MAIL ART EXHIBITION: 12.12.12

My END OF THE WORLD piece for 12.12.12.

DUMB BUNNY: An Exchange With Sol LeWitt At MASS MOCA

An Exchange with Sol LeWitt at Mass Moca in North Adams, Massachusetts these past few months brought nearly a thousand art works together to honor the late artist.  The concept was an exchange, a conversation, a dialogue. My Dumb Bunny, a stencil print in black, was sent in to speak my piece.  And since my great friend, the artist, Russell Steinert, was passing by the museum he espied my rabbit and took this photo insitu.  See Russell's paintings here.

DUMB BUNNY prints are also being offered for the Kickstarter Project for THE TIES THAT BIND.  For a $15 DONATION to the project you'll receive a print.  The project needs $1000 to fund musicians for the opening.  See all details here: THE TIES THAT BIND.

POSTERS: FREE TO DOWNLOAD

Download any or all of these posters as high resolution PDFs, print and enjoy.  Free.

GUTEN TAG GUTENBERG: LETTER TO JOHANES

Entry for A Letter To Johannes Gutenberg, a mail art exhibition in Mainz, Germany.

http://blog.kunstzwerg.net/

JUMBO SIZED VIAGRA 2011

 

New & Improved: Jumbo-sized 6-liter bottle of Viagra (Only You), 2011.  Indeed: Six ways to have fun, on view at La Cave des Papilles, Paris.  For sale: Contact Viagra Bottle.

ROSE LAVE PLUS BLANC: 1996

Installation piece made for ROSE LAVE PLUS BLANC in Ivry/Seine, France, 1996. The white piece is a reference to Lot's Wife, the vial is a sample of the Dead Sea in Israel, the bucket is well, just a bucket.

Click the image to enlarge.

PHOTO: ARI ROSSNER/PARIS.

Star Paintings

ADVENTURES IN A BOX: NOW AVAILABLE

ADVENTURES IN A BOX has launched.  The limited edition set of 24 prints, objects, drawings and collage works by Matthew Rose and Fritz Sauter.  The image above, Invincible, is an original collage and was created to serve as the cover for the edition, ADVENTURES IN A BOX.

FROM SLASHSTROKE MAGAZINE (UK):

Bound to a desk in front of a computer screen is no doubt the formatting of new perspectives and outlooks, not always ideal but certainly explorations in varying directions. No longer confined to location what is quite heartening is the connections and networks that grow from chance encounters via the web. Work, ideas and output have a more open ideological middle ground, once its live it is in every sense out there, for interpretation, discussion, review and optimistically for growth and experimentation. Swiss artist Fritz Sauter came across the work of Matthew Rose (France) via various online media/gallery profiles, Red Fox Press, Facebook, Blogs and in particular a project by Rose,  A Book About Death.

Mutual communication and image sharing of related ideas eventually spurred a trip from Paris to Schaffhausen in January 2011 to work free style in Fritz’s letter press studio and their combined abilities morphed into “Adventures in a Box,” a collaborative book project.

The box: powerful, magical and convenient. It is where jewels are kept and loved ones buried. Solid or flimsy, the box is the willing partner to most anything: Old letters, old clothes, cash, trash, ash. Our boxes shift shape and purpose: A suitcase, a briefcase, a cigarette case. Sealed by tape or string or the gravity of its cover, like a heart, the box beats out a certain secret. A gift. A poisoned gift.
That’s the wide-eyed premise of Adventures in a Box, a collaborative spiriting down the rabbit hole by Swiss-German and letterpress Kunstler Fritz Sauter, and Paris based American dadaist Matthew Rose. Like Alice through the looking glass, Adventures – in printed works and altered objects – are voyages of the mind: Trips that scribble backwards and upside down via letterpress; here text and image amuses, perplexes, maps out and reaches out.

Beginning with dozens of 36×36 cm cardboard boxes, purchased by Fritz from a local monopac-factory and a varied collection of cast off supplies from the local Salvation Army, the initial suggested to fill the boxes was the start of the “Adventure”. In a limited edition of 24, more than two dozen individual works in collage, letterpress, drawing, rubber stamp, altered objects and even buttons found are packaged like a massive Dagwood sandwich, multi-layered with each piece a chapter in a trip through death, love, drunkenness, God, Disney, pin-ups and the meaning of political discourse in a world gone akimbo. Stealing the flame from Duchamp’s Boite en Valise, the Frenchman’s “portable exhibition” of his significant works and ready mades, Adventures, is essentially a complete and ready-made exhibition in a box.

Once in the studio, which overlooked the Rhine, it was a mad rush of cutting and pasting and pulling type from an immense collection. “Fritz would ink up the press and we’d roll right through the day.” explains Rose. “The collaboration was intensive” says Fritz, “we discussed every aspect seriously – sometimes we found a way to make the works, sometimes we didn’t. We argued about translations, design, colours, paper,  it was like a marriage! But in art, I prefer to work in ways where meaning is different for people. Agreement was not the goal, conversation was the goal and in the end, the adventure.”

A gold record featuring ‘Fritz Sauter sings Vivaldi offers the B side of ‘Mathew Rose complains about Swiss food’. Another work is a simple button exhorting you to: FRAGEN SIE IHER KUNSTLER(ASK YOUR ARTIST). Fritz also created a series of abstract drawings in crayon, and rubber stamps for each box. Meanwhile Matthew spent one afternoon composing 25 of his unique collages using American pin ups, medical illustrations and bits of magazine ads from the 1950s. Political posters in wooden type- “FUCK YOU AND YOUR POLITICS” – were paired with cold type text bitching about Western societies: “THE SWISS ARE PERFECT”

“We filled the ‘Schachtel’ (box) with almost every idea we had during the four days in Switzerland,” says Fritz. ” You can take each piece in your hands and examine it. The art is intimate, but it’s also quite a surprise. So many different ideas, but I can hear (and see) them all talking to each other. Its like a guide to some strange place!”

The limited edition work is dedicated to the French artist Jean-Paul Chagniot (1951-2011), who died just as the project was launched. Two boxes are already in the art collection of the city of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The works are available direct from each artist. 


For more information on the edition: ADVENTURES.
 

Gestalten's Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage

Gestalten, the German art book publisher, just released Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage, edited by artist/curator James Gallagher.  I'm pleased to be included this new volume.  My work can be seen on pages 178 - 183.  There are about 300 full-color pages; hard cover.

To order: Price: €39,90 | $60,00 | £37,50.

"Cutting Edges documents the new heyday of collage in current art and visual culture. Today’s artists, illustrators, and designers are increasingly drawn to this artistic technique by the challenges of seamlessly melding traditional craftsmanship with skilled computer montage. They are not only composing a wide variety of visual elements, but are also deliberately omitting, deleting, and destroying them. This book is an inspiring collection of these unique examples of contemporary collage."

Above: Alone, 2009, collage on paper from the series, Days Like These. Cutting Edges book cover.

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn, collage on canvas. 29 x 42 cm. 2005.

A KICK IN THE KUNST: KUNST KICKERS TO SONS

My Kunst Kickers, exhibited at Rossella Junck Berlin in 2008, are now part of the SONS / Shoes Or No Shoes Collection in Belgium.  SONS Website.

DEFENSE DE NE PAS TOUT FAIRE

http://defensedafficherproject.blogspot.com/

Waiting Room Basel Train Station : Radiator

Waiting Room Basel Train Station 1:52 PM

Waiting Room Basel Train Station : Buffet

Un Libro Sulla Morte Omaggio A Ray Johnson - ABAD ITALIA Opening 9 April 2011

http://unlibrosullamorte.blogspot.com/

A Book About Death: Homage to Ray Johnson

UN LIBRO SULLA MORTE - A BOOK ABOUT DEATH

The Nuovo Archivio International  Biblioteca Artist’s Book/NABILA-FLUXUS/ Treviso, curated by Virginia Milici, presents an exhibition in homage to Ray Johnson with reference to the first ABAD exhibition by Paris-based American artist Matthew Rose.

Assembling: Adventures In A Box

Fritz Sauter is currently assembling the various elements, prints, collages, drawings and unusual objects for the boxed edition: Adventures In A Box.  We hope to have them finished and online for sale within the next two weeks.  If you are interested, please contact: ADVENTURES.

Fragen Sie Ihren Kunstler / Ask Your Artist

Fragen Sie Ihren Kunstler buttons for the limited edition Adventures In A Box, a project I produced with artist Fritz Sauter in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.  Some 15 different elements – letter press prints, gold records, unusual objects, collage works, rubber stamp prints among other works – are included in the box. Only 22 boxes will be available for purchase. Curious? Contact me.

KAUGHT LOOKING

  

KEEP CALM GALLERY








































KAUGHT LOOKING ARTICLE

Orange Dot Gallery London Opens Virtual Gallery

On view at The Orange Dot Gallery London.

Schaffhausen Nachrichten: Adventures In A Box

Click image to enlarge and read.

NICEPICTURE: LETTER PRESS PRINT

NICEPICTURE, a letter press print is one of some 15 different works for ADVENTURES IN A BOX, a collaborative edition produced with Fritz Sauter in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

The print, made from a carved cork block, was produced in an edition of 24 with an artist proof, and several printer's proofs.

Some 18 box editions will be made available.

Letter press, rubber stamp, collage, objects and other works on a variety of fine art papers comprise the edition. Text and image come together in this unusual mixture of German and English words and pictures.


The works were all conceived and produced over a period of one week in mid-January, 2011.

ADVENTURES IN A BOX project was supported by the City of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The edition will be priced shortly.  For information: ADVENTURES IN A BOX.

If you would be interested in a separate NICEPICTURE print, please contact: NICEPICTURE.

Print Contest Radio Rasa: Schaffhausen, Switzerland

The wonderful rockers at Radio Rasa in Schaffhausen, Switzerland  – next door to Fritz Sauter's Studio – are offering three of my FUCK YOU & YOUR POLITICS letter press prints to the 11th, 22nd and 33rd e mailers to the station.  Free.

Produced by Fritz Sauter as part of our edition: Adventures in a Box, we thought the nice people at Radio Rasa might enjoy this piece about the language of politics. Tune in to this excellent alternative music station and say hello to Christian and Phillip.

An edition of FY&YP of 75 is now available. 

What I Like

What I like: Scuff marks on the floor, skid marks on the street, torn and wet discarded children's drawings, piles of old abandoned magazines, aged advertisements for cakes and cars or shaving lotion, the stack of Hebrew grammar books from the 1940s I once found tossed in the middle of a Tel Aviv street, perfectly-made objects that have no apparent use, empty cigar boxes, blocks of beeswax, rusted bits of torn metal, logos for companies that no longer exist, typography, doodles, footprints, cyphers (and ciphers), the artworks of Joseph Cornell, Jasper Johns and Ray Johnson in that order, the possibilities of sandpaper, steel wool and a year's weather on one of my canvases, the act of finding something completely unwanted (and apparently useless), taking it home, applying some glue or paint, a bit of cutting and shaping, and marrying it with some other orphaned bit of the world and witnessing this Pinocchio-like Lazarus rise to let me know what I might need to know. I like spelling with scissors, my handbook of everything, the collage of people doing what they do (often nothing)...and working whatever little magic I have to refashion the unmistakable into something mysterious.  One of each of everything.

What I don't like:  Loud yabbering about the obvious.

SWIM: SKETCH BOOK PROJECT

My seafood restaurant napkin work, sent to Betty Esperanza for her Sketch Book project.

Click to enlarge.

LA PHOTO DE LA SEMAINE

My New Year's Card for 2011.

The Paris Correspondence School : Mail Art Cadvre Exquis Opens 16 December 2010 Galerie Sparts

The MAIL ART 2010 exhibition is this year's answer to unpaid bills, junk mail and the Tapis D'Orient flyers that litter your hallways.

The artists involved have long irritated post office workers, mailmen and women, and in general created havoc where the postal system is concerned. And not only in France, but world wide. (Me, too). 

Click here to see the artist list.

A strange and wonderful mail art cadavre exquis, organized by Christian Balmier, where four artists work on a piece in a round, some 25 examples of this surrealist game will be on view at beginning Thursday, December 16, 2010 at Galerie SPARTS  41, rue de Seine - 75006 PARIS.


Among the artists involved:  

Jean-Michel ALBEROLA, Jean-Paul ALBINET, Christian BALMIER, BEN VAUTIER, Yvon BOHERS, Alain BRESSON, José-Garcia CORDERO, Charlélie COUTURE, Henri CUECO, Pierre DESSONS, Hervé DI ROSA, Philippe DRUILLET, Yann DUGAIN, Marc GIAI-MINIET, Gérard GUYOMARD, Abraham HADAD, Michel HERGIBO, Michel HOSSZÙ, Pierre JOINUL, Eliane LARUS, Gérard LE CLOAREC, Yves LÉVÊQUE, LJUBA, Fédérica MATTA, Jérôme MESNAGER, Ricardo MOSNER, Mehdi QOTBI, RABA, Matthew ROSE, Sélim SAIAH, Sacha SOSNO, Roland TRUC, Béatrice TURQUAND D'AUZAY, Michel TYSZBLAT, Vladimir VELICKOVIC, Jacques VIMARD and William WILSON.

Paris Relax : Japan

Beautiful article on my work from Japanese writer and health/body advisor, Chico Shigeta: Paris Relax.

She discusses my Rubens Rounding Third Baseball Stamps and other projects... Read Japanese?

http://parisrelax.exblog.jp/12444347/

BOY'S LIFE : The Book

Some years ago I came upon this old French ledger book and decided to turn it into another of my books.  BOYS' LIFE.

I cut and pasted and painted and glue and tore and gouged and turned the pages to work on another spread.  The entire process took me about a week and a half and the result is a heavily glued and painted and collaged and tells a non-narrative story of how a boy ventures out into the world and encounters God, love, sex, friendship and drunk driving.

The book contains 48 spreads.  I have exhibited it only once, in Miami, in 2005.

There is quite a bit of text in BOY'S LIFE, but it doesn't borrow from the magazine of the same name at all. Some might remember BOYS LIFE as the Boy Scout magazine that circulated widely in the 60s and early 70s detailing the true life adventure stories, and quite a few fictional stories about boys working the wilderness, or figuring out how to make a buck (cutting lawns, cleaning out garages, shoveling snow or doing good deeds).  There was plenty too about making things (motorized noise for your bike – a playing card and clothespin) and plenty to buy – knives, radio kits, bikes, boots, tents, seeds (another money making venture kit). I loved the optimism of these magazines and since my boyhood was not as positive as those who played in the pages of these publications, my book is more like a manual that really doesn't help anyone to anything.

The texts are coded in simple way and combined with images fill out the young boy's dream of making himself more real. You'll find a number of dogs, birds, letters, photographs and abstractions here (his death dream), along with a somewhat double image of many pieces like the pages above.

Contact me for information on this or my other books.

Max Ernst