from RE/Search (http://www.researchpubs.com/)... the tone is a little snide but take a look anyway
----- Recently we have been graced by a visit from the NYC Fluxus/meat artist/'60s "happenings"/cutting-edge art pioneer ROBERT DELFORD BROWN, who is still not exactly a household name. We first featured him in our PRANKS! book, and regarded him as one of the most ground-breaking artists alive. DELFORD BROWN is now 72 years old, and we are happy to announce we will be publishing the first monograph on his life/creativity, scheduled for either a December 2003 or Spring 2004 publication date. Why would RE/Search founder V. Vale publish a book on ROBERT DELFORD BROWN? 1) He's associated with FLUXUS 2) He was a pioneer in "60's Happenings" along with Allan Kaprow 3) He inspired the Viennese Aktionists. An article in a German art magazine publicized his "first" 1964 NYC Meat Show with tons of meat, blood and gore--well ahead of Damien Hirst. (He also did "Vulva Prints" utilizing menstrual blood--you guess how he did them!) Consequently, Hermann Nitsch and Gunter Brus paid homage to him on their first visits to America. 4) He outdid Andy Warhol's "disaster" silkscreens with huge colored artworks based on blown-up photographs of sex psychopaths, syphilis victims, etc. 5) He did a piece about "art forgery" and took it to Marcel Duchamp, and Duchamp gave it his blessing and signed it! 6) He did pioneering work in the area of "Plagiarism," publishing two works, including a critical study of James Joyce 7) Early on he dyed his hair shocking pink and was arrested in London for "Disturbing the Peace" in 1966 8) After consulting him about his London experience, Yoko Ono voyaged to London and--that's where she met John Lennon! 9) He did performances involving simulated sex and even--gasp--illegal nudity (ho-hum today, but at the time this was "edgy"). 10) He staged a [satirical] "Mr. Jesus Christ Contest"--open to women too, of course. 11) He launched an artist-founded religion, "The First National Church of the Exquisite Panic, Inc." 12) He modified an entire building as an artwork, "The Great Building Crack-Up." 13) He was the first to publish a book of deliberately smudged, fingerprinted, out-of-focus photos (trying to capture the ghost-like "spirit" of the person, rather than the body), thus influencing Joel-Peter Witkin, Deborah Turbeville, etc In June, Robert Delford Brown staged a private "60's Happening" (which he termed a "Sacred FunkuPagan Action Glueing") at the San Francisco Art Institute, in which about twenty children and adults cut out brightly colored pieces of paper and pasted them on two huge backdrops--assemblages. As he put it, "The artist as `individual' is dead. The future belongs to people working together." On December 6, 2003, Delford Brown will stage a more complex public "happening" at San Francisco's premiere performance space, THE LAB, 2948 16th St (near Mission St), Sat, 6-9 PM. More on this later. Publishing a book/monograph on Robert Delford Brown will help insure that he regains his rightful recognition in the history of American performance and avant-garde/conceptual art-making. We aren't sure why Delford Brown isn't already better-known, but suspect it has something to do with his former uncompromising anti-careerist attitudes and lack of "schmoozing." He also has an abrasive personality--that didn't help. Nevertheless, he did the work, so shouldn't he get the recognition? see also- http://www.researchpubs.com/books/prankexc9.shtml ----- -- Anne Drogy (dnae)
