Wallace Berman: Off The Grid (Totah)
Sunday, October 27, 2024
A book that took exactly three years to make from an exhibition at TOTAH in 2021. The book stands alone and is an excellent survey of my father, Wallace Berman’s art. I’m happy to write that I participated in this volume with an interview with David Totah and a panel discussion on my father’s film Aleph with Andrew Lampert and Anne Waldman.
From DAP/ARTBOOK:
Wallace Berman: Off the Grid
Edited by Sophia McKinnon. Text by Tosh Berman, Andrew Lampert, Saul Ostrow, David Totah, Anne Waldman.
Over 45 works from the California art legend Wallace Berman, including selections from his rare short film Aleph
Wallace Berman (1926–76) was a notorious guru of the 1960s art pantheon. Often cited as a West Coast Beat Generation artist who rubbed elbows with the likes of Allen Ginsberg, Dennis Hopper and the Rolling Stones, his contributions transcend the comparisons of his aesthetic and the associations that he kept. A self-taught artist, Berman was influenced by Surrealism, Dadaism and the Kabbalah, as well as jazz music and the mystical symbols and popular imagery of his time.
Berman is best known for his signature motif, which comes from a reappropriated Sony advertisement picturing a hand holding a transistor radio, which he found in 1964. By removing the speaker grill and inserting random appropriated images, the hand shuffles up messages that appear to spring out of the ether. His early use of the gridding technique creates a visual cacophony that barrages the senses.
Off the Grid follows the eponymous 2021 show at TOTAH, a rare East Coast exhibition of Berman’s work, which included a screening of his rare short film Aleph (1956-66), followed by a discussion between Tosh Berman (Wallace Berman’s son) and Andrew Lampert, moderated by poet Anne Waldman. A partial transcript of this conversation is included in the publication.
One can purchase Wallace Berman: Off The Grid at your favorite local bookstore, or if you wish to buy the book online, you can here:
ARTBOOK AT HAUSER AND WIRTH (ONLINE AND IN STORE)
And here is the chat with me and Andrew and Anne: HERE
And you can look inside the book HERE
Can't wait to get my hands on this! What a treat!
Thanks Tosh,
What a wonderful conversation between the three of you. I’m quite familiar with all the history of these times but it’s so enriching for me to hear the stories from you and the other two. A casual walk through what I love the most.