Printed Matter, Inc. is launching Real English Tea Made Here, an anthology of the cut-up tapes of William S. Burroughs (I would assume with Brion Gyson).

From the press release: "The tapes curated as Real English Tea Made Here were originally created in Tangier and New York in the early 1960s using reel-to-reel analogue tape, sound-on-sound technology. The cut-up collage concept, with its roots in Dada soundworks and the simultaneous poetry of Hugo Ball, Richard Huelsenbeck, Marcel Janco and Tristan Tzara, released Burroughs from the constraints of linear narrative.

Many later pieces (now lost) were recorded by Burroughs in 1965 in Paul McCartney's small experimental recording studio in Montagu Square, London, managed by Burroughs’ friend Ian Sommerville. Burroughs was a frequent visitor and watched as McCartney put together Eleanor Rigby there. McCartney in turn, learned all about cut-ups."

I have spoken about the book The Third Mind before - these recordings are some of the work that was derived from the process outlined (or transmitted if you will) from that seminal work.

The event is Saturday, June 14 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at Printed Matter (NYC).

My earlier post about The Third Mind.

Labels: 60's, Europe

I stumbled over these really interesting images from a 1967 copy of Esquire. (thanks to areaoftheunwell) Evidently, Warhol at one time made a movie called Batman Dracula which I'm sure DC Comics made sure never saw the light of day. Either way, I think these photos are too much fun.

I also think that its perfect that Warhol is dressed as the boy wonder...

Labels: 60's, Warhol

The above is a reference to a Velvet Underground song, if you know it, let's make some plans for drinks and talking about music. Anyway, back to the reason for writing this, the other day, I was playing a Velvets bootleg (and so on - is the name) that included this radio ad for the record The Velvet Underground. I think it's good manners to share, so here it is.

Also it's crazy, lately I have been on a tear with the whole factory scene - bad enough that I recently bought a Polaroid Big Shot camera (although I'm not making portraits with it). As with my thoughts on Robert Rauschenberg, it's interesting how certain artists keep coming back to you.

Bonus track from the etc. bootleg. Conversation.

Ingrid Superstar and Gerald Malanga perform with the Velvet Underground in the film by Ronald Nameth.
© 1966-2005 Ronald Nameth, All rights Reserved

Labels: 60's, New York, Warhol

Beauty is now underfoot wherever we take the trouble to look. - John Cage, 1961

When the news came across the internet of RR's death on Monday, I felt like a someone hit me with one of those punches you read about in old timey boxing stories. Robert Rauschenberg is one of those artists that has always been in my personal "cannon" as it were, if not for the enormous body of impressive work, but for his bravery in the materials the he used to produce it.

I remember in my first year at VCU when Jim Baumgartner taught us the technique that RR used the make image transfers from newspapers and magazines. That same week, Richard Carlyne ran a movie for a class where we watch RR get shitfaced and show his latest work - the cardboard series, told the story about asking Willem deKooning to have a drawing that he could erase, and finally a Merce Cunningham ballet that he would design a set for. I guess you could say that unlike many other artists, I was aware of the value of his thinking about his work, no matter how impulsive it might have seemed. Recently most of the artworld traveled to the met to see his combines and literally saw how powerful and interestingly enough, how fresh they seemed when compared to what we see in galleries today. That surprised me. Because, truth be told, I had been taking him for granted for too long and had forgotten just how great that work is.


Robert Rauschenberg Pilgrim, 1950, mixed mediums with wooden chair, ca. 79 x 54 x 19 in.Hamburger Kunsthalle

I'll admit that there is a period of his work (late 80's and 90's) where I wasn't as interested in his approach, it seemed old and dated. Recently he had a bit of a comeback with his more photo-oriented collage work, and the cardboard work had been given new life with a traveling show.

There is a period in time, when New York was at the height of it's power as "the place where art was made" and RR was there. I'm referring to the Castelli gallery, along with Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Frank stella, et al. this group of artists, along with the major abstract expressionists defined American Art to the world for the late 20th century and many would say they still are. Rauschenberg was one of the truly original artists of his time.

I'm glad I can still see his work, but I miss him already.

RR film clip about the "Erased deKooning drawing"

Labels: 60's, Death, Galleries, New York

The Velvet Underground, April 26, 1966
National Roller Skating Arena, 1661 Kalorama Road, N.W., Washington DC

NOW Festival

Callie Angel said: A performance event called "Linoleum" by Robert Rauschenberg "ended with an electronic bang when Pop Artist Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground, a rock and roll band from his New York night club, The Plastic Inevitable, turned the roller rink into a giant discotheque." (quote from Leroy F. Aarons, "New Theater's 'Happening' Amuses, Angers Audience," The Washington Post, April 27, 1966, p. B2.). So, despite the fact the Velvets were booked at the Dom (a new york club, if I'm not mistaken) all that month, they apparently weren't performing every night.

