Smothered Art (Lot #4)
1991
12.5 x 8.2 x 0.7 cm overall
printed matter: set of flash cards with directions for destroying art; 21 cards with specific methods, 2 blank cards, 1 cover card. Edition of 500 in glassine envelope.
Artists often face the necessity of disposing of old works, especially those whose monetary value has sunk to zero. Too often, artists put off the task because it is a tedious, difficult, and heart-rending job. However, it is possible to destroy, mutilate, and otherwise do away with art by a variety of methods that relieve the task of its monotony. With this in mind, the museum created the Smothered Art card set with widely various ways to dispose of art, including canning, mulching, skinning, and drowning. When the instructions are carried out carefully, they may even result in a new and quite different artwork. Each product of this recycling can be seen as an abject monument to the original "smothered" artwork now obscured within the new work.
This is the museum's first publication. It is included in the MOF Sample Box. It is available through Printed Matter, New York, the Institute of Cultural Inquiry, Los Angeles, and the online store for the blog "art is all we have".