“Persons who feel, comprehend, know, understand through their eyes find great excitement in the found arts. Persons whose five senses are not dulled, bruised, warped, wounded by the terrible forces inflicted upon them from the outside can feel and know through their eyes, fingers, nose, ears, and taste. Persons growing like the flowers in the field as nature intended find finding and seeing founds an exciting thing.”–Bern Porter
Long before there were mashups, there was Bern Porter. Presented here is a facsimile edition of the underground legend’s 1974 artist’s book based on a popular entertainment guide he discovered in a New York City hotel room.
RELATED EVENT: ”Lost & Found: An Evening with Bern Porter” at Esopus Space
Bern Porter (1911–2004) was an artist, writer, philosopher, and scientist involved in developing the cathode ray tube and the Saturn V rocket. He was also a part of the Manhattan Project, which he renounced upon learning of the bombing of Hiroshima. A pioneer in the arts, Porter is known for his landmark work as an author and publisher (including the first American edition of Henry Miller’s work in 1944). He was an early practitioner of mail art and found and performance poetry. Throughout his life, he experimented with typography, sculpture, photography, artists’ books, and collage. Porter lived and worked in Rhode Island, New York, Tennessee, California, Texas, Alabama, and Tasmania. He finally settled in his native Maine, where he ran for governor and established the Institute for Advanced Thinking. In 1979, Porter was given a major retrospective at Franklin Furnace in New York City. In 2010, the Museum of Modern Art in New York recognized his work in a solo exhibit.