The Most Dada Thing: Neo-Dada in San Francisco

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 through Saturday, December 31, 2016
San Francisco Public Library, Skylight Gallery, 6th Floor, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, California, 94102

The San Francisco History Center's SF Punk Archive and Book Arts & Special Collections are pleased to present The Most Dada Thing, an exhibition of artifacts left behind by the Bay Area Dadaists and the creators of Inter Dada 84. Inter Dada 84 was an internationally attended celebration of the spirit of DADA. It took place over seven days in Sept, 1984 in multiple SF locations, showcasing performances, videos, films, mail art, photography, lectures and carousing.

As part of the SF Dada World Fair my collection of Inter DADA 84 posters, publicity cards, etc and a selection of mail art are on exhibit at the SF Library's 6th floor Skylight Gallery. It will be available to see through December 31st. Check out the photos at the blog.

Also the book InterDADA84: True DADA Confessions is for sale at City Lights Books or at my online store. Videos are at the Interdada 84 blog.

This exhibit is sponsored by the San Francisco History Center’s SF Punk Archive and Book Arts & Special Collections.

 

Found in the Archives - More Copies of Blitzkunst Available - SOLD OUT in Europe!

Ray Johnson liked this book. He would ask me about it and wanted more. I asked him what for, and he said he sold them to galleries and art spaces. Huh! I'll send a copy of this note if you ask for it when making a purchase.

Book Release!!

Officially releasing at the Miami Book Fair International - Nov 21 to 23, 2014 as part of the Exile Books project - EXILE's Artist's Book Lounge.

What happens when a group of international dadaists get together for a week in 1984? Photos, artwork, and confessions are just some of the topics included in this book. Stories and reports by: Banana, Behrens-Brigham, Bell, Bloch, Cavellini, Chew, Held, ING, Mollett, Olbrich, Spiegelman, Truck, and many more.

1982 Budapest Visit Documented in Book

Edited by my friends György Galántai and Julia Klaniczay, Artpool uses authentic documents, numerous photographs and illustrations, Artpool’s chronological volume contains a brief presentation of events and exhibitions, a detailed bibliography and references follows the history of the Artpool art project. 536 pages, with approx 1500 illustratons, index of names, softcover, English, printed in 500 numbered copies. Free pdf version downloadable.

Since visiting Hungary in 1982, they have been long time collectors and supporters of my art and projects. I found looking through their Fluxus collection inspiring and had fun making a couple of collaborative artistamp sheets with Gyorgy.

Photo Selected for Book Cover

"The striking photo on the cover of Fairyland looks like it could have been taken one hundred years ago. It gives a sense of the otherworldly childhood that Abbott recounts in this memoir about growing up with her openly gay, single father in San Francisco in the nineteen-seventies and eighties."
- The New Yorker  June 2013

"The cover photo is perfect. Not since Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has a photo so well captured the complex themes of a nonfiction book."  "I must also say that the book's cover is wonderful both before and after you read the memoir--the father and his brave daughter dressed up for a night out in fairyland." - Amazon UK reviews

A best seller written by my friend Steve Abbott's daughter Alysia, Fairyland is a beautiful, vibrant memoir about growing up motherless in 1970s and ’80s San Francisco with an openly gay father. I write about other collaborations with Steve and his SOUP Magazine and how he introduced me to poets, comics and comix artists in an earlier post (June 2010 post) on this blog. 

I took the cover photo in Golden Gate Park at the Portals of the Past on Lloyd Lake as one of several in a surrealism influenced series. I frequently used locations in the park to photograph, using friends as models in incongruous attire. Steve needed a cover photo for his poetry book Agape Bra and liked the other photos he'd seen. He invited me to take some photos in exchange for photo credit and exposure. In early morning light at a location I knew well, we arrived with Nikon and tripod, "costumes," and a sleepy 10 year old. Allowing for room for the title text and trying out different shots, this was the photo I chose. Steve agreed. In reality, with new agreements with Alysia and the book press it became the cover photo used on two different books. 

In the present, I look forward to seeing the promised photo credits when it is used in articles and publicity.

The book is available from W. W. Norton Company press at all major book outlets.

UPDATE from Deadline Hollywood on December 16, 2013: American Zoetrope has acquired screen rights to Alysia Abbott’s Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father, with Sofia Coppola set to adapt it with Andrew Durham. She will produce with Roman Coppola.

“I love the book Fairyland; it’s a sweet and unique love story of a girl and her dad, both growing up together in 1970′s San Francisco,” Coppola said. “I think it will make an engaging and touching movie on a subject I’ve never seen before.”

Said the author: “I’m delighted that Sofia Coppola and Zoetrope are going to create the film version of Fairyland. Sofia’s understanding of the feminine perspective and the artistic vision that she shares with Andrew Durham make them ideal partners to make this movie. I could not be happier.”

