Berrigan's and Brainard's Art

C-Press Magazine: Journal of Poetry, Joe Brainard, Ted Berrigan, and other Artists (1963, Emory Rose Library)

Berrigan and Brainard not only included collage elements into their literature, but also added poetry attributes to their visual works. Below we discuss some of their techniques, with the presence of imperfections, the general theory of collage, and the idea of a multimodal aesthetic as the three main concepts used.

Imperfections

An underlying principle of the general community of New York School artwork was for the artists which were involved in the community to be true to their initial intentions; that is, whenever they obtained a sudden burst of inspiration for an idea, they would immediately pen this sentiment onto paper without any second thought. From that point on, they would retain the same canvas no matter what, even if they had a change in heart. This stylistic element provides a presence of collage poetry to their paintings.

Paintings from the Some Things catalog (Emory Rose Library, published 1963-1964). The technique of unification of disjoint imperfections to produce a complete final piece is a staple of Brainard and Berrigan art. This reinforced the idea that artwork with a collage aesthetic should be thought of as a whole rather than its individual segments in order to fully appreciate its unity. And, the fact that these paintings were published in the same year as The Sonnets shows the heightened importance of collage to both the literary and visual works of the New York School, and how these pieces influenced one another.

This painting is a perfect definition of what it means to embody a collage aesthetic. In the upper half of the image, there are numerous miniscule entities, including a heart, a hollow rectangle, a signature, and an arrow. All of these objects appear to be drawn on the paper with clean brush strokes, which can be inferred from their definite shape. These quantities thus play a central role to the message of the visual.

However, what comes to mind next is that all of these symbols are crossed out by seemingly erratic pen marks which are coarse in nature, dominant in expression, and large in quantity, as they extend all the way down until tapering off at the right corners of the paper.

The artists of this piece were undoubtedly in two minds at once in conceiving and designing this work, and by choosing to retain both aspects of these ideas in the final art piece, they reveals their diametrically opposite thought processes to the viewers, simultaneously. From just this one picture, the audience is able to obtain a sensory experience of the creators' refined nature and completeness of action, as well as an angered spirit and self-doubt through fluctuation in decision.

Application of the collage principles comes across to the viewers through this disparity of sub-images, both physically in terms of what they see, and emotionally in terms of what they feel.

The contrasting nature of the photo above is what endows it with collage attributes. This image has been designed in such a way that the upper half and lower half of the image are completely unrelated to each other. At the top, there are repeated instances of "imperfections": the presence of seemingly eloquent cursive prose, markedly different from the inconsistencies of the subsequent snapshots: haphazardly curved segments, reduction in clarity through overlapping images, and a general confusion through darkened scratch marks. From this disorder, it is reasonable to conclude that just 50% of this image is a unique construction of incongruities and can stand as a collage on its own.

The lower portion of this very same work could have been easily seen as that of a separate art piece if it wasn't on the same canvas as the top. Here, one can obtain a marked sense of definition and purpose from the perfectly drawn hand with a shine from the cross of Christianity, thus exuding a message of holiness and peace with one's inner self (accentuated by the textual asides).

However, through the hand's finger pointing upward, it is visually conveyed that these differences are meant to unify the partitions and form an underlying theme of completeness, as any life needs its pristine AND disorganized moments. As such, a"collage aura" has been created through unlikely combination of units which are separate individually yet uncannily connect together.

radicality Through collage theory

The second generation of artists in the New York School followed a drastically different set of literary principles in comparison to their contemporaries. One of these defining ideas was to break away from the normalcy of democratic and communitarian forms previously ascribed to poetry. They instead favored a much more free-flowing genre of expression, achieved through incorporating collage theory in their artwork. Through the appendix notes in The Sonnets, Berrigan credits the German expressionist Hans Hoffman for this revelation of collage that was used throughout 1960s New York School paintings: artists will always be able to create an illusion of space, depth, and movement on a canvas using only the color and shape of a collage artwork.

BOOK COvERS:

Cover art from the C-Press magazine (1963, Emory Rose Library). Espouses qualities from the Abstract Expressionism period, and is thus representative of the Push/Pull theory created by Hans Hoffman.

This cover on the left is an clear illustration of a collage emanating the push/pull theory. With just a cursory glance at the image, it is impossible for any viewer to immediately discern its direct happenings as well as any intended message. The lack of concrete objects present ensures that the audience cannot connect this visual to any event in the real world. As such, they must completely rely on their own interpretive skills to translate this piece into a defined purpose.

