John Ashbery Takes Me On A Journey

 

John Ashbery Takes Me On A Journey

The Best Fiction & Poetry Books I Have Read in 2022

 

The Best Fiction & Poetry Books I Have Read in 2022

Tosh Berman on John Ashbery's "Something Close To Music" (David Zwirner Books, 2022)

 

Tosh Berman on John Ashbery's "Something Close to Music

John Ashbery & Marcel Duchamp (& Me) by Tosh Berman

 

"John Ashbery & Marcel Duchamp (& Me) by Tosh Berman. Read it here: 

John Ashbery & Marcel Duchamp (& Me)

"What it Means to Write about Art" by Jarrett Earnest (David Zwirner Books)

ISBN: 9781941701898

As a writer, I try to do these little exercises by writing a description of my office or other rooms in the house. It's difficult, but once you start thinking about a room or space, that has stuff in it, it becomes a self-portrait or a statement in itself. I can be abstract in my method, but I want the reader to know what it is like to be in my office. Also, I try to focus on every object that is placed in the room, and what it represents or how space is used around its surroundings. I can imagine writing about film or music, but the idea of writing criticism or observation on 'art,' is a mystery to me. For instance, how does one put in words about a Jackson Pollack painting? I can write about the process of making such a painting, but what it means to me as a viewer of that work? How does one put words or vocabulary together describing artworks? It is with great interest that I read Jarrett Earnest's collection of interviews with art critics on their craft and talent in describing, writing, and commenting on the visual art world. "What It Means to Write about Art" is a stunning collection, that makes me think of art criticism as a form in itself. 

For me, I find art criticism or writing tedious. I can never figure out why I find something so exciting as seeing an exhibition can be a chore to read, done by an art critic. I now realize that it's not the critics' fault, but more of me going into a foreign world, writing about something that is unexplainable and mysterious. On the other hand, when I look at an article written by a professor or sometimes a curator, I tend to think it's not as well written or enjoyable if a poet wrote it. Then some poets write art criticism, and that, I find fascinating. Eight out of thirty art critics are well-known poets in this collection. All thirty, are interesting people, with strong opinions, and the vocabulary and writing skills to back up their stance about an artist and their artwork. The poets especially are good, because I suspect that they look at writing as another form of sculpture, and therefore one medium or style works with the other quite well. 

Jarrett Earnest is a fantastic interviewer, and I can't imagine a better set of questions to these specific writers, regarding their origins as a critic as well as how they see their profession in the bigger landscape of the arts. All of them I believe are into the big discussion of art aesthetics and politics, and it's a very individual path that some of these writers take in their work. For instance, for some, politics is a big part of their writing, some it's the issue of queer studies and how it mixes in the culture that they write about. Or how race and the power structure plays in the world of the arts. Others are looking at art as a stand-alone object or piece that expresses an inner-world or expression of how to see things. Earnest doesn't seem to leave anyone out, and this is a fantastic volume of interviews, that not only focuses on the writing of the arts but also what makes a writer tick. 

Not everyone in this book I find utterly fascinating due to their writing or stance. But reading all the interviews, I find myself entertained, informed, and also admire that each one in their method can describe or make commentary on the visual arts, in such a manner that is a dialog as well as a pointed expression of opinion and passion. Earnest knows how to communicate with the subject matters here, and he comes off charming, and never dwells into 'art-speak' or art-talk' language. Some of the writers here write for specific art journals (like "October") while others write for massive publications like The New Yorker, The New York Times, WSJ, and so forth. As a writer, I find their advice and thoughts profound and having them comment on the nature of art criticism; it's an exciting relationship between observer and art object. 

I recommend "What it Means to Write About Art" to anyone who is interested in writing art criticism, but even more important for anyone who cares about writing as a medium to express themselves or thoughts on another medium such as art. A great book published by David Zwirner Books, who do excellent titles on and by art writers who write criticism. - Tosh Berman

July 28, 2014

July 28, 2014

As a little boy, maybe 8 or 9 years old, I went to the Pasadena Museum for an opening for a Frenchman by the name of Marcel Duchamp. Once I got there, I had an instant “like” for the exhibition, because one, I feel this is art that was totally kid friendly.   For instance, a bicycle wheel on a stool.  What child couldn’t relate to that!  Also I have a faint memory of a snow shovel that was placed on the wall, and I thought that was pretty neat as well.  It was the first art exhibition I’ve been to, where I felt the mystery was being preserved, yet totally inviting.  Someone, I believe it was Walter Hopps introduced me to Duchamp.  I remember him being tall, but of course keep in mind that any kid thinks of a grown-up as being tall.  What impressed me is when Walter announced my name, Duchamp slightly bent his waist in a formal manner and shook my little hand.  I got the impression that he came to me, and approached me as not as an equal for God’s sake, but worthy enough to reach out for my hand.

The opening was a lot of fun and it felt special.  There was something in that room that just got the people there jazzed and excited.  Every Los Angeles artist was at the opening, and it was sort of like if the King and Queen of somewhere came to town, and it was a private engagement for that royalty couple.  In the small world that I lived in, it was obvious that this Frenchman was someone important.  Probably my favorite artist as a kid at that time was Salvador Dali. Due to mostly his appearance and his painting skills.  It wasn’t till I became a teenager or late teen and realized that Dali was the Kiss (as in the band) of art.  I out grew that artist but never lost my appreciation of Marcel Duchamp.  Speaking of (or writing)Dali, there was this amusing tale I read from John Cage, when he was hanging out with Duchamp in the late 50s, and Duchamp requested that both of them should visit Dali, who was staying somewhere  in New York City.  Cage couldn’t imagine why Duchamp would want to visit Dali, to be honest, I think he felt that Dali was below him and Duchamp. Which is most likely the case, but Duchamp actually liked Dali.  Not sure about loving his art, but he liked him as a character or person.  Cage went with him, and Dali did most of the talking, and Duchamp basically sat there and just smiled at him.  Cage didn’t really get it.  I think a lot of people didn’t get Duchamp because they really didn’t understand his zen like attention to accept almost anything.

When I began to write poetry, my main influence was Tristan Tzara, because to me he was the craziest writing poet on the planet.  But when I got older, I began to appreciate the poetry of John Ashbery.  What impressed about his work, as a young poet, is the absence of ego in his poetry.  It didn’t seem to be about him, but something else, but of course, it is really about the poet.  I often pretend that I’m not an egoist, by practicing a look on my face that says “I’m listening to you with all my senses.” In actuality, I am not really listening, but thinking about my writing or a picture of a pretty girl a friend sent to me via e-mail.   What I love about poetry is that there is a platform and one needs to work within its borders.  With that restriction, I feel more alive and free.  I imagine this is exactly what it is like to participate in S&M practices, where you either control someone or accept the fact that you are being controlled. I can understand that relationship fully.  Ashbery strikes me as a poet who is very open to the world, and takes it all in, but of course he edits the images he comes upon, and therefore his poetry.  One thing that stays in my mind is a quote from Ashbery (from an interview in The Paris Review) “I write with experiences in mind, but I don't write about them, I write out of them.” Also I am very much in tuned to his ear and eyes.  I don’t find Ashbery obscure, but in fact, he’s just more aware than others.  Another quote by him that stays with me, and I feel it could have been from Duchamp as well: “It's rather hard to be a good artist and also be able to explain intelligently what your art is about. In fact, the worse your art is, the easier it is to talk about, at least I would like to think so.”  

"Pierre Reverdy" by Pierre Reverdy (NYRB, Edited by Mary Ann Caws)

NYRB ISBN: 978-1-59017-769-5

Superb collection of poetry by the legendary and sort of obscure poet Pierre Reverdy.   There are poet's poets and then there is the Painter's poet, and Pierre Reverdy is famous for his relationship with Picasso and the Cubists artists of the early 20th Century. But Reverdy also had respect from his fellow poets as well, and almost every avant-poet or lyrical poet also has a great appreciation for Reverdy's poetry.  Reading the introduction, I didn't know he had a long-term relationship with Coco Chanel.   A good looking man according to the photograph on the back of the book.  He had the whole world in his hands, but the narration is quite harsh, due to the two world wars that took place in his lifetime. 

The poems are mostly mood pieces that would go well with mid '50's Miles Davis.  Romantic in despair, but never depressing due to I think his intelligence and his ability to write a perfect poem that is set like a jewel case on the top of a bedside table.  Once again the New York Review of Books (NYRB) has done a great job of publishing these collection of works by Reverdy, and translated by an all-star cast of the most interesting of the interesting.  Kenneth Rexroth, Geoffrey O'Brien, Frank O'Hara, Richard Howard, John Ashbery and edited by the great Mary Ann Caws.   Any poet that can gather the American giants of poetry and translation in one volume, you know is very much worth your time. 

"Haunted House" by Pierre Reverdy Translated by John Ashbery

Pierre Reverdy

For me it's the perfect book to bring with you in the bathtub.  If you read it slowly, and wait till the water reaches your chin, it is sort of the ideal situation with regards to this book.   "Haunted House" may be the first prose piece or fiction published in English by this great poet Pierre Reverdy.  The poet John Ashbery translated Reverdy's prose into English, which can't be the easiest thing in the world.  Nevertheless this is very much a classic Surrealist text - where the images flow dream-like against the other image.  

In the back of the book the publisher/editor compares this work to Lautréamont's "Chants de Maldoror" which is a fair comparison.  Both books bring up a dread that can't really be described, it is more of a mood piece than anything else.  As a reader you just follow the pathway and let the writing take you to another place.   For those who have a collection of Surrealist text, "Haunted House" is an important part of that textural world.  It is a fave of Andre Breton, so he knows!

The Brooklyn Rail/Black Square Editions (ISBN: 978-1-934029-01-5

"Locus Solus. Impressions of Raymond Roussel"

ISBN 9788475069821

My ideal perfect book on a without doubt a perfect writer, that being Raymond Roussel.  "Locus Solus:. Impressions of Raymond Roussel" is a catalog of an exhibition that took place in Madrid, and for some reason the literature here is translated into English.  Oh joy!  Not only do we get samples of Roussel's writings, but also commentary by Dali, Breton, Soupault, and a fascinating interview with the great American poet John Ashbery.   He is probably the only American in the 50's who had an interest in Roussel's work.  While he lived in France he contacted people who either knew Roussel or had a deep interest in his work.

Roussel was a man who had a small audience for his work, but like the Velvet Underground, each member started their own important band.  Roussel's followers were the DADA, the Surrealists, The New York School of Poetry, Georges Perec & his group, and basically anything that even stinks of the avant-garde that has a limb attached to the works of Roussel.   Probably the biggest influence on an artist is Marcel Duchamp.  The French, but New Yorker, genius based a lot of his ideas on Roussel's visual sense as well as his thoughts about the presentation of things that happen.   In his mind, Roussel thought himself as an equal to Verne and Hugo, but the truth is his work was not noticed at all in the bestselling group of writers.  He belong to the gutter of the avant-garde, but alas, the gifts he brings is endless and quite complex.  The greatest joy in reading Roussel is similiar to someone taking you for a ride in a very interesting neighborhood, a place you don't understand, but equally remarkable for its daring and perverse beauty.  

This book is a great introduction to the world of Roussel, and everyone from Dali to Mike Kelley allowed themselves to be touched by his genius.  And without a doubt Roussel was a genius.  To see the world with his eyes is a combination of a horror and carnival show mixed with a certain amount of beauty.  And it these images that he produces through his writing that had such a major affect on the contemporary art world - even to this day.  Buy and own this book before it totally disappears into the world of high-priced used books. 

"The Last Avant-Garde" by David Lehman

I think one of the great gifts that America has produced are the poets associated with the so-called New York School.   Not really an official organization with a membership card, but they were friends who were closely connected to the abstract Expressionists as well as the merging of early pop painting.  With nice touches on the artist Larry Rivers.

Frank O'Hara, James Schuyler, Kenneth Koch, and John Ashbery are the heroes here, and this book by  David Lehman is a combination of group bio and lit critique on these unique writers at the right time and place.  If this book doesn't make you pick up a volume or two on these poets ... well, nothing will.  A great snapshot of life in the late 50's to mid-60's - and beautifully thought out and written by Lehman.  Essential history on poetry and art that still rocks.

Arthur Rimbaud's "Illuminations" (translated by John Ashbery)

I think what's amazing here is that a magnificent American Poet John Ashbery at the age 83 (or something like that) translated the great poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, whose poems were written when he was in his teens. The ultimate teenage rebel icon touched by the grand poet of American letters, whose work is still controversial and has a bite. One wonders what took so long? 
The truth is in this book, well, kind of. Rimbaud will always be this cloud that floats above us. It is there to be captured and read, but can one ever own the feverish imagery of his poems? Rimbaud's work is in Ashbery's DNA by now. 'Illuminations' is one of those perfect books or even moments, and Ashbery captures the essence and flavor of Rimbaud's vision and words. Mega-important!