Three Books About Death

_Evertson_submission to ABAD Belknap Mill_

reverse of card

I've been a big fan of Matthew Roses A Book About Death project. I contributed to the first project for the Emily Harvey Gallery in NYC and to each subsequent exhibit that has sought additional work. Over the course of the project I notice that I've got 27 tags for ABAD. This fall is crazy with three ABAD openings. So, this weeks post is mainly a photo essay on the various submissions to these. I've actually done double duty on some since I've collaborated on Seeking Kali submissions as well.


The piece above is for the Belknap Mill edition of A Book About Death which runs from Oct. 15th through Nov. 1st.  Belknap Mill is located in Laconia, NH.

_Evertson_ submission to Fluxmuseum ABAD_

At the Fort Worth Community Art Center in Ft. Worth Texas, Cecil Touchon's Fluxmuseum is also sponsoring ABAD. This is a mixed media piece (wire mesh, acrylic, brush and postcard) The piece relates to my original submission to ABAD. I constructed several of these mesh and paint hands to photograph as a stage set for that first work. This artist call is accepting objects as well as cards.

First ABAD - Emily Harvey Gallery

CW Post's SAL Gallery at Long Island University's is host to the Ray Johnson/A Book About Death from Oct. 31st to Nov. 5th.

_Evertson  for SAL Gallery _ Ray Johnson/ABAD_

Insert to card

reverse of card

The calls for these shows are ending soon so you'll need to look over the links and act quickly if you want to participate.

The Wild Side

_From the photobot at Mobius_

The Prostitution of Art and Signs of Our Times really begs for a shorter exhibition title but describing a typical multi layered Mobius production in a couple of words is impossible. Jane Wang and James Ellis Coleman curate both the online blog and physical version, which opened at the Mobius gallery space in Boston this past weekend.   The show featured a large screen video presentation of works that were submitted to the blogs that accompany the exhibit. The Signs of the Times blog currently has over one hundred contributions of “Signs, especially as means of language or miscommunication”. These ranged from the ironic to oblique to the unique signs that make up our visual landscape.  The Prostitution of Art blog featured an artist call for works and proposals for our take on the title. From the sexy voiced photobot that I used to take the pix above (by artist Jason Turgeon) to performances by Jessica Borusky, Liz Roncka and Philippe Lejeune the exhibit had at it's heart the lengths we (artists) go to to produce the art we do.





The video shows a glimpse of some of the art and activities from opening night this past Saturday.  The sound in this clip was part of the Liz Roncka/Philippe Lejeune performance.  Next Sunday (9/25) will also feature a variety of performances.

Jane Wang wearing one of my limited edition T-Shirts at the opening

A compete listing of the participating artists as well as hot links are on the Mobius event site.


Plus - Jane Wangs full length documentation of Signs of Our Times.

Ria Vanden Eynde shows off her T 

Susan Shulman with her T

Fast Forward into Fall

_Seeking Kali Mail Art for Ray Johnson/ABAD_

Autumn is fast approaching; I can tell because I’m already in sensory overload trying to keep track of the exhibits I want to see and the work I’m contributing to exhibits.

!! Plus; with the help of collaborators Ria Vanden Eynde and Susan Shulman we have the Seeking Kali blog in place.  I’ve already posted some pictures of the artist portfolio in progress that we are at work on.  The blog and now the Facebook group is an addition to the personal pieces on the mythic Kali images we are working on for publication early next year.

The Seeking Kali blog in particular has become a labor of love as we showcase an international group of artists that have used Kali or the topic of paradox as an inspiration for works.  Although this is up and running only a bit over three weeks already we have submissions of paintings, drawings, as well as poetry and music.  A rather exciting opportunity has also presented itself for the Kali project by being included in the Ray Johnson/ A Book About Death show in November at the SAL Gallery on the CW Post campus of Long Island University.

If you visit the link be sure to check out their right sidebar for my free poster download and two more great ones by artists LuAnn Palazzo and Angela Ferrara.

