Dear Daad I Love You ... Unique Letter Art Object
Byars, James Lee
(Berlin). c.1974
A long and unique James Lee Byars'letter art object written on torn pieces of black paper.
The letter reads as follows:
(Sheet 1, recto:) 2. DEAR DAAD I LOVE YOU AND (BIGSPACE) DUNK- / HUH FOR THE GREAT APPOINTMENT AS / THE GERM-AMERCULTURAL ATTACHE / FOR 1975 (verso:) 1. MYLO L / 2. DEAR DAAD I LOVE YOU / K-HUH FOR THE (Sheet 2, recto) HOW WOULD YOU ALLOW ALL VIS 100% / IN ASENTIA (verso:) AND DUN- / GREAT APPOINT AS THE /.... CULTURAL (Sheet 3, recto:) H.B. U.S.A FOR YR 200TH R.A. / FROM DAAD (HAPPY BIRTHDAY / TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / FOR YOUR 200TH REVOLUTIONARY / ANNIVERSARY FROM THE DEUTSCHER / AKA DOMISCHER AUSTAUSCHDIENST [arrow upwards] (verso:) GERM-AMER / ATTACHE FOR 1975 / 3. HOW WOULD YOU ALLOW / ALL VIS 100% INABSENTIA / .....YOU (Sheet 4, recto:) I WROTE THE PERFECT LOVE LETTER (ON DAAD) [circled] / ‘WRITE I LOVE YOU BACKWARDS /IN THE AIR’ (verso:) 4. HENRY FORD GAVE / STH. GOOD DIDN (Sheet 5, recto:) 6. DID YOU SEE CASPER DAVID’S SCHILLER / STEPPING ON HIS WIFE’S WHITE / CHIFFON TAIL ? WHERE’S GOETHE? (verso:) 5. (Sheet 6, recto:) 7. SENATOR MUELLER SO COME IN / BER. WANTS TO BUILD A GOLDEN TOWER (Sheet 7, recto:) 8. HENRY FORD GAVE YOU STH. / 4. GOOD DIDN’T HE ? WORUM ? (Sheet 8, recto:) 9. THE ONE WORD ANS. TO E AND W’S / FUCK (***. PHI.EPSI.OMEG.. / = FUO CEASER TRANSLATED FUO./ TO FUCK FOR CLEOPATRA AS A LOVE / GIFT (THE PERF. EXAMP. OF OLD TO NEW / FROM GREEK TO HIGH LATIN WITH IMPROVEMENT) (Sheet 9, recto:) 10. I LEARNED BLACK IS THE COLOR OF HIGH / CEREMONY IN GERMAN (NOT JUST DEATH WHICH I ABBREV’D TH)
The mention of 'DAAD' dates the letter to around the year 1974, when Byars was one of the recipients of the 1974 DAAD Artists-in-Berlin scholarship. At the time, Byars planned the construction of a '333-meter-high golden cylinder' in the wasteground by the Berlin Wall that would 'rattle the sky'. Needless to say, that project was unachieved, but Byars' thoughts on the subject did lead to 'The Golden Tower', a 4 metre golden cylinder, and the action 'The First Step of the Golden Tower,' at the Galerie Springer, where visitors were lifted and instructed to speak characteristically gnomic phrases.
James Lee Byars (1932 - 1997), an artist with important Conceptual and Fluxus associations, was known to refer to himself as the 'World's Most Famous Unknown Artist'. Byars is often grouped with Duchamp, Broodthaers and Beuys in that his work is often in opposition to the idea of art as object although Byars maintained - with typical alliterative flair - his most important influences were 'Einstein, Gertrude Stein and Wittgenstein' (later 'Einstein, Gertrude Stein, Wittgenstein and Frankenstein'). His work, much of it based in performance and pageant, defies characterisation, however, his preoccupation with paper, cloth and other ephemeral material has ensured that much of his art falls into less traditional categories. An important part of Byars' oeuvre, influenced by his years living in Japan and the resulting interest in Japanese paper, calligraphy and origami, was the letter as art work, the object and idea in harmony, and the example presented here, is delightfully representative.
'Byars did, however, maintain communication with many important people in the art world, by means of an artistic correspondence that seems to have been his most consistent practise as an artist. Nearly every day, before dawn, he would rise and begin writing his spectacular letters ... They were an extension of the Byars persona, even mirroring his costumes in their strict use of a few select colours and shapes. They were simply mystifying, difficult to read, confusing in their syntax even where legible; Byars was unknown because he was unknowable. One might delight in (or be maddened by) the experience of unfolding a fifty foot long piece of pink tissue paper, only to find the gold writing nearly indecipherable, and the message as much a poetic epigram as a personal communication. One is meant to experience the letters as an aesthetic occasion ... '. (Taken from a contemporary review in Frieze magazine of the exhibition 'James Lee Byars: Letters from the World's Most Famous Unknown Artist').
The letter reads as follows:
(Sheet 1, recto:) 2. DEAR DAAD I LOVE YOU AND (BIGSPACE) DUNK- / HUH FOR THE GREAT APPOINTMENT AS / THE GERM-AMERCULTURAL ATTACHE / FOR 1975 (verso:) 1. MYLO L / 2. DEAR DAAD I LOVE YOU / K-HUH FOR THE (Sheet 2, recto) HOW WOULD YOU ALLOW ALL VIS 100% / IN ASENTIA (verso:) AND DUN- / GREAT APPOINT AS THE /.... CULTURAL (Sheet 3, recto:) H.B. U.S.A FOR YR 200TH R.A. / FROM DAAD (HAPPY BIRTHDAY / TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / FOR YOUR 200TH REVOLUTIONARY / ANNIVERSARY FROM THE DEUTSCHER / AKA DOMISCHER AUSTAUSCHDIENST [arrow upwards] (verso:) GERM-AMER / ATTACHE FOR 1975 / 3. HOW WOULD YOU ALLOW / ALL VIS 100% INABSENTIA / .....YOU (Sheet 4, recto:) I WROTE THE PERFECT LOVE LETTER (ON DAAD) [circled] / ‘WRITE I LOVE YOU BACKWARDS /IN THE AIR’ (verso:) 4. HENRY FORD GAVE / STH. GOOD DIDN (Sheet 5, recto:) 6. DID YOU SEE CASPER DAVID’S SCHILLER / STEPPING ON HIS WIFE’S WHITE / CHIFFON TAIL ? WHERE’S GOETHE? (verso:) 5. (Sheet 6, recto:) 7. SENATOR MUELLER SO COME IN / BER. WANTS TO BUILD A GOLDEN TOWER (Sheet 7, recto:) 8. HENRY FORD GAVE YOU STH. / 4. GOOD DIDN’T HE ? WORUM ? (Sheet 8, recto:) 9. THE ONE WORD ANS. TO E AND W’S / FUCK (***. PHI.EPSI.OMEG.. / = FUO CEASER TRANSLATED FUO./ TO FUCK FOR CLEOPATRA AS A LOVE / GIFT (THE PERF. EXAMP. OF OLD TO NEW / FROM GREEK TO HIGH LATIN WITH IMPROVEMENT) (Sheet 9, recto:) 10. I LEARNED BLACK IS THE COLOR OF HIGH / CEREMONY IN GERMAN (NOT JUST DEATH WHICH I ABBREV’D TH)
The mention of 'DAAD' dates the letter to around the year 1974, when Byars was one of the recipients of the 1974 DAAD Artists-in-Berlin scholarship. At the time, Byars planned the construction of a '333-meter-high golden cylinder' in the wasteground by the Berlin Wall that would 'rattle the sky'. Needless to say, that project was unachieved, but Byars' thoughts on the subject did lead to 'The Golden Tower', a 4 metre golden cylinder, and the action 'The First Step of the Golden Tower,' at the Galerie Springer, where visitors were lifted and instructed to speak characteristically gnomic phrases.
James Lee Byars (1932 - 1997), an artist with important Conceptual and Fluxus associations, was known to refer to himself as the 'World's Most Famous Unknown Artist'. Byars is often grouped with Duchamp, Broodthaers and Beuys in that his work is often in opposition to the idea of art as object although Byars maintained - with typical alliterative flair - his most important influences were 'Einstein, Gertrude Stein and Wittgenstein' (later 'Einstein, Gertrude Stein, Wittgenstein and Frankenstein'). His work, much of it based in performance and pageant, defies characterisation, however, his preoccupation with paper, cloth and other ephemeral material has ensured that much of his art falls into less traditional categories. An important part of Byars' oeuvre, influenced by his years living in Japan and the resulting interest in Japanese paper, calligraphy and origami, was the letter as art work, the object and idea in harmony, and the example presented here, is delightfully representative.
'Byars did, however, maintain communication with many important people in the art world, by means of an artistic correspondence that seems to have been his most consistent practise as an artist. Nearly every day, before dawn, he would rise and begin writing his spectacular letters ... They were an extension of the Byars persona, even mirroring his costumes in their strict use of a few select colours and shapes. They were simply mystifying, difficult to read, confusing in their syntax even where legible; Byars was unknown because he was unknowable. One might delight in (or be maddened by) the experience of unfolding a fifty foot long piece of pink tissue paper, only to find the gold writing nearly indecipherable, and the message as much a poetic epigram as a personal communication. One is meant to experience the letters as an aesthetic occasion ... '. (Taken from a contemporary review in Frieze magazine of the exhibition 'James Lee Byars: Letters from the World's Most Famous Unknown Artist').
9 pieces of torn black paper, various sizes. 9 pieces of torn black paper each with manuscript text by James Lee Byars in pencil to recto and occasionally verso sides.
#47297
