I first met Barton Lidicé Beneš at the Allan
Stone Gallery in 1973. He was making all sorts of objects out of
books, like a travel book with wheels. When I started the Center
for Book Arts in 1974, Barton was one of the artists whose work
was exhibited to inspire people to think differently about what a
book could be.
Toward the end of 1975 we mounted a substantial exhibition of his
work to coincide with our first Annual Meeting. It included
sculptural bookworks like his Censored
Book, bound in rope with nails through it, gessoed and
painted, his Book of the Dead
(made with the ashes of Hans Schneider, which he found in a closet
when he moved into his Westbeth studio apartment), many books from
his series "Letters From My Aunt Evelyn," each in a different
format, mostly printed with rubber stamps, and other bookish
works.
<http://www.centerforbookarts.dreamhosters.com/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/772>
[click Zoom+ under the image for three views]
Over the years I collaborated on many book projects with him. For
one of them he gave me a stack of turquoise paper covered essay
booklets given to him by a college professor who, for their final
exam, had assigned his Ethics class the question of Barton's use
of Schneider as an art material--without anyone's permission. I
asked him to give me some Schneider to use on the cover, and made
a tombstone-shaped panel with the ashes. I traded that binding for
Barton's 1980 work, Requiem Mass for the Remains of Hans
Schneider / cremated October 27, 1962, a vertical paper work
with rubber stamps of a priest performing the 14 Stations of the
Cross, filled in with his ashes. It hangs in my foyer.
I don't have a photo of that binding, but expect that I will be
able to see it at The North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks,
where, according to the N Y Times, Barton's entire apartment will
be reconstructed as a permanent installation, with Barton's ashes
in a pillowcase on his bed. His apartment was a wonderland, a
Cabinet of Curiosities, one of my favorite places to visit. He
continues to be an inspiration to me.
My favorite book of his is Family Secrets (1982):
It was made after he went to a funeral and
was told things he had to promise not to reveal. His obsession
with making book art out of every story drove him to create this
work, which solved the problem by printing the secrets on strips
of cloth tape and braiding them together. He simultaneously tells
the secrets and hides them.
He died May 30. The New York Times obituary has a photo of his
apartment:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/arts/design/barton-lidice-benes-provocative-artist-dies-at-69.html>
--
Richard
http://minsky.com
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