SWISS JARRY, HACIENDA , ZURICH.. opening April 19 (sun)
For nearly a decade I have been identifying with the early proto-avant-garde figure Alfred Jarry who became a world celebrity through his absurd theater piece “King Ubu”, his pataphysical writings and his self-destructive life-style that killed him at the age of 34.
My I WANNA BE ALFRED JARRY works rather ignores Jarry’s most famous classics and focuses on the less known aspects of Jarry as a fanatic cyclist with a stolen bicycle at a time this new vehicle was just invented, as a gay character who was in possession of at least one penis sculpture and as a mad man who shot guns at friends, critics and monuments. In his little small late futurist novel, “Le Surmâle”, 1903, Jarry basically anticipated what later became known as performance enhancing drugs in form of bicycle doping and Viagra.
To show the power of his “Perpetual Motion Food”, the text stages a 10 000 miles race between a quintuplet, 5 riders on a bike, against a train that ran on the tracks of the then not yet fully built trans-siberian railway. For the less explicit demonstration of male masculinity, the writer describes a 24 hour love making performance in which the female partner passes out and dies, as observed through a peep hole that evokes the exact scenery of Duchamps posthumous master piece ’’Étant Donné”. Duchamp and nearly the entire international avant-garde of the early 20th century idolized Jarry after his premature death in 1907 and the publication of his entire oeuvres a few years later that contained a drove of texts and text fragments so powerful that even 100 years later l still get “high” on him.
Swissjarry, the title of my presentation, does not just randomly play with the location of the show but serves as a reminder that Jarry’s King Ubu was presented by Hugo Ball at the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916. He also wrote the fantastic short story entitled The Passion Considered as an Uphill Bicycle Race, which inspired me for a Heimatfilm with the same title shot in the Alps in a late winter month.
For Hacienda's Swissjarry I not only presented works I showed in a one person show at Kunstforum, Vienna in 2012 – see publication Ingrid Brugger, Heike Eipeldauer (ed.), Rainer Ganahl, I wanna be Aflred Jarry, Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg GmbH, 2012 with texts by Martha Schwendener, Heike Eipeldauer and Rainer Ganahl – but also new works that try to trace the undocumented portrait of Alfred Jarry by his best friend Henri Rousseau, called Le Douanier, which Jarry didn’t like and had subsequently destroyed.
The artist maintains two websites dedicated to Alfred Jarry:
http://www.iwannabealfredjarry.me
http://www.perpetualmotionfood.com
I wanna be Alfred Jarry, Cleveland, Toulouse-Lautrec, 1896, 1897, 2011
16 mm black and white film, abotut 8 min
PMF . perpetual motion food, 2008
bronze and ceramics
ps: here is less Alpine version ... Kunstforum Vienna, tresor, 2012
with proper 16 mm screening - tresor
bike skid mark
Skidmark, Cleveland, 1896, 2012
223 x 22.5 x 2 cm, Silicon
skidmarks.cleveland (13)
Counting backwards, Approaching the era of Alfred Jarry (1873 - 1907), 1939/40 - 2012/14
a work related to alfred jarry's work on time machines. .... with a taste for pathaphyics (the science of imaginary solutions
explaining the work to HEIKE MUNDER and MEDINA CUAUHTEMOC.
Counting backwards, Approaching the era of Alfred Jarry (1873 - 1907), 1939/40 - 2012/14
Broken handle bar, apprx. 1960/70s, plastic tool bag apprx. 1950, chainring, approx. 1990s
Counting backwards, Approaching the era of Alfred Jarry (1873 - 1907), 1939/40 - 2012/14
Broken handle bar, apprx. 1960/70s, plastic tool bag apprx. 1950, chainring, approx. 1990s
Counting backwards, Approaching the era of Alfred Jarry (1873 - 1907), 1939/40 - 2012/14
Inner tube, apprx. 1930/40s, leather saddle, apprx. 1930/40, country district cyclist photograph, approx. 1900
Rainer Ganahl, For Jarry, Henry Rousseau, Various Painters, 1895/2014
Oil or acrylic paint on canvas (40x 50 cm)
Alfred Jarry was a good friend of Henri Rousseau and named him for eternity Le Douanier. In 1895 Rousseau painted Jarry though the poet didn’t like the portrait and destroyed it without any documentation !!!
