Friday, February 25, 2011

4. ABAD OPENS AT THE MoMA, WALES

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4/27/2010


I became aware of the new calls only with the Museum of Modern Art, Wales exhibition undertaken by Sonja Benskin-Mesher. Sonja set this show apart in a number of interesting ways. 

She installed her late husband's chair in the gallery space. She also opened a box of cards from the original exhibition at the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in a quiet, almost ceremonial fashion. Then, each artist was listed in a "Book of the Living," which became part of the exhibition. Along with a full installation of the works from New York, MoMA Wales included nearly all the posters from previous shows, and several hundred new works created especially for this exhibition.

The show ran until May 8, at which time the MoMA UK acquired it for their Permanent Collection. Below is the piece I did expressly for this show. It was exhibited along with my art from the first ABAD in NYC.


My Egyptian Book of the Dead piece created expressly for the UK show.
I took that photo of the Temple of Dendur (MY Temple) at the Met in NYC.



My 2009 Tibetan Book of the Dead piece at the MoMA UK show, 
in the red box, upper left of the wall.


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3. THE GLOBAL ABAD WAVE BEGINS

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9/19/2009


Artists from all over the world attended the NYC show. Many gathered complete collections of the Unbound Book and brought them home. 

Then, a wonderful thing began to happen: the exhibition moved many of them to arrange ABAD shows in their own towns.

Some were re-presentations of the NYC show, while others issued new calls for companion works to be shown alongside the original show.

A listing of the travelling ABADs through April 2010:
2009  Mobius, Boston, MA / September 19-20
2009  Ripe Art Gallery, Greenlawn, NY / October 11-18
2009  River Mill Art Gallery, NJ / October 17-31
2009  Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA / October 11-31
2009  Queens Museum of Art, NY / November 1-15
2009  La Sexta House of Music, Tijuana, Mexico / November 21
2010  Museu Brasileiro da Escultura, Brazil / February 6-28
2010  Vladimir Nazor Library, Zagreb, Croatia / February 26-March 21

2010  Steppling Art Gallery, San Diego State University, CA / March 10-April 9
2010  Prostor, Zagreb, Croatia / March 22-30
2010  ASA Art Gallery, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina / April 1-15
2010  Exit 11 Contmeporary Art, Grand-Leez, Belgium / April 11-June 27


2009 Mobius, Boston, MA


2009 Otis College, CA
2010 Museu Brasileiro da Escultura, Brazil

2010 Steppling Art Gallery, San Diego State University, CA

2010 ASA Art Gallery, Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
2010 Vladimir Nazor Library, Zagreb, Croatia

2010 Exit 11 Contemporary Art, Grand-Leez, Belgium
 

2. THE FIRST ABAD AND ME

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9/10/2009


Below, photos from the astounding opening on Thursday, September 10, 2009. 
The line to get in wrapped around the block! 
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This is my first piece of ABAD art; 
no one knew that we would be exploring 
this theme through so many shows and
such a roster of countries.


















1. THE CALL THAT STARTED IT ALL 3/13/2009

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3/13/2009


Below is the 2009 call for the original Soho, NY "A Book About Death" Exhibition.
Matthew Rose launched an art movement that is still sweeping across the world today.
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Friday, March 13, 2009
OPEN ARTIST CALL: A BOOK ABOUT DEATH
A BOOK ABOUT DEATH: AN UNBOUND BOOK ON THE SUBJECT OF DEATH
Opening, Thursday, 10 September 2009


Exhibition: 10 - 22 September 2009
Emily Harvey Foundation; 537 Broadway; New York City, New York 10012 USA
Artists Each Produce Their Edition Of 500 Postcards In The Sprawling Unbound 1000-Page A Book About Death. The Book Will Be A Limited Edition: 500 Copies (Following The Number Of Artist Produced Cards)

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH is an open, unbound book produced by artists worldwide. Artists are invited to create a "page" in the form of a postcard about death– any aspect about death. Works can be of any design, personal or conceptual, color or black and white.

The original work about death stays with you, the artist. The 500 postcards produced from the work is for the exhibition, and are sent to the gallery.

Artists can include any information about themselves on the cards, front or back. There are no taboos here, no age limits, no areas or ideas that are prohibited. The exhibition organizers only ask that you submit good work, worthy of an interesting and exciting page in this global book.

The 500 post cards are then mailed to the gallery in New York City for exhibition. DEADLINE FOR CARDS TO BE IN THE GALLERY: SEPTEMBER 5, 2009.

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH takes its inspiration from the late, underground American artist Ray Johnson (1927 - 1995). Ray Johnson’s unbound “book” of the same title was mailed to his New York Correspondence School “students” and included pages in his idiosyncratic style that were funny, sad and ironic “one-page essays” on death.  With the A BOOK ABOUT DEATH project, artists are invited to plunge into subject in creating their own pages that score the dramatic final dance of death. 

EXHIBITION and EVENT: Each artist contribution will be displayed in the Emily Harvey Foundation gallery space in New York. Visitors will be free to take cards and create their own book about death. As the cards are removed, the exhibition will disappear.
During the exhibition, a lecture/panel discussion will take place with a number of leading writers, curators, artists and collectors bringing together a number of salient ideas about death, books, mail art works, Ray Johnson and the global nature of A BOOK ABOUT DEATH.  The panel list will be announced when it is finalized this summer.