Seattle - Five Contemporary Visual Poets
Another Wave Books update (my internship) for those in the Seattle area interested in literary and visual arts.
Five Contemporary Visual Poets, an exhibition of poetry as visual art, organized by Wave Books, will be at The Wright Exhibition Space (407 Dexter Avenue North, Seattle, Washington) until November 15, 2006. The space is open on Thursday and Friday from 10am to 2pm.
More of the scoop:
Five Contemporary Visual Poets presents the work of Nico Vassilakis, Robert Seydel, Jen Bervin, Joshua Beckman and Mary Ruefle. An engagement with visual poetry has been part of the literary world since antiquity, but has rarely received the attention of more traditionally constructed poetry. In the 20th century we have become accustomed to the combination of words and images beyond their illustrative possibilities. From Kurt Schwitters to Guillaume Apollinaire in the early part of the century, to Ray Johnson and Jenny Holzer in the latter, the blurring of lines between visual and textual art has become a larger part of the cultural landscape. But, despite the ascension of mixed media work and the proliferation of print, television and computer advertising that employs the lessons of this work, we are still accustomed to reading poetry—in a sense treating words on a page as transparent or invisible, merely a means toward comprehension of sound, rhythm and meaning. The works of these five poets remind us that poetry is visible. Presented here are works that not only treat letters, numbers, punctuation marks, etc. as aesthetic visuals, but which do so in a gritty and accessible style, allowing the viewer a palpable experience of the artists' process. From Jen Bervin's six foot by eight foot quilts to Mary Ruefle's one-of-a-kind hand-altered books, Five Contemporary Visual Poets attempts to give an insight into the dynamic work that is presently being produced around the country.
I've heard Joshua Beckman read, met Jen Bervin once, and have Mary Ruefle's erasure book A Little White Shadow. If I was still in Seattle, I would so go to this! What's an erasure? Make one!
Check it out! More details here.