{"id":78680,"date":"2014-12-02T12:30:19","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T17:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=78680"},"modified":"2014-12-09T13:53:46","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T18:53:46","slug":"paper-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/02\/paper-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Paper Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

The invitation card for Claes Oldenburg’s Store<\/em>, New York, 1961.<\/p><\/div>\n

Three years ago, PPP Editions published a limited-edition book called 100 Fanzines \/ 10 Years of British Punk 1976\u20131985<\/em>. I have a copy and keep intending to give it to any number of friends who know more about the Clash, the Mo-dettes, or Attila the Stockbroker than I do, but I haven\u2019t yet handed it over. I certainly wasn\u2019t a fixture of the Thatcher-era punk scene, but I nonetheless feel nostalgic when I look through the book. The cover of Verbal Warfare<\/em> no. 1, from 1981, contains the line \u201cBeware of the serpent that twines around the cross \u2026 his body, the living dead at their production lines,\u201d and I notice that it\u2019s written in a script that resembles my sister\u2019s eighth-grade cursive. I\u2019m transfixed by the the ratty hand-drawn graphics and raw, energetic designs, not to mention the silliness and badassery of titles like Ignorance of the Unborn<\/em>, Terminal Illiteracy<\/em>, Surrey Vomet<\/em>, and Raisin \u2019ell<\/em> (number 10 is the special \u201cThis issue sucks!\u201d edition). I also love the zines\u2019 materiality: the staples in the bindings, the softly foxed corners, the smudges, visible erasure marks, and toner streaks. The idea that these are at once mass-produced publications (you can almost feel a phantom photocopier heat coming off the page) and rare objects\u2014always already ephemeral\u2014is fascinating.<\/p>\n

The very notion of ephemera<\/em> is curious: objects of little value that weren\u2019t meant to be preserved but whose vulnerability, I imagine, appealed to someone. Political buttons, business cards, seed packets, and train timetables\u2014scrappy artifacts that otherwise would have been lost to the dustheap. Even ephemera\u2019s subcategories\u2014like \u201cfugitive materials\u201d and \u201cgray literature\u201d\u2014are suitably mothy and eccentric. In the art world, potential ephemera is everywhere: small-edition artist books, exhibition posters, flyers, announcement cards, invitations, press releases. The Museum of Modern Art Library, in New York, houses an extensive archive populated by such materials. A photograph of the files at MoMA QNS shows reams of folders that resemble medical records, though a bit of feathery orange fluff peeping out from one folder suggests something less sober. Through its sheer volume, the archive offers a minihistory of art and of individual artists.<\/p>\n

David Senior, a bibliographer at MoMA Library, curated an exhibition around the archive; \u201cPlease Come to the Show<\/a>\u201d was on view last year in New York and earlier this year at the Exhibition Research Centre in Liverpool. It must have been fun digging through all the files and (re)discovering canon-adjacent materials like Claes Oldenburg\u2019s blue, slightly stained business card\/invitation to The Store<\/em>; Nancy Spero\u2019s pugnacious, textual invitation to \u201cTorture of Women\u201d; and an announcement, addressed to Frank O\u2019Hara, of the premier of Warhol\u2019s film Empire<\/em> (admission: two dollars). <\/p>\n


\n
\"<\/a>

The invitation to Nancy Spero’s “Torture of Women,” with text by Lucy Lippard, at A.I.R. Gallery, 1976.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

I feel about the catalogue to\u00a0\u201cPlease Come to the Show\u201d<\/a> (published by the British press Occasional Papers<\/a>) the way I feel about 100 Fanzines<\/em>: it\u2019s a dusty trunk hauled out of an attic that contains memories that aren\u2019t mine but feel as though they are. I recognize most, if not all, of the artists\u2019 names from seeing their work and reading about them, but these vestiges of exhibitions past look foreign to me\u2014while also looking familiar. Context is the problem. It\u2019s looking at a Warhol Campbell\u2019s Soup Can<\/em> and then at an actual Campbell\u2019s soup can, and then back at the Warhol. They\u2019re so much alike, but you know that one of them is art and the other isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Art ephemera exists in that same gray area: it resembles art, and even depicts art, but isn\u2019t art. That doesn\u2019t stop these posters, cards, and invitations from having the appearance of miniartworks and for being innovative within a genre I didn\u2019t even know existed. Many items in the catalogue aren\u2019t content to remain mere advertisements. On a particularly lovely Ed Ruscha announcement for a show at the Ferus Gallery in 1965, the tail and beak of a black-and-white bird morph into the two ends of a yellow pencil; with his beak, the bird scrawls the show\u2019s information on a small slip of paper. An undated ad for a performance by Judson Dance Theater, designed by Robert Morris, shows two overlapping prints of a right foot, one blurring across the other: the motion of modern-dance steps captured on paper, like Yves Klein\u2019s Anthropom\u00e9trie<\/em> or Ana Mendieta\u2019s Body Tracks<\/em>. The card for a 1980 show, in Sweden, of work by the land artist Michelle Stuart has an actual chunk of rock affixed to it. The invitation has moved beyond mere ephemera; it\u2019s a sculpture in its own right. (What must the mailing costs have been?)<\/p>\n