The Now Festival was the brain child of Alice Denney - who would later be crucial to the formation of the Washington Project for the Arts. I would love more info, use the comments or send me an email.

Photo by Billy Name

Labels: 60's, New York, Warhol

this is quite an idea and while I tend not to be too interested in seeing a represented past, however I think of all the early "minimalist" shows this is one to see. The 1964 Green Gallery show was a coming out party of sorts for Flavin an artist who would repeatedly say, "... my own proposal has become mainly an indoor routine of placing strips of fluorescent light. It has been labeled sculpture by people who should know better." However the past is easy to forget, the Green Gallery show of 1964 was poorly received and sparsely attended while at the same time canonized.

It's been curious to note (and see) that the most groundbreaking piece of that show, The Nominal Three (to William of Okham) has been displayed in relative sizes over the years - but always shown in units totaling three (rather obvious, I know). One of the things about the earlier Flavin shows (I was lucky enough to see his exhibition at the Corcoran in the mid eighties) is how intensely spare the installation of the shows were. This is especially true if you look at the almost jewel like installation of his retrospective at the National Gallery a couple of years ago (even more so when the show was in Chicago).

Dan Flavin: the 1964 Green Gallery Exhibition is at Zwirner and Worth (32 E 69th street) through May 3rd.

Labels: 60's, Galleries, New York

This weekend my wife and I took a weekend trip in conjunction with her former college, the University of Texas. For some reason Catherine seems to think she dragged me out there, which couldn't be further from the truth. We are both fans of the "Modern" probably me more than her - so go figure. Please consider this a quick overview.

The Modern Aesthetic in Palm Springs really grows from a number of sources; the Post World War II boom in prosperity, A desire to "bring the outside in" (merging the home with the environment), and a profound belief or optimism in the future. To top this off, the Hollywood studio system usually forbid anyone from being more than 100 miles away from the studio - Palm Springs fit just inside that limit. Armed with these ideals - and the desire to produce new "serious buildings" the architects of Palm Springs along with european transplants somehow found themselves in a place where the modern was exactly what home owners were looking for. International architects, Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, and local architects William Cody, Donald Wexler, and E. Stewart Williams carved impressive careers - but more importantly created an architectural treasury that we are able to see and still be influenced by 60 - 70 years later.

One last note: this architectural legacy would never had quite the impact had it not been for the amazing talent of Julius Schulman, THE photographer of mid-century design - and still working at age 90 today.



Frey House II
So named because it was the second home that he built for himself. This is more a mountain retreat, minimal and tightly compressed. Tiny by anyone's standards, the house is low maintenance and literally perched on the side of the mountain - its floor ending at a glass wall makes you feel like your almost floating. It's location plays a key role in the house as well - a large boulder that was unable to be moved serves as a room divider further bringing the outside in.



The Kaufmann House
This is the grand jewel of Palm Springs mid-century homes. Built in 1946-47 designed by Richard Neutra for the same family that commisiond Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. In fact, FLW had already designed a building for the location (The Boulders) and was shocked to learn of the commission going to Neutra that he would trash talk him (Neutra) whenever the mood struck.

Sadly we were unable to tour the Kaufmann House, it is about to be auctioned by Sotheby's as a work of art rather than a building. Quite a compliment.

Kaufmann house, Richard Neutra, 1946. Photo: 1947
Copyright J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission.
Julius Shulman Photography Archive
Research Library at the Getty Research Institute



Donald Wexler and the great experiment
Donald Wexler was influenced by the international style of the Bauhaus and it shows in his buildings, they still carry a modernist approach however they show the roots of its beginning a little bit more. For example, The Dinah Shore residence (above) is clearly modernist, but with a slight hint of his roots in the international style. This is further exemplified by his experiment in 1961 - 1962 of developing a "Home System" using steel fabrication in a planned or modular way. Although only 7 of these buildings were able to be produced before a steel embargo killed the project in early 1963, Wexler had opened a door that is only starting to take place again with the new modular construction or prefab movement of today.

My photo of the Steel house (below) is intended to show the international flavor of these homes. Please remember that these are smaller homes - 2 bedrooms at most and are designed for lower incomes than many of the houses that we know as masterworks.