The CW Post exhibit includes the complete works of the 480 artists works that make up the original Book About Death that was exhibited at the Emily Harvey Gallery one year ago.  This project was conceived by artist Matthew Rose and has since been exhibited world-wide.

Examples of ABAD are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  The exhibit at CW Post will focus on the contributions of Ray Johnson to our current network of mail artists.  Joan Harrison, LuAnn Palazzo and Constance Wolf curate this edition of ABAD.  Johnson, the inspiration behind Matthew’s Emily Harvey exhibit, mailed unbound pages of his book about death to his New York Correspondence School students. Johnson is widely regarded as an originator of Mail Art. Please visit their link for the artist call concerning new mail art submissions. (Oct.15 deadline)

Small teaser of the Kali Shadow Theater

(work in progress for SAL Gallery and the Ray Johnson/ABAD)

The Seeking Kali presence at the SAL gallery is two fold.  We will exhibit a video loop of the contributions to our Seeking kali artist call that have been received by Oct. 30th. Submission information for inclusion at this link. Submissions to the blog by the 10/30 date will allow enough time for your inclusion in the video to be shown at SAL.

We will also present a shadow puppet theater during the performances at the opening.  The shadow theater is loosely based on French cabaret shadow performances and Nang puppets from Thailand.  The theme of our Seeking Kali performance is Kali Yuga; an Age of Confusion. The focus is on the folly of total devotion to personal gain at the expense of the collective. Human forms, puppets and silhouettes cast the collage of shadows in this work.

We hope you will join us in the Kali project... lend an arm as we seek to include artists in our international forum for artists working not only with Kali, but myth, narrative paradox and collective actions. Your visuals, poetry, sound and more are welcome here.

Seeking Kali collaboration for the upcoming ABAD exhibit at Belknap Mill
(Myself with Susan Shulman and Ria Vanden Eynde)

 For all information concerning the past and future of A Book About Death the archive link provides a great history of that sister project as well as new call and collaboration opportunities. We are at the one year anniversary of ABAD and it still continues to thrive as artists all over the world add chapters. Our Seeking Kali collaboration began as a result of introductions during ABAD.

A quickly approaching ABAD opportunity is the Laconia, N.H. exhibit at the historic Belknap Mill. The artist call indicates that work is being accepted through October 1. John Moriarty, executive director of Belknap Mill and Melissa McCarthy of The Studio curate.

Last (for this post) but certainly not least is A Book About Death exhibition opportunity this fall curated by Cecil Touchon of the Fluxmuseum at the Fort Worth Community Center. The deadline here is also Oct.1 Visit the call for works for more information on this opportunity.

Fall Exhibits

It's almost fall and I've contributed work to several exhibits that are opening soon. There are more that I'm still at "work in progress" status. These are three highlights.

_Red Sea Ducks _ ©evertson _ invitation for UR Toy Story_

The UR Toy Story exhibition was conceived by and is curated by Jennifer Kosharek. As the invitation shows this features the mail art collected during the past year that this artist call has been active.  Jennifer curated the Chromatophore show at ARTpool Gallery last year.  This year's exhibit should prove to be even more popular with the addition of Fluxus performances.  Reed Altemus, Truman Bentley Jr.,Keith Buchholz, Ginny Lloyd, Bibiana Padilla Maltos, Andrew Topel, Reid Wood and Jennifer Kosharek will perform fluxus scores. I was very pleased that Jennifer liked this piece well enough to act as the postcard invitation for the exhibit.  September 11th at ARTpool Gallery, St. Petersburg, Fl

_My image contained in the data recorder for Space Shuttle launch STS-133_

 Visit here for the Fluxface in Space Exhibit

From the Fluxface in Space blog

Gary A. Bibb, in collaboration with Cecil Touchon, conceived an exciting new exhibition project for the Fluxmuseum. Utilizing the Face In Space Program from NASA - they organized a "Fluxface in Space" exhibition to be launched into orbit on the last two Space Shuttles! These final missions will include a rendezvous with the International Space Station.

