OLIVIER MOSSET, Flux Dots by Mosset Total Art Nice, n.d. [1969]
10 x 12 x 1,6 cm
confetti – produced by George Maciunas – in red or black plastic box with label
very small edition: estimation ca 13 – 15
published by George Maciunas / Total Art, Nice, France
Private collection, Amsterdam extremely rare
In 1990 Olivier Mosset had his first solo show in Galerie van Gelder. A few days before the opening I presented him a red box ‘Flux Dots by Mosset’. “Well… looks good!” Olivier commented, “I have heard about it, but this is the first time I see this. I remember that Maciunas once phoned me. He asked whether I was the man of the circle paintings and I said yes, why…?” “Listen he said, you are a Fluxus artist, with all these circles on canvases, you really are!” “No, I answered, I don’t consider myself a Fluxus artist.” Maciunas: “Certainly you are and I have an idea. What about making a Fluxus box with punched dots, you know, like confetti?”
In 2008 Olivier Mosset had another solo exhibition in Galerie van Gelder. He arrived with huge white monochrome paintings of 8 meters long flown in from his studio in Tucson, Arizona. Still having his rain coat on he gave me a small thick envelope. “I got this from the heirs of Maciunas”, he said. “I don’t know what to do with it, so I thought I hand it over to you. You may do with it whatever you like.” I looked into the half opened cream colored envelope and saw a heap of hundreds of red confetti, unmistakably the ones Maciunas punched for his Flux Dots box edition.
Ref. Kees van Gelder talking to Olivier Mosset in Galerie van Gelder on 20 March 2008.
Ben Vautier opened a gallery shop BDDT / Ben Doute de Tout in Nice in 1958, which later became well-known as the Around 1960. He started to know the artists of Nouveau Réalisme: Yves Klein, Daniel Spoerri and others. In the autumn 1962, he travelled to London for visiting the Festival of Misfits, where he encountered many Fluxus artists, with whom he subsequently collaborated in various ways. A year later, Vautier organised the Fluxus Festival of Total Art in Nice.
OLIVIER MOSSET, Flux dots [1969]
10 x 12 x 1,6 cm / 3.5 x 4.75 x 0.75 inches
edition ca 13 – 15, here box 13 (in black)
published by George Maciunas, New York, USA
OLIVIER MOSSET: Flux Dots [1969] – black box version
Collection University of Iowa Special Collections, Iowa City, USA
OLIVIER MOSSET: Flux Dots [1969] – black box version/verso
Ref. the Fluxus Digital Collection of the University of Iowa were donated by artist Ken Friedman.
MERET OPPENHEIM, L’écureuil / squirrel, 1969
23 x 21 x 10 cm
beer glass, foam plastic, fur
edition 100
published by La Medusa Grafica
not available
Added information:
The condition of each individual multiple may differ, especially the foam and content of the beer glass is most of the time deteriorated, dried out or petrified.
History of prices:
Galerie Levy, Hamburg, Germany DM 3.000,- February 1985
SIGMAR POLKE, Höhere Wesen befahlen: rechte obere Ecke schwarz malen!, 1969
96 x 72 cm (93 x 68,5)
offset print on very thin paper, framed behind anti UV-light glass
edition unknown
published by Edition René Block, Berlin, Germany
pristine condition extremely rare
Margin scheme, part of Private collection, Amsterdam
ask for details
Sigmar Polke favoured a plan to have a cheap version in print of his painting Höhere Wesen befahlen: rechte obere Ecke schwarz malen! that is part of the collection of Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Both painting and print caused irritation of the public.
This is printed matter on remarkable thin paper with a printed shadow and therefore may be considered as a work on its own. The painting has been photographically reproduced with several additions to its original. In the lower part of the reproduced painting a hue-like horizontal shadow (i.e. in the text part) causes a kind of snapshot-like liveliness. With the shadow lines on the left and bottom around the work depth is created; as if the light comes from the top right corner. Hence more than just a mere reproduction.
It is remarkable that until today TAIL never detected this edition on internet, sites of antiquarians or even auctions. This is definitely a priceless work.
