Known for his internationally popular memoir, I Remember, which uniquely captures 1950s America, Joe Brainard (1942-1994) was also a prolific and beloved artist. This beautifully illustrated book covers the entire range of his versatile art, including hundreds of drawings, collages, assemblages, prints, and paintings, many unpublished or never exhibited.
Brainard was closely associated with the New York School, a community of poets and artists such as Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Alex Katz, Jane Freilicher, Larry Rivers, and Fairfield Porter, who thrived in downtown Manhattan in the 1960s and '70s. Brainard transformed ordinary objects and ephemera collected from his Lower East Side neighborhood into stunning assemblages and collages. The book brings together Brainard's classic subjects, such as the comic strip heroine Nancy; Madonnas (inspired by Ukrainian images in the Lower East Side); his iconic pansies, poppies, and daisies; and erotic works (male torsos).
Poet and art critic John Yau describes in vivid detail how Brainard produced thousands of lush multimedia pieces radiant with poignancy, wit, intimacy, and a sheer beauty that express Brainard's unabashed affection for the world.
Alina Pleskova is a poet and editor.
does anyone know where i can find a copy of this john yau book on joe brainard, or if it's going into reprints or what.... the less success i have in finding it, the more i want it :( https://t.co/WxiLWwNZpq
@ahrcpress-funded intellectual and creative global union of academics, poets, and other cultural practitioners including curators, artists, musicians, and more.
Gorgeous new book on Brainard from John Yau (Rizzoli): https://t.co/GQXGYz9QWb
Lecturer @GeorgiaStateU; Visiting Faculty at Emory // editor of books w/@CityLightsBooks & @fonograf_ed // scholarship, teaching, archives: https://t.co/pKdgdemfpe
John Yau's new book with Rizzoli, JOE BRAINARD: THE ART OF THE PERSONAL, was published yesterday. Put it on your shelf with the other major Brainard publication JOE BRAINARD'S ART, edited by @YasmineShamma (Edinburgh University Press, 2019). https://t.co/2AmpcI0bBb