Piero Manzoni: Merda d'artista, 1961 When the Shit Hits the Fan 1. Let's get it over with, right here at the beginning: excrement, feces, crap, poo-poo, doo-doo, ca-ca, poop, turds, shit. Notice how so many of the words are baby-talk. Like Dada. 2. "A wonderful fertilizer -- money." -- Percival "Money Bags" Montgomery Hower (played by Clyde Fillmore) in … [Read more...]
Archives for 2009
Tehching Hsieh: Caged Fury
Tehching Hsieh has created only six artworks or, more precisely, performed them. This is not counting his earlier jump from a window in Taiwan or, before that, the paintings he made. The six artworks are the ones he lists on his website and that have been validated as art and valued as … [Read more...]
On Kawara: Just in Time
Kawara Has Not Dated Who would have thought that On Kawara would now look like a major artist? His work has a certain Dada purity. One of the things Kawara does, has done, and continues to do - since Jan. 4, 1966 -- is paint the date wherever he is, in white on a monochromatic ground. Of course, it gets more complicated. The date is not painted every single day. Furthermore, some days he paints the date two or three times. I assume that whoever buys a date painting is … [Read more...]
David Burliuk, the Ukrainian Father of Japanese Futurism
Life Is a Gas David Burliuk was a living, breathing art paradox. At first glance, his life was more interesting than his art. Or was his life, rather than his paintings, his real art? There's an intriguing exhibition honoring him at New York's Ukrainian Museum, 222 E. 6th Street, to March 1. The exhibition, which originated at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, is entitled "Futurism and After: David Burliuk 1882-1967." Burliuk is the nearly … [Read more...]