Rutherford Chang | The Beatles – We Buy White Albums

Rutherford Chang

The Beatles – We Buy White Albums

New York City, USA: Self-published, 2013

Double 12” vinyl LP set

Edition of 800

In 2012, I was invited by C Magazine to participate in a public conversation with Rutherford Chang called "Re-Translating Popular Culture in Contemporary Art.” We had both recently made artworks using the Beatles’ White Album as our source material. At the time, he owned 500 copies of the eponymously titled double album. 

Edition Art Fair director Bill Clarke (above, bottom) brought Chang back to Toronto four years later to present the collection, which at that point contained three times the number of White Album LPs. 

Chang would eventually amass over 3,400 copies of the record, according to his New York Times obituary. He died last month at the age of 45. 

His sister posted on Instagram that Chang had died in his home on January 24th. The cause of death remains unknown. 

The Beatles – We Buy White Albums is a limited-run, self-published double disk created by layering 100 unique used copies of the White Album. The gatefold sleeve cover and disc labels are composites of the weathered and graffitied originals. A 24 x 24 inch poster insert featuring images of the individual covers.

The project sold out quickly (he only had a few remaining copies by the time of his return trip to Toronto in 2016) so I’m grateful that he gifted me one, and grateful to have briefly known him. 

Discogs lists a single copy for €500.00, from Germany, here. 

Rutherford Chang | We Buy White Albums

Rutherford Chang's We Buy White Albums project travels to the Verge Center for the Arts, opening tomorrow night from 6 to 9pm. The work - in which Chang transforms the space into a temporary pop-up shop whose sole purpose is to amass more copies of the Beatles' eponymously titled White Album - has been exhibited internationally, most recently at the Toronto Edition Art Fair.

Now numbering over 1,600 copies, Chang's collection of first edition White Albums are organized numerically and serve as a record of use and age. Many of the discs are warped and scratched and the iconic all-white covers (typically attributed to Richard Hamilton, who designed the insert poster) have accumulated scribbles and markings from previous owners, record 'rings', discolouration and mold, turning each album into a one-of-a-kind object.

Visitors can flip through the LPs and listen to Chang's recording of many of the records playing simultaneously. Or bring a copy to sell him.

The exhibition runs from January 14th to March 19th, 2017.

For more information, visit the Verge site, here.

/edition Art Book Fair: Rutherford Chang

Four years ago at Art Toronto, I hosted an informal "In conversation" presentation with Beijing/New York artist Rutherford Chang on the topic of "Re-Translating Popular Culture in Contemporary Video Art."

Chang is back this year, as part of /edition Toronto, this time in conversation with the fair's director Bill Clarke. On Saturday October 29th, at 12:30pm Clarke and Chang will discuss "the personal, art-historical and conceptual aspects of the artist’s installation We Buy White Albums and some of his recent projects, such as his participation the New Museum’s Real Live Online series."

The conversation will take place in the We Buy White Albums project at the fair: an installation resembling a record store, stocked with over 1,500 first pressings of the Beatles' eponymous double LP.  The albums are arranged in bins by the 'edition' numbers on the cover. Visitors can flip through the LPs and see how previous owners have personalized the ‘blank canvas’ of the record jacket with stickers, doodles, and even some love letters.

Rutherford Chang: We Buy White Albums

Rutherford Chang has a collection of more than 650 copies of the initial pressing of the Beatles' eponymously titled double LP, also known as the White Album. When asked to participate in Recess' Session program, which invites artists to use their public space as a studio or exhibition venue, he proposed creating a record store, but one that would carry only one title, which would not be for sale. Starting last Monday (January 7th) and continuing until March 9th, Chang will have the 41 Grand Street, New York, location open for business, which will consist of him buying used copies of the LP.

Visitors will be also be invited to browse his collection and listen to the records. During this Chang will digital record each copy of the record with their unique scratches, warping and general wear and tear. He will document the patina of the 'white' albums, each distinct with its own history of scuffing, dirt, record rings, etc. A new double LP will made of the accumulated layered sounds and images will be released shortly after the exhibition closes.

For more information, please visit www.recessactivities.org. 

Talk at TIAF today

Today at the Toronto International Art Fair, I am "in conversation" with Beijing/New York artist Rutherford Chang on the topic of "Re-Translating Popular Culture in Contemporary Video Art." The talk takes place in the publications lounge at 3:20.

For the full schedule of planned events, visit the C Magazine website, here.

Above: Chang's collection of 500 copies of the Beatles' white album.