A few photos of some interesting homes



The Abernathy House
Also known as the "Pavillion House" designed by Willian F. Cody



The Bougain Villa House
Designed by William Burgess



Madras Oasis
Designed by William Krisel

Labels: 60's, modernism

The New York Times reported (via the Associated Press) on Saturday that six wooden Brillo boxes in the Moderna Museet are fakes madethree years after Warhol's death. The Moderna said it had investigated the six Brillo boxes after a Swedish newspaper claimed that they were copies. The Swedish paper Expressen claimed that Hulten (a former director at the Museet), who died last year, sold a number of the copies with certificates falsely stating that they were made for a Warhol exhibition in Stockholm in 1968.

Labels: 60's, international, Museums

Carol Vogel (New York Times) notes that some 350 or more boxes stuffed with receipts, photographs, letters and other records chronicling the history of the Leo Castelli Gallery are being given to the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art in Washington. LC helped launch the careers of Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella, as well as many others. The gift includes sales transactions, exhibition reviews, letters from artists and collectors, and photographs from the gallery's beginings in 1957 to the year Castelli died (1999). "This is the holy grail of postwar American art," said John W. Smith, director of the archives.

Holy Grail? more like the Rosetta Stone. Still it's a great gift.

Labels: 60's, Jasper Johns, Washington DC

Lee Hazelwood died at his home outside Las Vegas, after a three year struggle with cancer.

Lee Hazelwood proved himself to be one of the most ingenious, inspired and impressively stubborn people the music industry ever saw. Most famous for his work with Nancy Sinatra - he wrote and produced many of her biggest hits, including These Boots Were Made For Walking, Jackson (covered by Johnny Cash as well), and the unforgettable Some Velvet Morning.

Labels: 60's, Death, Las Vegas, music

What do you think of Jasper Johns?
Warhol on Johns - You Tube

Warhol eats Burger King
so delicious - You Tube

Robert Raushenberg - Erased de Kooning Drawing
RR interviewed about this artwork - You Tube

Basquiat Interview
This is pretty self explanatory - You Tube

Brice Marden
A PBS interview around the time of his recent show at MoMA - You Tube

Velvet Underground Performance - EPI - European Son
Velvet Underground Performance - Exploding Plastic Inevitable - The Factory Andy Warhol - European Son - You Tube

John Cale and Lou Reed
Lou Reed & John Cale performing Waiting for My Man at the Bataclan in Paris in 1972. - You Tube

Labels: 60's, Brice Marden, music, Video, Warhol

I don't need to discuss the paintings - you should already know them. So I'm going to skip the you should see this one or that one type of thing. The show is devoted to the "first" ten years of image production by JJ - it is purposely edited and I think thats a wise decision. I will admit that it is not edited the way I would have edited the work - still the editing does give the show a real sense of start and finish as well as an invitation for looking for further work.

The four areas of this show (targets, device, skin, and naming) seem thin. This is where a different set of subjects could have been more interestingly shown to me anyway. What others are missing? maps, numbers and alphabets, pattern, monochrome (this would have been overarching) and lastly, process. If it were me, you would have seen: targets, device, maps, numbers and alphabets. I mention monochrome because it does indeed stretch across the whole body of JJ's work. Naming does the same thing as monochromes - however to me it feels more like a tactical device versus a contextual device.

Despite my different thoughts about leit-motifs, within the show, it as a whole is quite the viewing, and well worth your time. (sidebar for a moment: how great is it that the NGA is free - I was able to go to the show and see this one show and get out, without having to feel like I had to see the whole museum - I love that about the museums in DC) The show is great until the last few rooms when it becomes the tightest hanging I've ever been a witness to at the NGA - literally at one point I needed to stand two feet away from one painting on a south wall to view the painting on the west wall. Maybe better planning could have been used. I must admit that the layout and flow were very similar to the Dada exhibit. Considering that JJ was at one time considered a "new dadaist" there is a certain humor in that.

One thing that is never said as much as I think it should be is the role/influence that Robert Rauschenberg clearly has on the first ten years of JJ's work (and vice versa). this comes through loud and clear in all of the "Skin" images. These use RR's technique of lighter fluid and burnisher to get images from other media. The images that were made around the time of "Souvenir" all owe a little bit to RR's combines. I have always felt that the JJ/RR relationship (whatever it was) is really the post war art world version of Picasso and Braque.

That said it cant be much better in a museum to be standing in one room with almost all of the targets Johns ever painted in one room, curatorially that is one hell of a masterstroke.

Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, runs through April 29.

Labels: 60's, Jasper Johns, Museums, Washington DC