This work is an attempt to re-imagine this lost portrait. Needless to say, I feel deeply ashamed of my trade with these wonderful Zurich based artists who portrayed me as Alfred Jarry in the style of Henri Rousseau sticking to the artists own ways of seeing and painting. Each painter gets one of my Alfred Jarry vacations @ Hacienda lecture drawings in exchange of an acryl or oil painting. Ironically enough, this embarrassing unequal exchange is fully in line with Alfred Jarry’s historic psychological, social and economic disposition, meaning his narcissism and scamming.
Thanks to:
- Armen Eloyan
- Urban Zellweger
- Walter Pfeiffer
- Thomas Sauter
- ….
Rainer Ganahl, For Jarry, Henry Rousseau, Various Painters, 1895/2014
Oil or acrylic paint on canvas (40x 50 cm)
Rainer Ganahl, For Jarry, Henry Rousseau, Urban Zellweger, 1895/2014
Rainer Ganahl, For Jarry, Henry Rousseau, Walter Pfeiffer, 1895/2014
ink on paper, 40 x 50 cm
Rainer Ganahl, For Jarry, Henry Rousseau, Armen Eloyan, 1895/2014
Rainer Ganahl, For Jarry, Henry Rousseau, Thomas Sauter, 1895/2014
Alfred Jarry Vacations @ Hacienda, Lecture One - Ten, 2014
Ink on paper, 29.9 x 21 cm
Alfred Jarry was not a nice man. Today we would refer to him in street jargon as asshole. He stole from his friends, he cheated on his friends, he betrayed his friends, he insulted his friends. He never paid back his debts and never intended to do so.
He was a misogynist and wasn't too appreciative of people in general. He even shot his friend in the arm and threatened critics with the gun he always carried with him.
Alfred Jarry was a good friend of Henri Rousseau and named him for eternity Le Douanier. In 1895 Rousseau painted Jarry though the poet didn’t like the portrait and destroyed it without any documentation.
SWISS JARRY vacations @ Hacienda Zurich, Lecture 1 - 10, 2014
ink and pencil on drawing, for painters in exchange. see text
all images ink and pencil on paper, 21 x 29.7 (a4) cm 2014
I wanna be Alfred Jarry
drawings,a 4 21 x 29.7 cm, pencil and ink
GIVE ME SWISSJARRY - PERPETUAL MOTION FOOD, 2014
ink adn pencil on paper, A4, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY - I WANNA BE ALFRED JARRY - DO IT YOURSELF Instructions how to cut cheese, 2014
ink and pencil on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm
the spiral is the visual trade mark for JARRY'S KING UBU
CE QUI ROULE - THAT WHICH ROLLS - EARLY FORMS OF ROLLIN' ROCK, 2008
a film - 37 mim
a film - 37 min
photograph, production still
props as seen at HACIENDA.. see more below
a film - 37 min
A series of works celebrating the not always nice but sometimes vicious Alfred Jarry (1873 - 1907) as the most craziest bicyclist of all days
- CE QUI ROULE - THAT WHICH ROLLS - EARLY FORMS OF ROLLIN' ROCK - film stills
- CE QUI ROULE - THAT WHICH ROLLS - EARLY FORMS OF ROLLIN' ROCK - photos made during filming
- CE QUI ROULE - THAT WHICH ROLLS - EARLY FORMS OF ROLLIN' ROCK - story board
- CE QUI ROULE - THAT WHICH ROLLS - EARLY FORMS OF ROLLIN' ROCK - film props
DADALEININ ---- LENIN livied opposie the Cabaret Voltraire during the daays of DADA and he participated. more can be seen in a parallel exhibiton: Cabaret Voltaire CABARET VOLTAIRE, Zurich.. 2014 (06.02. - 27.04.2014) #
Absinth bar - no Hacienda picture.. but they made it for the opening resulting in one person's (little) alc-poisoning.
