16/1/2004
James Lee Byars
Mass MoCA, North Adams
Every morning, before dawn, the American artist Lee Byars (1932-1997) would rise and begin the composition of another installment of his remarkable correspondence.
Exhibition of the Letters
Every morning, before dawn, the American
artist James Lee Byars (1932-1997) would rise and begin the composition
of another installment of his remarkable correspondence. Byars wrote
thousands of letters, to a variety of recipients - friends, curators,
gallery owners and collectors, intellectuals, important people in public
life, those he considered great "thinkers", as well as his artistic
colleagues - and MASS MoCA will show a collection of more than 30 of
these letters alongside some other selected artifacts of Byars' life.
The exhibition entitled James Lee Byars: Letters from the World's Most
Famous Unknown Artist (a title Byars gave to himself) opens January 17
and runs through June 6, 2004 in MASS MoCA's Michael & Agnese Meehan and
Works on Paper Galleries.
Much more than a collection of black-ink-on-white-paper correspondence,
Byars' letters are visually and textually spectacular. They are
composed out of a rich variety of materials - hand-painted or dyed
tissue paper from China or Japan; a strange synthetic paper that recalls
lens cleaning tissue; a fancy invitation card; glossy gold wrapping
paper and papyrus; as well as the humblest of all, toilet paper. Even
more striking is the variety of shapes Byars employs. Most of the
letters are shaped in some way, and some are quite large-scale. Several
letters are composed on 2-inch wide strips of tissue paper glued
together to form a continuous length that can be as long as fifty feet
when fully unfolded. All of the delicate paper, feathers, and other
unexpected materials such as poppy seeds or gold glitter, are folded or
crumpled into a small envelope and sealed, to be opened by an astonished
reader, who then, presumably - with utmost delicacy, concentration and
attention - will read and appreciate it, unfolding and uncovering its
contents. The experience of receiving a letter from James Lee Byars
involved what would normally be a ridiculous amount of care, attention,
and even ceremony - unfolding something that easily tears, gently
touching, and carefully examining a precious object. The experience of
reading one of the letters calls for a heightened tactile and visual
awareness.
The writing of the letters was a ritual, undertaken by Byars every day,
alone, before anyone else was awake, and with a certain degree of
ceremony appropriate for a time of day that evokes an existence
separated from the mundane world. Byars' public artistic output involved
the staging of frequent theatrical performances. These letters,
ostensibly personal communications and a part of Byars' everyday,
personal interaction with the world, were in fact very much like
performances themselves. They behaved like aesthetic objects - reading
them demanded a heightened awareness and provoked a ceremonial
experience of reading; they demanded the same kind of appreciation and
attention afforded Byars in his mode of the performer.
"This exhibition is a long overdue examination of a crucial part of
Byars' artistic practice," said MASS MoCA curator Laura Heon.
"Williams/Clark graduate student Pan Wendt who curated the exhibition
recognized that the letters of a performance artist like Byars, are
products of a performance. The ritual composition of them was a
performance and the ceremony the recipient went through to open them was
a performance. Pan is the first person to examine Byars letters works
of art and this is the first time the letters have been exhibited."
James Lee Byars was a nomadic, eccentric American artist who dedicated
his life to the making of aesthetic moments. By means of elaborate
costumes and ritualistic performances, he attempted even to transform
himself into a work of art; his appearance marked an aesthetic occasion.
Born in Detroit in 1932, he spent his formative years as an artist in
Japan, returning to the United States in the late 1960s. He worked and
exhibited with the experimental and conceptual artists of the time, but
always remained outside of any movement. By the 1980s, he was producing
large-scale sculpture and exhibiting and traveling frequently in Western
Europe. It was there that he achieved his greatest critical success.
Always on the move, he nonetheless sustained close connections with
fellow artists, patrons and curators by means of his beautiful artistic
letters. James Lee Byars died in Cairo, under the shadow of the
pyramids, in 1997.
Curated by Clark/Williams graduate student Pan Wendt, funding for the
exhibition comes from the Clark Art Institute in support of MASS MoCA
and the Williams/Clark Graduate program in the History of Art. The
Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute has been placing interns from
its graduate art program in the curatorial department at MASS MoCA since
well before MASS MoCA opened. "Clark graduate students have curated some
of our most interesting and thoughtful shows, so Pan's Byars exhibition
joins a long and distinguished list," said Joseph Thompson, director of
MASS MoCA.
Katherine Myers
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