\"Michelle<\/a>

The announcement for Michelle Stuart’s show “jordbilder, stenb\u00f6cker,” at Galleriet, 1980.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Edward<\/a>

The announcement for Edward Ruscha’s 1965 exhibition at Ferus Gallery.<\/p><\/div>\n

Conceptual play is at work in a good deal of material. In 1962, a Croatian group of artists known as Gorgona sent out an exhibition invitation that bore only the words IZVOLITE PRISUSTVOVATI<\/small><\/em>, or \u201cPlease attend,\u201d printed on it; there was no other information\u2014nothing about, say, where or when the show would be held. It\u2019s rather like Stephen Hawking\u2019s imagined party for time travelers: the invitation is sent out only after the party has occurred, and no one shows up. The Gorgona noninvitation was an influence on Senior\u2019s conception of the exhibition (as well as its title). He cites its \u201cquiet comportment, which coupled cleverly with a clear mischievousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another prime example of that guiding principle is Robert Barry\u2019s infamous Closed Gallery<\/em>, from 1962, which consists of invitations to exhibitions in Turin, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles (only the first two are included in the book). God help the poor soul who didn\u2019t read the information closely: \u201cduring the exhibition the gallery will be closed.\u201d Collector Herb Vogel called it \u201cwithout a doubt the greatest piece of Conceptual art that was ever done in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Occasionally, the artist intrudes on his or her own announcement in more tangible ways. A 1982 postcard for a show of work by David Wojnarowicz carries a handwritten inscription to art historian Lucy Lippard: \u201cHope you can catch this show. \u2014David.\u201d I don\u2019t know whether she did\u2014by Lippard\u2019s own admission, she didn\u2019t take Wojnarowicz\u2019s art seriously until the late eighties\u2014but it\u2019s a wonderful, touching moment of a now-famous and successful artist (though, sadly, posthumously so) yearning for recognition. It represents an instant in which, Senior says, \u201cnow-iconic figures in contemporary art \u2026 were decidedly not iconic\u201d; it is \u201cart history as it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creatively conceived materials work in tandem with the art they seek to advertise. An announcement for the opening of Lucio Fontana\u2019s show at Martha Jackson Gallery in 1961 is printed on chartreuse, felt-weave paper and is riddled with holes, as though from a hole punch, mimicking the buchi<\/em> for which Fontana was then best known. On a card for the Dwan Gallery\u2019s 1968 show \u201cEarth Works,\u201d the type is rendered in what looks like sand; its granular form is barely legible against the cardboard-colored paper. Someone, perhaps an overeager assistant or librarian, has written \u201cConceptual art\u201d in the top corner, only to have it, rightly, marked out.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The announcement for Lucio Fontana’s 1961 show at Martha Jackson Gallery.<\/p><\/div>\n

There are announcements, too, that must have gained value as the work they advertise has become increasingly famous: Dan Flavin\u2019s Four Monuments for V. Tatlin<\/em>, his first show at Leo Castelli, in 1970; Richard Prince\u2019s provocative Spiritual America<\/em> (which could be viewed by appointment only), in 1983; Cindy Sherman\u2019s now-iconic Untitled Film Stills<\/em>, at the Kitchen in 1980.<\/p>\n