However, as one examines this piece in more detail, qualities of the push/pull theory begin to become more evident. The black and white shadings present at each corner of the canvas generate a three-dimensional effect, almost as if the remaining white-bordered portion of the drawing is being lifted off the paper and thrown into the readers' eyes to view. Within this white portion, a concrete form is forged through only stylistic elements. At the upper top-right of the rectangle, the presence of a hollow white oval filled entirely by a black coloring and a slight grey speck drive us to the conclusion that this collection actually represents a human eye.

Even though this is not an eye drawn in the traditional manner with an eyelash and a pupil, one is able to eventually perceive an eye from the abstract design. Through a similar analysis, when spectators look at the black-and white striped curves that seem to revolve around this eye, they implicitly liken them to rays of sunshine that are emitted by the sun in our solar system.

Overall, these two evaluations lead to a succinct explanation of the pieces' moral: Knowledge and power comes from truly opening your eyes and understanding the internal and external world around you. A cohesive relation is thus formed between unrelated elements.

This artwork on the right was produced by Joe Brainard as a cover for his contemporary Richard Gallup's book of poetry, Hinges. One sees that collage abstraction has been employed to attribute a greater sense of inherent value and intrinsic beauty to the subject of the cover. Here, one can infer relatively quickly that the main focus of is a running woman, but the subtle details which guide us to this depiction are a sight to be marveled.

First, it is natural to the reader to examine the "face" of the woman, consistent with a natural line of sight from top to bottom of the page (since there isn't any quantity, or lack thereof, that immediately jumps out a first glance). This is not just an average face: there are no eyes, ears, and even a nose. However, what is indeed present as a positive indicator is a luscious crop of hair. And at the very bottom of this black coloration, a very sharp pencil stroke is indented, almost resembling a cut in the paper, to signify a mouth and an ability to speak for this figure. Once these two components, disjoint at first viewing, are put together, it is extremely obvious to an onlooker that the figure on the cover is a person.

A similar progression of thought follows in examining the attire of the woman. From the get-go, there is essentially nothing - the majority of the dress is just plain "white", and the border of the region isn't a traditional cone-like shape that a dress garment normally has. What is critical to the above conclusion is not the direct art as it is laid on the paper, but rather its underlying sense of multidimensionality. Toward the top left of the image, there are a sequence of lines in a very faint font, along with a precise shading right below with a concentration of brush strokes.

The combined result is the representation alludes to the wrinkles present on a gown when a female wearing it is in motion. The realization of this collage technique by the audience helps makes the abstract concrete in identifying the dress.

The Sonnets (Berrigan, 1964, Emory Rose Library). This picture is the first artwork ascribed to this book when it was published in 1964 as edition one.

Hinges (Brainard, 1965, Emory Rose Library). Application of Hoffman's Push/Pull theory through incompleteness in character formation.

The image on the left is the original cover of The Sonnets that was designed by Ted Berrigan. The literary collage aesthetic present within the poems of the book is complemented by the visual collage aesthetic seen here in the cover. One notices that the title, "The Sonnets", is not directly written out using the letters of the English language and a writing utensil, as is normally expected. Rather, Berrigan utilizes a manipulation of color to achieve the same effect. The background of this cover is composed of two major elements: the black and purple mixture filling up the majority of the page, and a light gray splotch in the very center. Within this latter area, actual paint has been scraped off using a whitener or rubbing alcohol. The gaps that result correspond to the shapes of 'T', 'H', 'E', 'S', and so on, until the title of the work becomes visible to the reader.

By creating visual movement in the title through optical rather than written communication, Berrigan adds a sense of continuity to this cover. If he had just typed the words "The Sonnets" and superimposed them onto this same photo, there would be a major disconnect between these two elements, and it would thus be difficult to interpret. A parallel is formed with the technique of imagery in the literature, as the audience gets to appreciate visuals which are constructed, rather than drawn traditionally. This cover thus adds to the overall theme of collage generated from The Sonnets.

multimodal AESTHETIC

Another characteristic of Brainard and Berrigan's collages is multimodality: the simultaneous utilization of various forms of art communication all in the same piece. According to Jenny Quilter, this is a defining feature of all New York Poetry, as the second generation sought to break the shackles previously restricting art to one specific medium alone. Multimodality provided a unique plethora of elements to each of Brainard and Berrigan's artworks, as well as a more in-depth denotation through the effect of stylistic accentuation. Scroll through the image carousels below to inspect examples of this strategy (right) and the corresponding explanations (left).

Image 1: A Letter of Friendly (Brainard, 1962, Emory Rose Library). Letter from Joe Brainard to Ted Berrigan that is a combination of visual and textual elements on every page. Good indicator of the multimodal aesthetic. (Carousel to the right)

Image 2: Artwork from the C-Press Magazine (1963, Emory Rose Library). Using the collage technique invented by Abstract Expressionism artist Guillaume Apollinaire, Berrigan mixes poetry and painting to accentuate his message. (Carousel below)

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