~Performance at CANADA to-nite !!
GERALD FERGUSON’S – CHORAL READING . . . is being presented to-nite at CANADA
SAT, FEB 11, 2012 – the performance begins at 7 PM & a reception will follow.
In 1972 GERALD FERGUSON scored a reading of his Standard Corpus of Present Day English Language Usage Arranged By Word Length in 20 units for a chorus of 26 voices. (seriously !!)
It was performed at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design that same year.
. . . Ferguson considered the ‘Corpus’ one of his most important works, once describing it as “a variable serial sculpture through time”.
read: the complete GALLERY NOTE
this performance coincides with the current gallery showing of an on-point survey of Mr. Ferguson’s works on canvas, ‘GERALD FERGUSON. WORK. STENCIL THROUGH FROTTAGE FROM 1968’ – curated by LUKE MURPHY.
the show opened on Jan 7, 2012 and runs thru Feb 19, 2012.
see: PIX FROM THE GERALD FERGUSON OPENING – artloversnewyork
ART FAG CITY/PADDY JOHNSON has just posted an extensive interview with LUKE MURPHY & PHIL GRAUER regarding the show.
see: GERALD FERGUSON’S BLUE COLLAR CONCEPTUALISM . . . AFC
p.s. I really like that term, Blue Collar conceptualism. even though he was an academic, as in teacher (?) it still fits the bill, though it would take a better, or at least more patient scribe than I, to lay it down for ya. maybe I’ll try to get some thoughts on that – from the show’s curator, and long-time Ferguson associate and student, Luke Murphy. (check back later.)
some talking points from the interview:
1. “Some people who went to school in the Maritime provinces have a special bond. The weather is extreme, the landscape rugged, the population poor and hardworking.” ~ PJ/PADDY JOHNSON
2. “Gerry [Gerald Ferguson] showed at MoMA in 1970 in The Information Show, and a lot of his contemporaries of course went on to build what is Conceptual Art .” ~ PG/PHIL GRAUER
3. “Gerry’s line – and he said it a couple of times – was really the ‘dematerialization of the Art Object’. That was really his thing, we’re going to make something impossible to buy . . . [we don’t want you to buy stuff] because all the people that are buying stuff are supporting the Vietnam War.” (!!) ~ PG
4. “OCCUPY”. ~ LM/LUKE MURPHY
5. “When JOSEPH BEUYS landed in North America, he landed in Halifax.” ~ LM
6. “When [Gerald Ferguson] saw [Lawrence] WEINER . . . go off to [Leo] CASTELLI, he couldn’t believe it. ‘What? You’re selling out?’ ” ~ LM
7. “Lawrence Weiner has a much bigger view of the art world in some ways than Gerry.” ~ LM
8. “[Gerald Ferguson] stuck to the original plan, which was making conceptual art and resisting the dominant systems.” ~ LM
nancy: street art – has some of the same issues.
9. and that’s what he did . . “until 1990, when he said, “you know what, maybe I do like painting. I’m going to start painting again.” And that’s what he did.” ~ LM
10. “He did a lot of language work . . . he did his ‘Standard Corpus’ of the English language [being performed to-nite], organized by word length (!!)I mean, what else are you going to do in your Frenchvillage in Nova Scotia – which is really way bleak.” ~ LM
11. “It’s funny the work doesn’t feel all of this was made yesterday . . . ” ~ LM
12. “. . . like, that dot painting on the wall” (!!) ~ PG
13. “but the paintings don’t have a good international marketplace – that’s the conundrum. . . ” ~ PG
CANADA – 55 CHRYSTIE / BTWN HESTER & CANAL – LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC