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I first met Barton Lidicé Benes( 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.arlisna.org Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~