Maintenant 7

Maintenant 7: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing & Art is the sixth edition of an annual collection of contemporary Dada work inspired by Dada instigator and Three Rooms Press spiritual advisor Arthur Cravan. Since 2008, the Three Rooms Press series has collected and published dada art, dada poetry, dada mail art, dada collages and more from around the world. This year’s issue, edited by Peter Carlaftes and Kat Georges.

FLUXFEST Chicago 2013 Score

Minnesota Center for Book Arts: Stellar: Book Art and the Cosmo

If you are in the Minnesota area, go see a special exhibit of my space themed artistamps and black and white photos of my space themed performances at: 

An international juried exhibition exploring outer space
January 25 - May 5, 2013

Opening reception: Friday, January 25; 6-9pm
Cosmic Arcade All Ages Discovery Day: Saturday, May 4; 10am-2pm
Both events free and open to the public

"A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person -- perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic."
- Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Explore the outer reaches of both our universe and our collective imagination in Stellar: Book Art and the Cosmos, featuring work by dozens of local and international artists. Enjoy book, print, paper and installation artworks on the themes of space, science (fiction and non-fiction), exploration and humanity.

Featured artists include:
Tim Abel (Racine, WI); Mary Bergs (Minneapolis, MN); Laura Beyer (Birmingham, MI); Elizabeth Boyne (Iowa City, IA); Cynthia Brinich-Langlois (Milwaukee, WI); Patty Bruce (Boston, MA); Emily Chaplain (Memphis, TN); Tiberiu Chelcea (Ames, IA); Young-ju Choi (Ilsan, South Korea); Johanna Drucker (Berkeley, CA); Wendy Fernstrum (Marine on St. Croix, MN); Brad Freeman (Chicago, IL); Kirsten Furlong (Boise ID); Travis Hocutt (Waterford MI); Tom Hubbard (Chagrin Falls, OH); Rachel Katz (Portland, ME); Ray Klimek (Athens, OH); Mari LaCure (Beverly, MA); Ginny Lloyd (Jupiter, FL); Jared Martin (Minneapolis, MN); Heather Matthew (Nunderi, Australia); Leah Mayers (Chicago, IL); Nora Lee McGillivray (St. Paul, MN); Andrea McKennan (Minneapolis, MN); Cathryn Miller (Grasswood, Saskatchewan, Canada); Ellen Mueller (Buckhannon, WV); Scott K. Murphy (Saint Joseph, MN); Heidi Neilson (Long Island City, NY); Lauren Orchowski (New York, NY); Mark Ryan (Minneapolis, MN); Mark Addison Smith (New York, NY); Regula Russelle (St. Paul, MN).

Opening reception
Friday, January 25; 6-9pm
Free and open to the public.

Cosmic Arcade All-Ages Discovery Day
Saturday, May 4; 10am-2pm
Visit MCBA for a Stellar day full of creative exploration and hands-on artmaking opportunities for all ages!
Free and open to the public.

American Craft Council's article on the show: http://www.craftcouncil.org/post/stellar-book-art-and-cosmos-minnesota-center-book-arts

NEW Artistamp Book

From the beginning of postage stamps, women have been honored in imagery. Today, women make their own artistamps, artist made stamps, using various types of images and styles. This book is about 30 female artists who represent the growing numbers of women working within the confines of the stamp format. Individual artistamp histories, including some of the techniques used, are revealed in the biographies accompanying the art. We hope to enlighten and encourage future generations of artists to make artistamps. Foreword by C. Mehrl Bennett.

The artists included are: Altschul, Antic-Ham, Banana, Baracchi, Bauwens, Bennett, Boschi, Cope, Cornyn-Selby, Davis, Dittberner, Hinchcliff, Kent, Lakner, Lamanova, Lloyd, Mailarta, Marlowe, Mary Anne, Nikoltsou, Patterson, Podob, Ronchetti, Rosenberg, Spathi, Stetser, Tavenner, TicTac, Wassink, and Weimer.

Purchase a copy at TropiChaCha Press Store either in print or downloadable.

For artistamp collectors there is a commemorative artistamp issue. Contact me for more about availability.

 
 

Let's Make Copy Art - NEW Book

 

New workbook available for students who have attended my copy art lecture and workshop(s) in the past. It will also be available for students in upcoming workshops. Let's Make Copy Art details - English, 40 Pages, coil binding for easy note taking,dimensions (inches) 8.5 wide x 11 tall, black and white interior. Includes: brief history of copiers and copy art, step by step techniques, illustrations, lessons, and robust reference info. Students in my workshops can own a copy for $12 + shipping.

New Book Release - Photobooth Performances

What happens when more than 55 international artists perform within the confines of a photobooth? The results: Fluxus, humor, Dada, statements, jokes, and performance photos some dialog with b and w plus color imagery. 68 pages; 6x9 inches; paperback; includes A Brief Photobooth History by Mark Bloch.

@$21.60 reduced from $24 through Feb 7th and free ground shipping using code WHOASHIPPING through Jan 31st. Downloadable available too. Buy as many at this price that you want. Don't forget to rate for better exposure! 

