Brion Gysin :
Calligraffiti of Fire
2008 7th February 2009
Featuring the first UK showing of Gysin’s rarely-seen painting, the 16.4
metre-long Calligraffiti of Fire, his magnum opus and final work.
Gysin (1916-1986) had a lifelong fascination with the juncture of word and
image, and Calligraffiti of Fire (1985) is the culmination of a long series of
works inspired by hieroglyphics and calligraphy. He studied Japanese and Arabic
calligraphy, and evolved his own style of word/image glyphs, supple as flames or
tendrils of smoke. Calligraffiti of Fire embodies Gysin’s explorations of his
inner visions through the ‘flicker’ effect, and permutations of his personal
calligraphic signature. The painting is meant to be ‘read’ from right to
left.
The show also includes a working Dreamachine fabricated to Gysin’s
specifications, as well as Gysin’s paintings and drawings, and photographs by
Gysin, William Burroughs, Ira Cohen and others. The exhibition runs concurrently
with Royal Academy’s Burroughs Live (GSK Contemporary), Riflemaker’s Life File,
featuring Burroughs’ illustrated private files, and Maggs Rare Books’ show of
Barry Miles’ collection of Burroughs and Gysin photographs.
A radical cultural visionary, visual artist, writer and performer, Gysin
introduced his lifelong friend, writer William S. Burroughs, to the techniques
of “cut-ups” and “permutation”. Together, they experimented in sound and image,
using collage, tape recorder, light painting, writing and film. Their work has
had a pervasive influence in the arts and on underground and popular culture,
affecting figures such as David Bowie, Patti Smith, Genesis P. Orridge, Keith
Haring, Michael Stipe, and Bill Laswell.
In the ’60’s, Gysin created the Dreamachine, which he described as “the only
work of art designed to be seen with closed eyes” and a “drugless psychedelic
experience”. The Dreamachine rotates and through a flicker effect, evokes
brainwaves which can produce spontaneous waking dreams. Gysin said, “…it gives
an extended vision of one’s own interior capacities, which could also be
overwhelming.” It was his point of view that those “interior capacities” are the
next art form, superceding painting.
Gysin’s works are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Centre George Pompidou, Musée d’Art Moderne de la
Ville de Paris and numerous private collections. October Gallery first showed
Gysin’s work in 1981.
and produced in collaboration with The Academy of
Everything is Possible. For further information on Brion see www.briongysin.com
r3ckon 
[…] Le terme a été employé en 1986 par le peintre canadien Brion Gysin lors de son exposition « Calligraffiti of Fire » à Paris à la Galerie Samy Kinge puis à Londres à October Gallery . Le terme a […]