[Genteel Death]

October Gallery is pleased to present All out of time and into space, an exhibition of the art of William S. Burroughs. October Gallery’s long association with William Burroughs began in 1988 with his second solo exhibition, which was his premiere exhibition in the UK. The founders of the October Gallery have worked with Burroughs since 1974 and for this latest insightful exhibition, collaborate with William Burroughs Communications and James Grauerholz, Burroughs’ long-time associate, editor and collaborator. The show will feature Burroughs’ paintings, drawings and a selection of his ‘talismanic’ art objects’.

Burroughs pioneered incisive tools - ‘cut-ups’- to deconstruct mechanisms of institutionalised control systems that corrupt inborn intelligence. Burroughs’ fiction exposes the techniques of conditioning systems; his art is a personal exploration of intelligence. He developed particular artistic practices to reveal interior landscapes. Then, he would scrutinise his works, sometimes using a magnifying glass, “looking for allies” peering through marks and patterns. For Burroughs, intelligence resides everywhere and human perception is designed to recognise intelligence.

Burroughs aimed to create a mythology appropriate for the space age, and this show’s title references Burroughs’ concern with ecological crisis in the age of space exploration. Burroughs calls himself an “explorer of psychic areas, a cosmonaut of inner space...To achieve complete freedom from past conditioning is to be in space.”
His Planet Earth spins within a cosmic context, a life-bearing planet now affected by sadomasochistic impulses of a humanity conditioned by power-possessors and the advertising industry. Known for explorations of the dark side of human nature and his peerless parodies and satires, this interest in ecology, a core part of his identity, has been broadly overlooked. Burroughs explored the cultural and psychological mechanics of human-instigated ecological catastrophe accompanied by mass extinction of species.

"The processes set in inexorable motion by the Industrial Revolution, with its total commitment to quantity and quantitative criterion, are just beginning to reveal themselves as the Death Trap that they always were."
(The Adding Machine)

Burroughs, as an artist, collaborated with Keith Haring, George Condo, Robert Rauschenberg, and others. His aesthetic has influenced generations of writers, artists, filmmakers and musicians. Although he is often called the father of the Beat movement, Burroughs did not associate himself with the Beats except that Ginsberg, Kerouac and Corso were personal friends. “We’re not doing at all the same thing, either in writing or in outlook.”

In 2012 and 2013, there are major museum shows of his art and work, at ZKM in Karlsruhe, the Vienna Kunsthalle, and at the Hamburg Deichtorhallen / Sammlung Falckenberg.
http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/exhi...ur/index.shtml

 

[Genteel Death]

Some pics I took of this exhibition today.

 

 

 

 

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[!@#$%!]

that looks great


[...]



fuck, i need to move to a real city

and thanks for posting the pictures

[Genteel Death]

I was only familiar with his ''shot-through'' art,and before I walked into the gallery I had a vague recollection of what it looked like from years ago. His more painterly work is much better than I had expected, and the feeling I left with was of quiet malevolence.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Genteel Death

I was only familiar with his ''shot-through'' art,and before I walked into the gallery I had a vague recollection of what it looked like from years ago. His more painterly work is much better than I had expected, and the feeling I left with was of quiet malevolence.

when i saw the photos above my first thought was "spooky... "

[gast30]

cool expo

[Genteel Death]

more pics.

 

 

 

 

[ilduclo]

I really liked ol Bill, but as a WRITER. Just one duclo's opinion, though.....

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by ilduclo

I really liked ol Bill, but as a WRITER. Just one duclo's opinion, though.....

i don't like those lemurs but the faces/masks on that rotten wood look great (and spooky)

personally i like burroughs more as a public figure than a writer proper-- as a public figure, few can touch him.

[ilduclo]

past tense

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by ilduclo

past tense

nah, public figures never die. think of socrates walking around athens. think of oscar wilde being the life of the party. think of abraham lincoln on gettysburg.

okay, more than few can touch william burroughs, but the image of him walking around new york in the 70s with a derringer in his belt is iconic.

[floatingslowly]

did you smuggle in a camera or were they cool with you taking pictures?

I tried to take pictures (sneakily) at the Tim Burton exhibit in Australia, and you'd think that I'd caused an international crisis. yikes....

[floatingslowly]

ps: thanks for the pixxx

[Genteel Death]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

did you smuggle in a camera or were they cool with you taking pictures?

I tried to take pictures (sneakily) at the Tim Burton exhibit in Australia, and you'd think that I'd caused an international crisis. yikes....

Some galleries don't mind you taking pictures, some make it quite clear at the door that you are not allowed to take any, and some, like I found out today again while I was at the Serpentine Gallery for Jonas Mekas' exhibition, don't allow taking pictures for specific exhibitions but you can still take some snaps of their permanent collection or works on display in other areas of the gallery.