121 artists from 25 nations created an original postcard sized work of art, in various media, interpreting the themes of Space Exploration & the Arts, the Shuttle Program, Outer Space, Rockets, Astronauts, Astronomy etc. This will be a commemorative project around the fact that the Space Shuttle program is coming to an end after these last two flights.

My merchandise for the Mobius Prostitution of Art Exhibit

 Jane Hsiaoching Wang and J. Ellis Coleman from the Mobius Artist Group in Boston are running both an online and physical exhibit with the title The Prostitution of Art.  My piece is an edition of T-shirts, which are available for purchase during the exhibit. It is a nod to both the commercial artists designing ad copy and folks that leave Mobius with it's sometimes perplexing experimental art scratching their heads.  At Mobius Sept. 17th - 25th

Coming next post - A Seeking Kali shadow puppet theater in the works for the Ray Johnson / ABAD exhibit at CW Post's SAL Gallery on Long Island.

Toyz at MuBE - Another piece goes on exhibit in Brazil.

Past is Prologue

_New book - The Eve of Fluxus by Billie Maciunas_

Having finished reading The Eve of Fluxus by Billie Maciunas, my first reaction is that I am not quite sure how to characterize it. A romantic memoir noir?  A behind the curtain tell all?  A coming of age story?  Billie has orchestrated all of these and her vivid recollections into a volume that continues to add to the history of what is Fluxus.
Try to describe Fluxus to anyone; this is no easy task. One might say, “It’s after Dada… it’s similar to Conceptual and Pop in some manner, yet only in the sense of several siblings that have gone their own ways.” Of course, this may invite an, “OK, whatever” reaction, on behalf of the casual art observer that belies the intense internal artist debate that surrounds Fluxus.  Billie herself is no stranger to debate.  One of my first interactions with her came on the heels of someone commenting that one of my pieces was fluxus. She strongly took exception. I strongly agreed; fluxus influence and deliberately creating fluxus work are two different things in my mind.  Since then we have had several interesting exchanges on that topic. No less than Fluxus, George Maciunas is undeniably hard to decipher.

Larry Miller from the book’s afterword describes the mindset. “Scholars are still sorting out histories of those who chose to distance themselves from George and his particular brand of Fluxus, those who he did not want as “members,” those who sought him out for approval, and those he actively deemed to be “excommunicated” for reasons he perceived as failings.”

Billie’s book is her highly personal account of a woman arriving late to a party. A memoir of a self described non-artist wandering into a highly charged period of time shortly before the death of George Maciunas in 1978.  While this book may not satisfy those searching for the history of Fluxus, it does describe what that history looked like as George’s cancer advanced and ultimately took his life. 
In many ways Billie is able to paint a vivid picture of a grand exit in the midst of trauma and pain. The orchestration of their flux wedding as the Black and White piece comes into focus as an exit strategy; one “holy fool” donning the clothes of another.  Her description of Georges final demise in Boston Hospital and the unfolding chaos of his estate and determination of what to do with his art and documents are fascinating.
Billie unabashedly delves into their brief yet emotional relationship as George seems to be delving into portions of his persona that were obscure to even some of his colleagues.
At times a disturbing look at two people having psychological pain as a relational basis, it stands out as testament of Billie’s resilience that she overcame the rejection of some within Georges circle to continue as a strident defender of his legacy.
Will everyone involved in Fluxus agree with Billie's observations and interpretations? What's past is prologue and this will be one more log on the already fiery debate.
With a foreword by Kristine Stiles, an introduction by Geoffrey Hendricks and afterword by Larry Miller; this is highly recommended reading.

The Eve of Fluxus is available at http://www.eveoffluxus.com/

Beginning

_ Seeking Kali began as a response the eternal Facebook "What's on your mind?" query. I typed in my thought and soon Ria Vanden Eynde, with whom I've done several collaborations, responded with her thoughts. Susan Shulman immediately joined the thread and we were off. To Where? We had no idea as we tossed around comments on Time, goddess iconography, indigenous belief systems, western perceptions, travels and sources.
Busy with other projects our dance with Kali would take several months before the first manifestation appeared; a beautiful and poignant portrait piece by Ria.

