Hansjorg Mayer and Art Without Boundaries

RTomens, 2017

If you're open-minded the idea of art without boundaries comes naturally to you or, if not naturally, after thinking about and studying the history. Yet it will come as no surprise when I tell you that the other day I had some disagreement with a supposed art-lover over his notion that 'after over half-a-century of the above crap we are getting back into paint and picture-making'. His statement was in response to this...

...which I made and posted on Facebook, potentially asking for trouble, except to say that I knew I'd be largely 'preaching' to the converted, except for one person.

I don't know who he meant by 'we' and didn't bother asking. He was spoiling for a fight and, as you know, rows on FB don't change minds, merely excite them to levels of abuse if prolonged. I'm pretty good at biting my tongue but admit to lapsing occasionally into short bursts of verbal 'fire'.

I consider my work conservative compared to today's avant-garde. Ironically, in the light of his comment, it's pretty much about 'picture-making', although perhaps not the kinds of pictures everyone would think of as Art. But you can't second-guess what everyone will think, obviously. 

Last night we attended the opening party for the Hansjorg Mayer event at Tenderbooks. We met the man himself. The work is stunning. Here are some photos from the display...

...once home I looked up Dieter Roth's print recipe again in Gerald Woods' Art Without Boundaries. It's super-cheap on Amazon and highly recommended despite very few colour plates. It's an A-Z of artists, a few filmmakers such as Godard and graphic designers.. 'Cool' artists, you might say. My point here is that Hansjorg Mayer is included (as is Bob Cobbing); now that's my kind of art book. These two aren't usually mentioned in the same breath as 'art', criminally to my mind because Mayer's books are works of art. As is the best concrete poetry. 

Art without boundaries indeed. It's usually considered to be 'conceptual' art that goes beyond the boundaries and it does, naturally. Yet there are other forms, those which push the boundaries of poetry and publishing, which deserve as much attention.