear if this is how the work was intended. Some of the contents of the box also appeared in the FluxYearBox 2.

As with most Fluxus editions, the contents could vary, but typically included:

Sound Fold by Paul Sharits
Unrolling Screen Piece by Paul Sharits
Pull/Glue by Paul Sharits
Bag Trick by Gregg Sharits
Roll Fold by Gregg Sharits
Roll Trick by Gregg Sharits
Un Roll by David Thompson
Pull Fold by Bob Grimes





Paul Sharits, Bob Grimes, Greg Sharits, David Thompson

Flux Paper Games: Rolls and Folds

New York City, USA: Fluxus, [circa] 1969

8.7 x 25.8 x 18 cm., wooden box

Unique