10th Anniversary Edition of Ray Johnson's
A Book About Death - The Last Waltz
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT HAS BEEN TEN YEARS?
A BOOK ABOUT DEATH takes its inspiration from the late, underground American artist Ray Johnson (1927 - 1995). Ray Johnson’s unbound “book” of the same title was mailed to his New York Correspondence School “students” and included pages in his idiosyncratic style that were funny, sad and ironic “one-page essays” on death. With the A BOOK ABOUT DEATH project, artists are invited to plunge into the subject by creating their own pages that score the dramatic final dance of death.
Join thousands of international artists in the search for the meaning of Death. Create your art, print it as postcards and send them to this historic mail art exhibition.
A BOOK ABOUT DEATH takes its inspiration from the late, underground American artist Ray Johnson (1927 - 1995). Ray Johnson’s unbound “book” of the same title was mailed to his New York Correspondence School “students” and included pages in his idiosyncratic style that were funny, sad and ironic “one-page essays” on death. With the A BOOK ABOUT DEATH project, artists are invited to plunge into the subject by creating their own pages that score the dramatic final dance of death.
Join thousands of international artists in the search for the meaning of Death. Create your art, print it as postcards and send them to this historic mail art exhibition.
An Open Call To Artists Worldwide To Contribute To The 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of A BOOK ABOUT DEATH – AN UNBOUND BOOK ON THE SUBJECT OF DEATH
IMPORTANT: THIS IS A CALL TO ARTISTS WORLDWIDE TO CONTRIBUTE AN EDITION OF 500 POSTCARDS/PIECES FROM EACH ARTIST, just like the original call from 2009.
PLEASE DO NOT SENT ONLY ONE COPY for our Last Waltz. You must send 500 postcards (size: 4" x 6" up to 6" x 9") to Islip Art Museum, 50 Irish Lane, East Islip, NY, USA 11730 by August 14, 2019.
We honor Ray Johnson, THE FATHER OF MAIL ART, who created a Mail Art network that ultimately reached further and deeper than he could ever have imagined.
We honor of Matthew Rose, who began the worldwide ABAD Project phenomenon in 2009.
We seek to grow our international ABAD family and foster creative bonds and understanding across the world, needed more so now than ever before.
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THE SEVEN DEADLY STEPS:
1. Create your art piece exploring any aspect of Death.
2. We require that it say A Book About Death somewhere on the card.
3. Send your art to a printer to get 500 post cards [size 4" x 6" up to 6" x 9"] made. (You may also hand sign them if you'd like.)
4. Send your box of 500 cards to:
The Islip Art Museum
Brookwood Hall
50 Irish Lane
East Islip, NY, 11730 USA
5. Send an email with a jpg of your image, your mailing address, and your country of origin to LuAnn Palazzo, The Design Diva NY for inclusion on the website.
6. Deadline for receipt at the museum is August 14, 2019
7. BE SURE TO CHECK THIS WEBSITE FOR UPDATES
Exhibition: 14 September– 2 November 2019. Islip Art Museum, Brookwood Hall, 50 Irish Lane, East Islip, NY 11730 USA
Artists Each Produce Their Edition Of 500 Postcards for The Sprawling Unbound Limited Edition 10th Anniversary "A Book About Death."
A BOOK ABOUT DEATH is an open, unbound book produced by artists worldwide. Artists are invited to create a “page” in the form of a postcard about death– any aspect about death. Works can be of any design, personal or conceptual, color or black and white.
The original work about death stays with THE ARTIST. The 500 (size: 4" x 6") postcards produced from the work is for the exhibition, and are sent to the Islip Art Museum in NY.
Artists can include any information about themselves on the cards, front or back. We must prohibit works of an obscene nature as this museum is a public space. The exhibition organizers ask that you submit good work, worthy of an interesting and exciting page in this global book.
The 500 postcards are then mailed to the museum in New York for exhibition. DEADLINE FOR CARDS TO BE IN THE MUSEUM: AUGUST 14, 2019.
EXHIBITION AND EVENT: Each artist 's contribution will be displayed at the Islip Art Museum in New York. Visitors will be free to take cards and create their own personal book about death. As the cards are removed, the exhibition will disappear...
HOW TO SUBMIT
1. Produce an artwork about death. Make 500 postcards and mail the package to the Islip Art Museum. All submissions will be accepted if they arrive in time. Artists may produce more than one card design if they wish.
To unify the edition, include the words “A BOOK ABOUT DEATH” on your cards or CDs, DVDs or objects.
WHERE TO SEND THE 500 POSTCARDS:
Islip Art Museum
Brookwood Hall
50 Irish Lane
East Islip, NY 11730 USA
Tel +1 631-224-5420
DEADLINE: Postcards should be in the museum no later than 14 August 2019.
2. Once images are produced, a light-weight jpg should be e-mailed to LUANN PALAZZO, along with the artist’s name, mailing address, country of origin, and URL (artist web site address) for publication on this blog. This will allow the organizers to archive the works and artist details. Other artists will also be able to visit the exhibition in progress. PLEASE BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME, MAILING ADDRESS AND THE COUNTRY IN WHICH YOU RESIDE IN THIS EMAIL.
IMPORTANT NOTE: WHEN YOU SEND IN YOUR IMAGES IN JPG FORMAT, SEND LARGE IMAGES (about 300K each; 900 x 600 pixels). THIS WAY THEY WILL BE HIGHLY VISIBLE ON THE BLOG.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
The artist is 100 percent responsible for her/his image, printed cards and delivery to the museum.
FORMAT: Postcards should be at least 4 x 6 inches or 10 x 15 cm, but can be any size, but no larger than 6 x 9 inches.
PRINTING OPTIONS: You can either produce the cards yourself or upload the file to any number of printers for delivery to the museum. You, as the artist are in complete control of your artwork and cards. Artists can sign and number their cards if they wish.
Option 1: Some very inexpensive online printers offer extremely reasonable prices for a 4 x 6 inch (or 10 x 15 cm) card. PDF upload or online design is possible. Payment directly to the printer via MasterCard, PayPal, VISA are options.
Option 2: Alternately, artists are free to produce their own cards locally if they wish to supervise print and image quality.
Option 3: Artists can also produce handmade cards, however, these cards must be in an edition of 500 to ensure continuity with other images. Artists can sign and number their handmade cards if they would like. Variety in paper and material is encouraged.
COST/FEES
THERE IS NO FEE TO ENTER THE SHOW. Unfortunately, we cannot pay any artist or production fees. Each artist has to finance production and delivery. Like in life.
LASTLY: The organizers will not collect cards for the artists. We ask that those visiting the museum only take one set per person, leaving enough for others.
Institutions who wish to have a complete book will have to come to the museum space and get their own pages/cards or assign someone to do it for them. The organizers are not responsible for the cards, but will see to it that all cards received are displayed and available to visitors. The organizers are not responsible for the return of any remaining cards; should there be any remaining cards, these will become part of the Islip Art Museum permanent collection.
SPREAD THE WORD
This kind of exhibition functions best when one artist contacts another and encourages participation. We would like to have a large and inclusive “book,” one that touches upon the broad subject of death in many languages and cultures. Blog, e-mail, Facebook, Instagram, post the web address of this site all over the web. It will produce a more interesting exhibition to have thousands of artists from all over the world participate.
*Please note that A BOOK ABOUT DEATH is not a commercial venture.