© Ria Vanden Eynde _ Kali Ma

Shortly after this Susan shared her first image and I followed with my mine.  Looking back from where we started, which was the end of January, 2010, it had taken until June to get to that first piece.  Over this period we kept our conversation going on Facebook; using it as a virtual conference room to continue our thoughts.

© Susan Shulman _ Queen Sara Gypsy Kali #1

© William Evertson _ Wheel of Time

These conversations took on a practical tone at times as we made decisions as to how we would present our pieces. Our thought was to make an artist book of our images. Despite our commitment to begin the Seeking Kali blog to share our journey as well as showcase other talented artists, the production of an artist book remains a goal for the three of us.






The format we've settled on is loose folios within a portfolio case. Each of us will be printing on a sheet sixteen inches wide by ten tall. This sheet is then folded to make an 8 x 10 folio.  This format give each of us options on how to use the paper. Longer horizontal pieces can be accommodated or the additional pages created by the fold could be utilized for illuminated manuscript style writing. 




The image below is Susan's use of the folio format (bear in mind that the sheet is folded in half) Mine is the folio's backside; my main image is on the reverse side of this. Also pictured is one of Ria's folios that is designed  to showcase an invocation. (You can see the words in the poem tab of the blog)

Susan Shulman _ folio view

William Evertson _ folio (verso) view

Ria Vanden Eynde _folio view

Our intention is to produce four to five folios each, with versions available in both a hardcase and soft.
Now that we've launched the Seeking Kali blog and artist call in the midst of our own work, even more possibilities seem to be opening up. We hope that the work we're doing with our personal portfolio can act as a blueprint for us to produce collaborations with other artists contributing to Seeking Kali.

Stay tuned; we hope to have this first collaborative work finished in early 2011. 
William Evertson (for Seeking Kali)

Seeking Kali

After a brief break from blogging this summer I’m back at the keyboard with a new post and a new blog. Seeking Kali is up and running; or as Kali is wont to do, dancing.

©evertson_Kali Dance

The new Kali blog is an artist call for images of your works based on the Hindu goddess. Sometimes depicted with four or ten arms her manifestations are many. She is mother, she is goddess, she destroys time as a symbol of dissolution and destruction. Kali destroys ignorance born of our ego and restores order. While often misunderstood and misrepresented in the West her myth and archetype is potent material for artistic interpretation. Click here for details for the artist call, submission guidelines and future plans for the evolution of the project. Seeking Kali began last winter; born from comments from a Facebook thread between Ria Vanden Eynde, Susan Shulman and myself. The three of us became acquainted due to our participation in A Book About Death and its subsequent exhibits.  We all had interests in myth narrative and began to share our thoughts on Kali and the many symbolic ways she manifested. The conversation thread became a collaboration to put together a portfolio of our images of Kali manifestations. 

©shulman_Queen Sara Gypsy 2

This is still a work in progress but our portfolio should be ready in edition form early next year. Over the next several months I’ll share progress pictures of our work on this aspect of our Seeking Kali project.  When the three of us began posting some of our works in progress, in wonderful synchronicity, several other artists began to share their images. Because of the inspired responses to achieving a western understanding of Kali we expanded our horizons to begin this artist call. Our intent is larger still. We are currently researching a way to produce an additional portfolio from interested artists. Just like the many arms of Kali our thoughts are expanding to find ways to include video, multimedia, poets, dancers and artists of all mediums.

©Vanden Eynde_Kali Ma

We would love to keep you in the loop as we move forward. There will be information here as well as on Seeking Kali. You can also email us at seekingkali@yahoo.com.

Holding Out

_©evertson_New work for Abalcabal issue #3_"Holding Out"_

I was visiting friends over the past weekend and the topic of how we first came upon the brave new world of computers came up. My friend mentioned the punch cards we were issued when signing up for classes as college freshmen and how they got feed into a room sized machine which somehow spit out our first class schedules.  Today, most of my creative work is done on my laptop that is many times more powerful than those used in the first Apollo missions. 

