DistantNews
Support us
Galería Kurimanzutto hosts John Giorno's poetic works Image: Gerardo Landa Rojano
🇲🇽 Mexico /Culture & Society

Galería Kurimanzutto hosts John Giorno's poetic works

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Outcome reported
  • The Kurimanzutto gallery in Mexico City is showcasing a new exhibition of the late American artist and poet John Giorno's work.
  • The exhibition, titled 'John Giorno: LIFE IS A KILLER,' features a selection of his most representative poetic creations from his early career to 2015.
  • Giorno, known for his belief that poetry should exist beyond the page, incorporated various mediums like wall texts, vinyl records, videos, and a phone line for his work.

Mexico City's Galería Kurimanzutto is presenting "John Giorno: LIFE IS A KILLER," the first solo exhibition in the city dedicated to the American artist, activist, and poet John Giorno (1936-2019). Giorno, a contemporary of Andy Warhol and William S. Burroughs, explored poetry through diverse mediums, believing it should be an accessible part of human communication, not confined to the written page.

The exhibition features a curated selection of Giorno's most significant poetic works, spanning from his early pieces to his final series from 2015. Visitors can experience his poetry displayed on the gallery walls, heard through vinyl records, a 10-hour video by Rirkrit Tiravanija, and even a dedicated phone line. Among the early works is a poem inspired by the trial of Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale.

A highlight includes Giorno's "Poem paintings," which began in the 1970s in Italy and served as a precursor to his painted works. These pieces often feature verses like "Everything is delusion including wisdom" and the exhibition's titular "Life is a killer." Many of these black and white paintings utilize a typeface designed for Giorno by Mark Michaelson in 1984. Since 2015, Giorno also created works with rainbow backgrounds as a statement supporting LGBT freedom.

The exhibition's core is a collection of vinyl records Giorno recorded under his own music label, featuring poems and songs created with friends like Debbie Harry and Patti Smith. These records are available for visitors to play within the gallery. To connect Giorno's work with Mexico, the gallery is collaborating with La Americana bookstore on a workshop to translate the artist's poems into Spanish, with the translations to be published in a fanzine.

Further extending Giorno's reach, the gallery's bookstore offers his books and merchandise. Visitors can also engage with "Dial-A-Poem," Giorno's seminal 1970 project at New York's Museum of Modern Art, by picking up a landline phone connected to a continuous stream of poetry.

Everything is delusion including wisdom

— John GiornoA verse featured in Giorno's 'Poem paintings'.
About this summary

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog