Art

Brion Gysin: Calligraffiti of Fire

Gysin said, “…it gives an extended vision of one’s own interior capacities, which could also be overwhelming.”

Featuring the first UK showing of Gysin’s rarely-seen painting, the 16.4 metre-long Calligraffiti of Fire, his magnum opus and final work.

Gysin (1916-1986) had a lifelong fascination with the juncture of word and image, and Calligraffiti of Fire (1985) is the culmination of a long series of works inspired by hieroglyphics and calligraphy. He studied Japanese and Arabic calligraphy, and evolved his own style of word/image glyphs, supple as flames or tendrils of smoke. Calligraffiti of Fire embodies Gysin’s explorations of his inner visions through the ‘flicker’ effect, and permutations of his personal calligraphic signature. The painting is meant to be ‘read’ from right to left.

The show also includes a working Dreamachine fabricated to Gysin’s specifications, as well as Gysin’s paintings and drawings, and photographs by Gysin, William Burroughs, Ira Cohen and others. The exhibition runs concurrently with Royal Academy’s Burroughs Live (GSK Contemporary), Riflemaker’s Life File, featuring Burroughs’ illustrated private files, and Maggs Rare Books’ show of Barry Miles’ collection of Burroughs and Gysin photographs.

A radical cultural visionary, visual artist, writer and performer, Gysin introduced his lifelong friend, writer William S. Burroughs, to the techniques of “cut-ups” and “permutation”. Together, they experimented in sound and image, using collage, tape recorder, light painting, writing and film. Their work has had a pervasive influence in the arts and on underground and popular culture, affecting figures such as David Bowie, Patti Smith, Genesis P. Orridge, Keith Haring, Michael Stipe, and Bill Laswell.

In the ’60’s, Gysin created the Dreamachine, which he described as “the only work of art designed to be seen with closed eyes” and a “drugless psychedelic experience”. The Dreamachine rotates and through a flicker effect, evokes brainwaves which can produce spontaneous waking dreams. Gysin said, “…it gives an extended vision of one’s own interior capacities, which could also be overwhelming.” It was his point of view that those “interior capacities” are the next art form, superceding painting.

Gysin’s works are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Centre George Pompidou, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and numerous private collections. October Gallery first showed Gysin’s work in 1981.

Calligraffiti of Fire is curated by Kathelin Gray, and produced in collaboration with The Academy of Everything is Possible. For further information on Brion see www.briongysin.com

via October Gallery

Dreamachine photo by tim2ubh

Dreamachine

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1. The photo collage is a way to travel that must be used with skill and precision if we are to arrive [...] The collage as a flexible hieroglyph language of juxtaposition:  A collage makes a statement. - William S. Burroughs (1962) via Burroughs Photo-Collage Archive
2. Did you know that William S. Burroughs’ mother was an author too? Graham Rae furnishes an inspired analysis of Laura Lee Burroughs’ writings on the art of flower arranging. The three tomes, sponsored by Coke (the company, not the drug), offer glimpses into her and therefore her son’s world. Read Like Mother, Like Son and the accompanying selection of references to Laura Lee Burroughs in the work of William S. Burroughs. via RealityStudio
   
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4. It’s a happy trend. Increasingly, we’re seeing museums launching dynamic online exhibitions to accompany their exhibitions on the ground. In the past, we highlighted the Tate Modern’s panoramic tour of Mark Rothko’s work. And now we point you to The Life and Work of William Butler Yeats, an online exhibition created by The National Library of Ireland. When you enter the tour, you can scan through 200 artifacts & manuscripts and “attend” three in-depth tutorials exploring the evolution of three major poems (‘Sailing to Byzantium’, ‘Leda and the Swan’ and ‘Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen’). You can also listen to Yeats, one of Ireland’s towering poets, reciting his famous poem ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree.’ To listen, click “Areas” on the bottom navigation, then click “Verse and Vision” on the center menu, and then the audio will begin to play. You can read the text of the poem here. Finally, you’ll find more Yeats poems in our Free Audio Book collection.
   1. ggratton says . . . | September 16, 2009 / 7:58 am:
      Thank you for highlighting the amazing Yeats site. I've been telling my colleagues that this site is the promise of the internet realized.
   Yeats painting by Barrie Maguire
   via openculture.com
   via @victorgodot
   Enter the tour here
5. This painting by Ian McWhinnie will serve as my status update for the month thus far. See the entire painting via Red Rag. View more of his work here.

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