BEN VAUTIER, Fourre-Tout No. 3, 1968
CONTENU DE L’ENVELOPPE
18,9 x 17,4 cm includes all objects, as issued
printed matter and objects in plastic envelope with hand numbered sticker
stamp numbered, here number 00016
6 parts and 1 printed list of contents with felt pen hand drawing of a bocal
edition 100
not available anymore
In an accompanying text of this issue it is announced by Ben and Annie (Noël) that “Fourre-tout” number 3 will be the last one. It is explained that ‘The content of this jar is learning us to admit everything. It reads the idea through the object.’
Issues number 1 and 2 were published in 1967 in an edition 250 each. A copy of issue number 3 is in the collection of the MoMA in New York, USA. The museum has one of the 100 glass jars in its collection that accompanies this periodical with an edition of 100 (+ 1 larger ‘jar’ with original manuscripts), although archived separately from its publication.
Complete content of original plastic envelope “Contenu de l’enveloppe”:
KEN FRIEDMAN – print with ink stamped text: Friedman’zart
HENRY FLYNT – print: Overthrow the Human Race!!
BEN VAUTIER – cut page with pencil drawn circles (recto verso) from paperback book
BEN VAUTIER – punched postcard called There might be an aeroplane in the sky of this tiny postcard
ERIC ANDERSSON [sic] – Tape piece, 3 tiny cards with texts/instruction + loose piece of tape
BEN VAUTIER/GEORGE MACIUNAS ? – small Fluxus bag with paste called A medicine for the asthma of Maciunas
Nota bene: This issue No. 3 is complete, although a glass jar the index is referring to as CONTENU DU BOCAL is lacking.
Extra information
Copy edition number 40/100 in the collection of the MoMa, New York. The glass jar with cork that is part of the publication has been archived by the museum separately.
BEN VAUTIER, Fourre-Tout, No. 3, 1968
glass jar, label, felt-tip pen ink, cork, various objects
10,2 x 5,1 cm
being part of periodical
published by Ben and Anne Vautier
Collection MoMA, New York, USA
ROY LICHTENSTEIN, Folded Hat, 1968
7.25 x 14 inches
offset on plastic foil
published by The Letter Edged in Black Press Inc. / William Copley, New York 1968
not available separately
This SMS edition is part of issue #4 and an offset print on plastic, sandwiched in plastic and hand-folded to form a tri-cornered hat.
BRUCE NAUMAN
Footsteps, 1968
6,6 x 27,5 x 6,6 cm / 7.25 w x 11.75 h inches
offset, tape
edition 2000, of which 1500 have been in fact printed, including one hundred signed, portfolio #5
published by The Letter Edged in Black Press Incorporated, London, 1968
A loose piece of magnetic tape featuring sounds of walking wrapped around a triptych folded card with the following instructions: Set the tape recorder for the speed indicated (3½)
Use a bottle or anything else you can think of to keep tension on the loop after you thread it on the machine (if there is no sound on the tape, it may be upside down)
Play the tape quite loudly for as long as you want or can stand
William Copley, American surrealist painter and art dealer, invited artists in 1968 to contribute to his periodical entitled S.M.S., which stood for “Shit Must Stop.” Copley was inspired by the Fluxus movement.
Decades later the factual printed edition of 1500 got water damaged which left most of the items of portfolio #5 to a total of ca 800 copies.
The Letter Edged In Black Press Inc.
American William Copley founded the publishing house The Letter Edged in Black Press Inc. that produced 6 SMS (abbreviation for “Shit Must Stop”) portfolios released in 1968. In addition to providing a place for artists to work, Copley published a series of artists’ multiples sold by subscription. The artists represented ranged from the very well known to less known artists, including Christian Henning, Ben Patterson, Dick Higgins, Christo, Walter de Maria, Julian Levy, La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, James Lee Byars, Marcel Duchamp, Bruce Conner, Meret Oppenheim, Ray Johnson, Nicolas Calas, José Cortes, H.C. Westermann, Hannah Weiner, Allan Kaprow, Joseph Kosuth, Roland Penrose, Man Ray, Terry Riley, Dick Higgins, Enrico Baj, Roy Lichtenstein, Arman, John Cage, On Kawara, Robert Watts, Hollis Frampton, Yoko Ono, Mel Ramos, Lawrence Weiner, Angus MacLise, Bruce Nauman, Walter Marchetti, Dian Wakoski, Richard Artschwager, John Giorno, Diter Rot, Claes Oldenburg, and many other with an open mind, covering many areas of art. Among the 73 individual works, 6 involved sound, while the majority were visual or written works. Meticulously reproduced, each item was a distinctive artistic work giving each issue a widely varying character.
