{"title":"James Lee Byars","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"100-000-minutes","title":"100,000 minutes","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs readers turn the opening pages of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e100,000 Minutes\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, they encounter a succession of alternative titles James Lee Byars considered for the work: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eor The Big Sample of Byars\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e; \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eor 1\/2 an Autobiography\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (a reference to the artist's age of thirty-seven, then considered the statistical midpoint of an American lifespan); and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eor The First Paper of Philosophy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. The publication originated in Byars's first European exhibition at the Wide White Space Gallery in Antwerp, which consisted of three performances. During the final week, the artist sat behind an opening cut into a gallery wall, painted the same distinctive pink as the book's pages, and wrote in public. The texts reproduced in this volume were composed during this performance. Some recount episodes from his life, while others take the form of short and witty philosophical aphorisms:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"At first sight, do you perceive the full potential of a circumstance?\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"I went to Oxford just to find out what questions existed in the philosophy department.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"If you ask for something that doesn't exist, you deserve it on the intelligence of the request.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"I wear a black leather suit and like clear light bulbs; do you think I'm Wittgenstein's ghost, too?\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn a 1969 interview with Geert Bekaert and Walter Van Dijk (\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eStreven\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, vol. 22), Byars described the book as \"a sample\" rather than the story of an entire life. Influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein, he conceived of philosophy as an ongoing process of inquiry rather than a means of arriving at fixed conclusions. The title reflects his fascination with numbers (particularly large, rounded figures), which he valued less for their mathematical precision than for their poetic and symbolic resonance. For Byars, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e100,000 Minutes\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e signified possibility rather than measurement, just as his imagined possession of the complete 1-million-word \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOxford English Dictionary\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—a dream he shared in the same interview—expressed a desire to inhabit the totality of language rather than to master it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53801304097107,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/Byars.png?v=1779269873"},{"product_id":"p-i-i-t-l-perfect-is-in-the-louvre","title":"P.I.I.T.L. [Perfect is in the Louvre]","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eShortly after completing his studies in art and philosophy at the Wayne State University in Detroit, James Lee Byars moved to Kyoto in 1958, settling near the Temple of the Golden Pavilion for nearly a decade. Influenced by Japanese Buddhism, Shinto rituals, and Noh theatre, Byars crystallized an artistic practice that combined conceptual minimalism with contemplative disciplines. During this period, he became fascinated by Japanese paper, an interest that later materialized in works such as “The Mile-Long Paper Walk” (1965) and “The Accordion Scroll \/ The Perfect Painting” (1961), a 360 cm-long, 30 cm-wide band of folded paper. His paper constructions, often rolled, folded, or otherwise transformed, continued to evolve throughout his entire career.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eConceived as both a conceptual artwork and an artist’s publication, P.I.I.T.L. (Perfect Is in the Louvre) is connected to Byars’s live actions, including his “Apparition-Disparition” performance near the Louvre in Paris, during which he handed this folded publication directly to the audience. Perfection, particularly the word “perfect”, is a recurring theme in Byars’s work. He developed it into a personal and poetic inquiry, exploring the relationships between language and precious materials.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIssued as a folded printed multiple on thick Tintoretto Fedrigoni paper and set in Bodoni type, the work emulates the format and graphic style of Éditions de la NRF (Nouvelle Revue Française), published by Gallimard since 1911. Not only it pays a tribute to Gallimard, but also reifies Byars’s own practice, bringing together the institutional aura of the Louvre with the material language of the historical publishing house.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJames Lee Byars’s fascination with folds and folded paper can be distilled in the phrase “This paper has undone me,” a famous line spoken by Cardinal Wolsey in William Shakespeare’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHenry VIII\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (Act III, Scene II), which Byars later adopted in his interviews and conversations.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54385761747283,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/PIITL.png?v=1784812965"}],"url":"https:\/\/metabooks.art\/collections\/james-lee-byars.oembed","provider":"Metabooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}