Issue #3 of Abalcabal

I’m connected to the Internet with my iPhone and I create much of my work in Photoshop.  The Internet itself is a great organizing tool.  I send people interested in my work here to see what’s in progress, I learn about exhibition opportunities and find collaborators on projects.

A Book About Death was one such Internet project.  That project lead me to my collaborators, Ria Vanden Eynde and Susan Shulman, on the Kali project mentioned in my last post.

_©evertson_contribution to Abalcabal #2_"Codes"_

Another great project I've been involved with is Abalcabal.  This is a zine made by and for those who collaborate by submitting work. Abalcabal was conceived by Jennifer Kosharek as a way for artists who had participated in ABAD to share work with one another. Other artists have found us on Facebook and have started to contribute as well.   I received our third issue recently and continue to be amazed by the creative spirit of the contributing artists.

#2 issue of Abalcabal

Jennifer has done an amazing job of organizing and curating this exchange opportunity as an off shoot of her mail art activity.  This second link for Jennifer has information concerning a mail art show she is organizing for September on the theme of UR Toy Story.

©evertson_contribution to Abalcabal #1_"Introductions"

Abalcabal continues to be only available to the contributors; although despite our "secretive" nature we are not above on occasion sharing some of our "sweet secret things".

First issue of Abalcabal

Abalcabal = A Book About Life + cabal (a group of people joined in a secret)    Shush!

New Work

_Kali Dance_ ©evertson2010_

I’m not sure what others think of artistic collaborations. I find them intriguing; at least when you find the right people for a project.  The piece above is one of the images I’m contributing to a book that I am working on with Susan Shulman of Canada and Ria Vanden Eynde of Belgium.  The Hindu goddess Kali is our topic for an artist book containing giclée prints. 

_Wheel of Time_©evertson2010

Our project began simply with an exchange on Facebook; a few innocuous statements that lead to the idea for doing “something”.  The first exchange began back at the end of January and continued for several months with sporadic chats on Kali, her historical references and our intersections with the mythology.  

_Queen Sara Gypsy Kali_©Susan Shulman2010_

Ultimately these discussions have coalesced around an artist book where we each contribute several images. At this stage we have settled upon loose folio sheets either in a drop spine or portfolio-style book case.  

_Untitled_©Susan Shulman2010_

We have no set deadlines but I thought that while we are in a preliminary but energetic state it is time to start showing off some of the imagery.  Neither do we have any idea how many images we ultimately will produce.  Presently we are working in a folio format in which a single sheet of archival quality paper is folded in half giving each artist several potential layouts for each of the individual folios.

_Kali Ma_©Ria Vanden Eynde2010_

On several occasions during our talks of collaboration we came full circle in our fascination with Kali's many manifestations; she creates and destroys, she is mother and she restores worlds out of balance.  

GREAT MAIL ART:

In the mail this week were several great pieces.  First to arrive was an original collage by Matthew Rose. For those unfamiliar with the particulars of mail art, Matthew's is a great example of trust and allowing for chance. The work consists of original collage on light board that is not wrapped in any way but simply stamped and left to the vicissitudes of the postal service.

collage by Matthew Rose©2010

It came through perfectly!  Now when I want art to make it through without damage...well, it never goes as planned.  Matthew Rose is an American artist that is based in Paris.  His largest collage project, "A Book About Death" continues to gain momentum as new artists step forward worldwide to curate and exhibit this project. Currently ABAD is in Omaha at the RGN Gallery and a fall exhibit is planned for the C.W. Post campus on Long Island. Matthew was recently interviewed on KHND radio.  He describes life in Paris, the story behind A Book About Death and life as a collage.

_detail of Matthew Rose designed artist stamp " Reubens Rounding Third"_
Note that it was cancelled by the postal service - their stamp of approval

I also received a full sheet of artist stamps and Encyclopedia Fluxanica #s 1-6 from Portland, Maine artist Reed Altemus.  Reed works across several media but always with an eye to Fluxus inspiration.  Well known for his copier art and fluxus performance work, these two works are a wonderful gift.  Some information on Reed's copier works are contained in the essay found here.