Go to TropiChaCha Press Store

Review of Asemics by De Villo Sloan

ASEMICS 16 GREATEST HITS (Vol. 3) Lloyd (USA), Nikoltsou (Greece), Pesetskaya (Russian Federation), Jones (USA)

January 24, 2012 - My retrospective series of articles on the Asemics 16 collaborative book project that was headquartered here at the IUOMA will end with this third volume of selections; otherwise,  I risk becoming lost in incredible work by the nearly 70 artists who participated. We have an exciting new visual poetry book in production that also deserves close attention.

Ginny Lloyd is a well-known Fluxus artist. Project Co-coordinator Cheryl Penn (South Africa) and I were thrilled when she signed on to contribute a chapter to Edition #3. Ginny Lloyd's finely produced and digitally composed chapter has been blogged and documented by others. Personally, I am not sure it has received as much attention as it deserves. These are beautiful and provocative asemics.


While the means of production she used expresses the digital age in comparison to earlier visual and concrete poetry that was an expression of the industrial era, I think Ginny Lloyd's work fulfills the vision of organic structures (literally) in asemic writing and explores the concept of biopoetry, avoiding well "exercises in formalism." For instance, I think it is wonderfully creative, and it might strike some as a bit of humor, that teeth are used for asemic characters (top scan, right side). And teeth do have an undeniable and key role in spoken language. Here is another two-page spread from Ginny Llloyd's chapter: 

For me, each page of the chapter holds new wonder, an unexpected possibility for asemics. While some of the pages evoke scientific or medical images (an anti-art aesthetic?) the organic qualities are very pronounced. The melding symbols (above left) are a prime example - it is not hard to see why so many visual poets are also making videos; these forms want to move. These next pages, far more subtle, are my personal favorites:

These are pages that will please the Symbolist School of Subtle Aesthetic Obscurity. The right-hand page is particularly subtle and complex; indeed, the amazing use of color is hard to capture in a scan. I believe these pages would satisfy even the most "asemically correct" purist.


Many, many thanks to Ginny Lloyd for this incredible chapter and for her involvement in Asemics 16. Check out her artistamps blog and other projects.


(To  read the full review go to the link provided at the top of the article.)

JUST RELEASED - Make Your Own Stamps

Purchase a piece of artistamp and mail art history! In 1986 artist Ginny Lloyd asked several artists to complete and return a page of artist made stamps (artistamps). The results are compiled into this fun book, demonstrating how artists use clever approaches to stamp making. This project was rediscovered in her archives during 2010. Includes Banana, Baroni, Bidner, Blurr, Pittore, Stetser, Cavellini, Dogfish, Dudek-Durer, LeClair, Fricker, Gaglione, Galantai, Held, Higgins, JES Archives, Hoffberg, Olbrich, Kantor, Lake, Lloyd, Spiegelman, Maurer, Johnson, Scott, Alter, and Worrell. Go to http://stores.lulu.com/ginnylloyd

NEW Mail Art Coffee Table BOOK - Tour '81 SketchBOOK - BUY NOW with added discount through August15th

When artist Ginny Lloyd traveled throughout Europe in 1981, she took along a blank sketchbook that quickly filled with artwork created by the numerous artists she visited. The artists were involved in the mail art network, a worldwide community that existed years before Internet social networking became a social phenomenon. A copy of this one-of-a-kind book is now available in print. 86 pages, 9"x7"

Included is a first hand report previously published in Umbrella magazine. In this book: Aart van Barneveldt, Angelika Schmidt, Bern Boyle, Cavellini, Christine Vanderborght, EF Higgins III, Emilio Morandi, Guy Bleus, Guy Schraenen, Harley, Henk Fakkeldy, Johan van Geluwe, Jurgen Olbrich, Michael Scott, Pawel Petasz, Pier Van Dijk, Robert Joseph, Robert Rehfeldt, Rod Summers, Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, Tomasz Schulz, Ulises Carrion, Vittore Baroni, Wulle Konsumkunst and many more.

Retails at $30 but with the 15% publisher's discount cost is $25.50 available through August. But there is more - another printer's 15% off which brings the price down even further when using code MYBOOK305 at checkout 

Go to http://stores.lulu.com/ginnylloyd for more details about this and other recent TropiChaCha Press titles.

Correspondence ART

This is a book I had the privilege of working on as a consultant to Carl Loeffler (publisher). This book was written by Michael Crane and Mary Stofflet. To begin with this was an amazing undertaking Mary and Michael took on and accomplished. In any book on Mail Art there is a mass of people and minimal documentation of some of the works and artists making it more time consuming than most books.

Blitzkunst

During the 80s I was working with making my own photo paper by painting emulsion onto rag paper for large prints (16 X 20 inches). From this I created a series of images of artists I would meet in my travels or who would come to San Francisco. I decided to supplement these with a questionnaire I would ask artists to fill out and found a publisher in Germany very interested in what had become a book. Below are excerpts from Blitzkunst:

Creative Camera

A book on creative useage of cameras wriiten by Nancy Howell-Koehler included the use of copiers as a camera. Included were pieces of my work as shown below: