I have a bunch of artworks appearing in an exhibition at the Westergasfabriek Museum in Amsterdam called 'A Perfect Day'. My fellow exhibitors are an illustrious bunch indeed, including artistic and cultural luminaries like Raymond Pettibon, Chris Johanson, Dave Eggers, David Shrigley, Richard Prince, Simon Evans, Royal Art Lodge, Leonard Cohen and Rene Magritte (yes, THAT Rene Magritte).
The exhibition is described as 'a collection of drawings with text, featuring observations, thoughts and ideas about life. Funny, clever, poetic, ironic and hilarious.' The show is actually a continuation of a highly successful exhibition called ‘Lots of Things Like This‘ that took place in 2008 in New York. The original exhibit being curated by Dave Eggers, author of ‘What's the What’ and founder of the publishing house McSweeney’s. The show also resulted in the publication of the bestselling and influential art book 'More Things Like This' by Chronicle in 2009.
As someone who's been making art out of a combination of pictures and text for many years it's especially gratifying to be included in this show, alongside so many terrific artists. Maybe it's finally time for 'pictures with words on them' to take center stage in The Artworld. To quote Jesse Nathan: 'Now more than ever you can see anywhere in the world an art form consisting of images and text and, above all, humor. Today you see writers, cartoonists, graffiti artists, poets, songwriters, film makers and artists around the world working with these elements. It is an accessible, contemporary form of communication, with a quick easy universal language, but as intimate as a sketch on a napkin.'
If you find yourself in Amsterdam it'll be worth a look, here's the details:
A Perfect Day – 10-24 February 2012Westergasfabriek (Openbare Verlichting)Pazzanistraat 27, Amsterdam, The Netherlandsopen dailyMonday-Wednesday, Friday 11 am – 5 pm.Thursday 10 am- 9 pmSaturday, Sunday 11 am – 11 pm.Admission: €5 (with discount €2,50)