As the eighties take hold, the materials\u2019 inventiveness flags. Designs are occasionally contrived, the jokes less fresh\u2014it can\u2019t be easy to follow on the heels of Barbara Kruger\u2019s hugely influential graphic declarations or Adrian Piper\u2019s gold-embossed, funereal \u201cdirect mail advertisement\u201d for Funk Lessons<\/em> or Group Material\u2019s 1981 invitation for the benefit \u201cexhibition and feast\u201d called \u201cEat This Show,\u201d which is printed on a paper plate. Still, I expect more from a Mike Kelley invitation, for instance, than a restrained black-and-white design and text with variable kerning. An exception in the closing pages of the book is a quartet of prismatic posters and cards from the early 2000s for events at the collaborative art space General Store, in Milwaukee. The idiosyncratic ethos of the gallery is reflected in the lo-fi aesthetic of the announcements and is a marked departure from the increasing reliance on more conservative and computer-based design work.<\/p>\n


\n
\"The<\/a>

The invitation to Group Material’s gala benefit “Eat This Show,” 1981.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

There are far too many excellent invitations and flyers here to have a favorite, but the most intriguing may be those that work as expeditions\u2014invitations not simply to view art but to hunt for it. One of those is an announcement for a 2009 book signing for Rarely Seen Bas Jan Ader Film<\/em>, by David Horvitz. The flyer reproduces a Google Maps satellite view of a section of land between Bard College\u2019s Blithewood Manor and the Hudson River. Handwritten annotations make it a kind of treasure map, complete with a large X marked \u201cHere.\u201d Attendees were to follow the map\u2019s instructions and meet at sunset at the river. Ader, a Dutch conceptual artist, was famously lost at sea when he set out in a small boat in an attempt to cross the Atlantic, in 1975, as part of a performance project called In Search of the Miraculous<\/em>. In the first part of the project, however, Ader took a nighttime walk from the Hollywood Hills to the Pacific, a journey Horvitz\u2019s map echoes.<\/p>\n

\"Flyer<\/a>

Flyer for a book signing for Rarely Seen Bas Jan Ader Film<\/em>, by David Horvitz, 2009.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The announcement card for Daniel Buren’s Bus Benches<\/em>, in Los Angeles, 1970.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the early seventies, Daniel Buren distributed his signature blue-and-white, vertically striped paintings around various cities. A cache of cards from this period advertising the installations tells you what to look for and when and where, but not in the way you might expect. The card for his bus benches project from 1982, for instance (the project was initiated in the seventies), lists the locations of fifty bus benches around Los Angeles at which the stripes could be found, \u201cday and night.\u201d Another such project lists a billboard\u2019s location as 11501 West Pico, in Los Angeles, \u201cacross the street from the Chung King restaurant.\u201d It doesn\u2019t get any more in situ than that. But the best may be a card from 1970 that provides the details, such as they are, for an installation in New York: the dimensions are \u201cvariable according to the day\u201d; the color is \u201carbitrary according to the day\u201d; and the location is \u201cdifferent every day.\u201d The card offers a phone number that can be called at any hour for more information. But a note at the top of the card is significant: \u201cYou are invited to read this as a guide to what can be seen.\u201d Art isn\u2019t always what\u2014or where\u2014you expect to find it.<\/p>\n

Nicole Rudick is the managing editor of<\/em> The Paris Review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three years ago, PPP Editions published a limited-edition book called 100 Fanzines \/ 10 Years of British Punk 1976\u20131985. I have a copy and keep intending to give it to any number of friends who know more about the Clash, the Mo-dettes, or Attila the Stockbroker than I do, but I haven\u2019t yet handed it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[7094,15828,922,35,15831,15832,1416,1010,15830,6914,15825,9371,15829,15833,1388,15826,1401,705,2421,6412,14511,15824,15827],"class_list":["post-78680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-adrian-piper","tag-ana-medieta","tag-andy-warhol","tag-art","tag-barbara-kruger","tag-bas-jan-ader","tag-cindy-sherman","tag-claes-oldenburg","tag-dan-flavin","tag-daniel-buren","tag-david-wojnarowicz","tag-ed-ruscha","tag-ferus-gallery","tag-invitations","tag-leo-castelli","tag-lucio-fontana","tag-mike-kelley","tag-moma","tag-nancy-spero","tag-punk","tag-richard-prince","tag-robert-barry","tag-robert-morris"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMoMA Library\u2019s Collection of Art Ephemera<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nicole Rudick on the hidden art in invitations and exhibition announcements.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/02\/paper-trail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paper Trail by Nicole Rudick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 2, 2014 \u2013 Three years ago, PPP Editions published a limited-edition book called 100 Fanzines \/ 10 Years of British Punk 1976\u20131985. 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