BEN VAUTIER / LA MONTE YOUNG, text, stencil on paper, 1960-1966
26,8 x 21,1 cm
edition unknown
published by Ben Vautier
This publication is apparently part of the newsletters Ben Vautier sent out in the sixties. First there is an introduction by Ben on contemporary music being influenced by music from other cultures. He pleads with the reader to extend of what music should be by creating music with constructions, themes or melodies. Hence the title of this stencil A sole note will do.
In the second part he presents “Composition 1960 #7” by La Monte Young and in the last part Ben Vautier presents a similar composition called “Crescendo” from July 1963.
BEN PATTERSON, Solo, 1965
each 28 x 21 cm and 21 x 21 cm
6 parts
offset on various kinds of paper, board
texts in German and English
signed, numbered
edition ca 500
LA MONTE YOUNG, Composition # 7, 1960 [To be held for a long time]
text on stencilled paper
26,8 x 21,1 cm
edition unknown
published by Ben Vautier
This publication is apparently part of the newsletters Ben Vautier sent out in the sixties. First there is an introduction by Ben on contemporary music being influenced by music from other cultures. He pleads with the reader to extend of what music should be by creating music with constructions, themes or melodies; a sole note is sufficient.
In the second part he presents “Composition 1960 #7” by La Monte Young and in the last part Ben Vautier presents a similar composition called “Crescendo” from July 1963.
YVES KLEIN, Dimanche 27 November – Le journal d’un seul jour, 1960
55,5 x 38 cm
letterpress on news print paper, 4 pages
edition unknown
For the “Festival d’Art d’Avant-garde” Yves Klein had his work “Leap Into the Void” for the first printed in his single day newspaper Dimanche, which was sold at newstands throughout Paris on Sunday the 27th of November 1960, and often appeared side by side with the real French newspaper Le journal du Dimanche. On the same day Klein held a press conference at the Galerie Rive Driote at 11 am, to announce the project. The four page broadside featured visual works and writings by Klein, including the manifesto Theatre of the Void.
The artist wrote (in French) the following text as introduction of his newspaper:
ACTUALITÉ
As part of the theatrical presentations of the Festival of Avant-garde Art in November-December 1960, I have decided to present the ultimate form of collective theater: a dimanche for everybody. I did not wish to limit myself to an afternoon or evening performance.
On dimanche, 27 November 1960, from midnight to midnight, I thus present a full day of festival, a true spectacle of the Void, as a culminating point of my theories. However, any other day of the week could have been used.
I wish that on this day joy and wonder will reign, that no one will get stage fright, and that everyone, conscious as well as unconscious actors-spectators of this gigantesque presentation, should have a good day.
That everyone will come and go, move about, or remain still.
Everything I write in this diary today precedes the presentation of this historic day for the theater. The theater should be or at least rapidly attempt to become the pleasure of being, of living, of spending wondrous moments, and with each passing day of better understanding the beauty of each moment. Everything I write in this dairy represents my own steps towards this glorious day of realism and truth: the field of operations of my proposed conception of theater is not only the city, Paris, but also the countryside, the desert, the mountains, even the sky, and even the entire universe. Why not? I know that everything inevitably is going to work out very well for everyone, spectators, actors, stagehands, directors, et. al..
I would like to thank Mr. Jacques Polieri, the director of the Avant-garde Festival, for his enthusiasm and for proposing to me that I present this “dimanche, November 27.”
Yves Klein
YVES KLEIN, reprint of front page on poster with blue text, 1991
56 x 38 cm
offset print on newspaper
published on the occasion of the exhibition “Yves Klein 1928-1962” at The Archives by The Archives, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
This poster pictures the cover of the 1960 Yves Klein newspaper “Dimanche”, distributed by Yves Klein on November 27, 1960.
