Existing comment:
Jay DeFeo (1929–1989, American)
Mail art to Wallace Berman, 1965
During Wallace Berman's time in San Francisco in the late 1950s, he and beat artist Jay DeFeo developed a close friendship, bonding over their shared interests in jazz, poetry, baseball, and mysticism. DeFeo contributed to Berman's publication Semina, which also featured West Coast artists like Bruce Connor and George Herms; poets such as Michael McClure, Allan Ginsburg, and Diane di Prima; and cult figures like Russ Tamblyn and Dennis Hopper. These artists received copies of the journal in exchange for their participation, thus helping to establish an arts community around Berman in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. DeFeo and Berman grew close through collaboration, carrying on a photocollage correspondence after Berman returned to Los Angeles in 1961.
In this piece, DeFeo sends Berman an altered copy of his poster for the third annual Los Angeles Film-Maker's festival. The poster, which features Berman's signature transistor radio motif, has been collaged with a photo of DeFeo as a young girl, and a piece of paper with a cryptic typewritten message that makes reference to DeFeo's monumental painting, The Rose, which weighed nearly one ton, as well as baseball's loveable loser, Casey Stengel.
-- Lizz Hamilton |