A Book About Death

 The Emily Harvey Foundation – 537 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York City, NY 10012

The Emily Harvey Foundation – San Polo 322, 30125 Venezia, Italia

www.emilyharveyfoundation.org/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :

 A BOOK ABOUT DEATH :  AN UNBOUND BOOK ON THE SUBJECT OF DEATH

 OPENING: September 10, 2009 – 7 PM – 10 PM

EXHIBITION: September 10 – 22, 2009; Tuesday – Saturday, 1PM – 7PM

THE BLOG & ARTIST WORKS, INFO: abookaboutdeath.blogspot.com

THE WALL : abookaboutdeath.net [Designed by Caterina Verde].

LIVE WEBCAST: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/abookaboutdeath

FOR ALL INFORMATION, INTERVIEWS, IMAGES PLEASE CONTACT:

CHRISTIAN XATREC, Director, EHF NYC : 1 917 331 2960  E : xatrec@gmail.com

MATTHEW ROSE : 1 561 414 6805 E: MATTHEW.ROSE.PARIS@GMAIL.COM

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK – The Emily Harvey Foundation is pleased to present A Book About Death, a sprawling, collaborative unbound “book” on the subject of death at the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in New York. The opening, on Thursday, September 10, 2009, one day shy of 9/11, brings together hundreds of artists in a global exhibition that honors the late artist Ray Johnson (1927-1995), whose own work inspired this exhibition; Emily Harvey (1941-2004); and the artists themselves, who have presented their unique visions of the subject through combinations of art, photography, and text.

Conceived and organized by Matthew Rose, a Paris-based American artist, A Book About Death is comprised of artists’ postcards from original art created specifically for the exhibit.  These pieces collectively form the pages of the “book.”   While many of the artists involved in the exhibition are internationally known – Yoko Ono, Eric Andersen, Peter Schuyff, Rodney Alan Greenblat – all of the artists share the stage equally.  Each artist has contributed 500 postcards to the exhibit, and visitors to the gallery are encouraged to take “pages” away with them to create their own book about death.  The exhibit is thus designed to “disappear” on its own schedule as people attend the exhibit.    

“Ray Johnson is part of the history and spirit of The Emily Harvey Gallery, now The Emily Harvey Foundation,” explains Christian Xatrec, EHF NYC director. “Taking the title from Ray Johnson, Matthew Rose’s A Book About Death project refers to Ray’s groundbreaking-work in the ephemeral, expanded field of correspondence art. However, this show sets those key Johnsonian concepts on a new course, in sync with the evolving interests of the Emily Harvey Foundation program today. The developing mission of the Foundation, and Rose’s show, refuse the notion of hierarchy and the buttressing of institutional framings.” 

“Understanding death in any complete sense, doesn’t seem at all possible if you’re alive, but these artists have fleshed out many hundreds of approaches,” says Matthew Rose. The artist pays tribute to his own mother, Doris, who died during the project, with a photograph of her taken on her wedding day, January 18, 1948.  “I’m pleasantly astonished at the intellectual breadth and high humor of the works, and I think both Ray and Emily – and even my mother – would be, too.  It’s a fascinating book.”

RAY JOHNSON

“Between March 1963 and early 1965, Ray Johnson sent out an unbound ‘book’ in the mail one page at a time,” explains Mark Bloch, one 13 speakers and performers for the opening night. “It was a largely unnoticed milestone in the history of books.  To make things even more interesting, like much of Johnson’s art, it took as its subject ‘death’. Now almost 15 years after the mysterious death of Johnson himself, a huge cross-section of international artists have been asked to revisit Johnson’s original strategy by submitting one page each to a new ‘Book About Death.'”

“I think it’s going to be a real 1960s-style Happening for the new millennium,” adds Bloch. That “happening” will also be webcast live – to fit the 21st century and the global nature of this project.

“This project has been compelling for its sheer openness on a topic that is universal,” says Caterina Verde, artist and website designer of the “wall” style site for A Book About Death. “To see the images submitted from around the world and the cultural permutations of the subject, the variations of temperament, thoughts, aesthetics — is as we observe ourselves walking through life : Ordinary and extraordinary.”

“The distribution of art and ideas was very much Ray Johnson’s thing,” says Denver-based photographer Mark Sink, who contributed a photograph of his mother, a three-time cancer survivor, to the exhibition. “It’s very exciting to see him and the concept honored in this exhibition.”  Sink noted that when first confronted with the project, he drew a blank on death. Then, with some time, the ideas came rushing in.  “Life is all about death — Freud’s dissertation of the human drive – sex or death and ‘the death of analog…the death of our culture…the slaughter of self-aware sea mammals, and of course, our dying earth. Now I can’t stop thinking about it!”

Verde, for one, is “surprised to see that there are no images – besides David Rager’s poster – that touch upon 9/11, as the opening is the day before the anniversary. Perhaps,” she muses, “this is still a taboo subject.”

“A Book About Death has become a book about life,” adds Joan Harrison, artist, writer. “I have the strangest sense I can hear Ray (Johnson) chuckling over my shoulder every time I work on anything involved with this project!”