Synopses & Reviews
Brion Gysin (1916-1986) was a multifaceted artist whose fertile mind and wide range of original ideas were a source of inspiration for artists of the Beat Generation in Paris, as well as to innovative artists and performers such as David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Keith Haring, and Laurie Anderson in the next generation. Painter, writer, sound poet, tape composer, lyricist, and performance artist, Gysin is remembered particularly for his evocative paintings of the North African desert in the 1950s and his original calligraphic abstractions based on Japanese and Arabic scripts. The chance discovery by Gysin of the cut-up technique (later developed and refined by William S. Burroughs) and the concept of permutated poems gave rise to new and original forms of sound art wordplay, striking not only in print but also in recordings or live performance. Gysin's inventive ideas also extended to the Dreamachine and to collages of text and photographs. This is the first comprehensive publication on Gysin's achievements. It features reproductions of his paintings and graphics as well as examples of his permutated poems and other writings. Complete with first-hand reminiscences by his contemporaries, it generates the sense of excitement and experimentation that so captivated all who knew this remarkable artistic pioneer.
Table of Contents
Foreword /Vincent J. Varga --Introduction and acknowledgments /Josâe Fâerez Kuri --Ports of entry /William S. Burroughs --On Gysin's desert paintings /Gregory Corso --Brion Gysin: a personal memoir /Mohamed Choukri --Gysin known and unknown: the calligraphic paintings /Guy Brett --Parascience and permutation: the photo-based work of Brion Gysin /Bruce Grenville --Inventive mind of Brion Gysin /Barry Miles --Many facets of Brion Gysin /Bernard Heidsieck --Letting the mice in: Brion Gysin's multimedia poetics /Nicholas Zurbrugg --I am that am I? Between crystal and smoke /Gladys C. Fabre --Great demon king /John Giorno --World of Brion Gysin /Felicity Mason --Brion Gysin: his life and times /John Grigsby Geiger