_Artist Stamps by Reed Altemus©2009_

Reed Altemus©2009

Speaking of collaboration... I don't think I've ever mentioned Abalcabal.  Next time perhaps because I work with some great artists on that project also and we specialize in sweet secret things.

Photo Finish

_My image contained in the data recorder for Space Shuttle launch STS-133_
_Fluxface in Space_

This has been a busy productive week in the studio and also a week of receiving some amazing art in the mail from several friends and collaborators.  The image above is part of the artist call from the Fluxmuseum for an exhibit of postcard sized images that ride into space on one of two final space shuttle missions this fall.  NASA's site allows the upload of pictures that are to be included in the data recorders aboard flights STS-134 and 134. After your upload, print a version and mail to the Fluxmuseum in Fort Worth, TX to be part of the land based exhibit.
I'm not sure how anyone else works but many times I wake up in the morning with my dream mind still engaged. So, that day begins with a thought like, "I should really do something with monkeys".  I don't know why; but I write those thoughts down and sometimes these random things find a way into the art.  So when I heard about this artist call, I thought about the first animal test flights I remembered from my childhood.  So, serendipity strikes and with monkeys on my mind already, I searched the files from NASA archives and found Albert.  Actually there were quite a few Alberts, a rhesus monkey, as well as chimps that were the first living mammals in space.  The ongoing blog of the contributions is called Fluxface in Space. I'm number 3!!

IN THE MAIL

This first grouping is from Kathleen McHugh of Seattle.  This is a set of the cards (to date) of her contributions to the various A Book About Death projects.  First exhibited last fall in NYC at the Emily Harvey Gallery, the ABAD project has expanded internationally.  While some curators have chosen to include only the original  unbound book version containing some 480 images; other curators have extended the call and requested new works. This group contains Kathleen's contribution to the ongoing projects.

Kathleen McHugh for Emily Harvey, NYC

Kathleen McHugh for RNG Gallery, Omaha, NE

Kathleen McHugh for MuBE, Brazil

Kathleen McHugh for MuBE, Brazil

Kathleen McHugh for MoMA, Wales

The next piece is from Christine Tarantino of Massachusetts.  Christine maintains the Fluxus-USA/ New New Art blog where various international artists submit a variety of current and historical Fluxus material.  Fluxus, in its broadest definition consists of a blending of media, styles and disciplines that began in the 60's. I certainly have been influenced by many Fluxus artists and continue to contribute to shows containing fluxus work.  Grazie Christine!

Christine Tarantino

Several pieces showed up from Belgium this week from Ria Vanden Eynde with whom I love to work on collaborations.  This next piece is hers alone and is intended for the RNG Gallery of Omaha where another ABAD exhibit is in the process of being assembled.  There is still time to participate in this latest version of ABAD being curated by Louise Millmann and Robert Gilmer.

Ria Vanden Eynde: an ABAD image for RNG Gallery of Omaha, NE

The following is an ongoing work in progress collaboration between Ria and myself.  This particular one began with several ink drawings I sent to Belgium for Ria to add to or modify without restriction.  This is the second and it has just been returned for me to do the same. Either add and resend, call it done or some other undetermined action.  We both enjoy the possibility of accident, change and impermanence.  The piece I sent was an ink sketch of an Iris on paper about 12" x 21".  In this case Ria has attached a pressed flower (a forget me not) and a Japanese death poem written on the reverse.
Ria has also launched a new blog of special interest to women artists (and the men that love them). In Ria's words: "I’m interested to see how other women artists create as they are ‘touched' by life. I’m calling women artists for artworks about their body as it changes through different circumstances, the joyful and the sad. To name a few: aging, child birth, illness, accidents, psychological suffering, life changing events, ... Interested?" Please visit The Body - Nothing Else.

Work in progress by Ria Vanden Eynde and William Evertson

detail of poem

detail of flower