arthur fink (curator, gallery man, art historian, hacienda) and literary historian Stefan Zweifel
READING ALFRED JARRY --- UPHILL BIKE RACE TEXT.. see more here
DADALENIN UBULENIN - performance /theater - hacienda
starring Rachel Sternberg as Ubu Krupskaya, Laura Koerfer as announcer and other figures, me as UBULENIN
visusal back drop Steffanie Sprinz and Jan Nicola Angermann
more about the piece (for this performance, the text was again adapted to the current situtation - Putin as Tsar Nicolai II and Chrimea... and the Baltics playing a more important role
TALK BETWEEN LITERARY CRITIC AND FRENCH LITERATURE EXPERT (HE TRANSLATED MOST OF DE SADE S WORKS INTO GERMAN) STEFAN ZWEIFEL AND ME
Rainer Ganahl worklist
Main Room:
I wanna be Alfred Jarry / Cleveland / Toulouse-Lautrec, 1896 / 1897 / 2011
Silverprint photograph 24.1 x 30.5 editon 1/5
Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec, , 1896
Lithograph, 23.5 x 31.8
Sketch for Simpson Chain, advertisement poster
I wanna be Alfred Jarry / Cleveland 1897 / 2011
Historic bicycle
I wanna be Alfred Jarry/ Cleveland / Toulouse-Lautrec, 1896 / 1897 / 2011
16 mm (transferred to dvd), 4.35 sec. , editon of 10
I wanna be Alfred Jarry, Cleveland, skip mark, 1897/2912
WHITE SILICON
I wanna be Alfred Jarry, AJ, 2010
Bronze, 35 x 17 x 17 cm, durchmesser approx 18x
Counting backwards, Approaching the era of Alfred Jarry (1873 - 1907), 1939/40 - 2012/14
Broken handle bar, apprx. 1960/70s, plastic tool bag apprx. 1950, chainring, approx. 1990s
Counting backwards, Approaching the era of Alfred Jarry (1873 - 1907), 1939/40 - 2012/14
Inner tube, apprx. 1930/40s, leather saddle, apprx. 1930/40, country district cyclist photograph, approx. 1900
Rainer Ganahl, For Jarry, Henry Rousseau, Various Painters, 1895/2014
Oil or acrylic paint on canvas (40x 50 cm)
SWISSJARRY Vacations @ Hacienda , Lecture one – ten, 2014
Indrawings. 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, Pfizer, 1998 1903, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, Rollex, Amstrong, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, AJ , 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, PMF, PFIZER AJ, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, PMF, PFIZER, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, AJ, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
GIVE ME SWISSJARRY, UBU UBS, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
GIVE ME SWISSJARRY, SWATCH, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
GIVE ME SWISSJARRY, PMF, DICK, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
GIVE ME SWISSJARRY, PMS JARRY LAROCHE, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
--
SWISSJARRY, Budget, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, two dicks , (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, PMF, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, gun, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, pipe dick, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, dick, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, AJ, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, dick wheel, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
CE QUI ROULE - THAT WHICH ROLLS - EARLY FORMS OF ROLLIN' ROCK, 2008
Film stills
Absinthe, La fée verte,
Acryl paint
Use a bicyce,
bronze
UBU LENIN,
bronze
check this show at KUNSTFORUM, VIENNA, tresor 2012
Ingried Brugger, Heike Eipeldauer (ed.), Rainer Ganahl , I wanna be Aflred Jarry, Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg GmbH, 2012
with texts by Martha Schwendener, Heike Eipeldauer and Rainer Ganahl
ISBN 978-3-86984-318-6
Published by
Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg GmbH
Königstraße 73, D-90402 Nürnberg
www.vfmk.de
Distributed in the United Kingdom
Cornerhouse Publications
70 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 5 NH, UK
Phone +44-161-200 15 03
Fax +44-161-200 15 04
Distributed outside Europe
D.A.P. Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.
155 Sixth Avenue, 2nd Floor,
New York, NY 10013, USA
Phone +1-212-627 19 99
Fax +1-212-627 94 84
Alfred Jarry Vacations @ Hacienda, Lecture One - Ten, 2014
Ink on paper, 29.9 x 21 cm
Alfred Jarry was not a nice man. Today we would refer to him in street jargon as asshole. He stole from his friends, he cheated on his friends, he betrayed his friends, he insulted his friends. He never paid back his debts and never intended to do so.
He was a misogynist and wasn't too appreciative of people in general. He even shot his friend in the arm and threatened critics with the gun he always carried with him.
Alfred Jarry was a good friend of Henri Rousseau and named him for eternity Le Douanier. In 1895 Rousseau painted Jarry though the poet didn’t like the portrait and destroyed it without any documentation.
Rainer Ganahl, For Jarry, Henry Rousseau, Various Painters, 1895/2014
Oil or acrylic paint on canvas (40x 50 cm)
This work is an attempt to re-imagine this lost portrait. Needless to say, I feel deeply ashamed of my trade with these wonderful Zurich based artists who portrayed me as Alfred Jarry in the style of Henri Rousseau sticking to the artists own ways of seeing and painting. Each painter gets one of my Alfred Jarry vacations @ Hacienda lecture drawings in exchange of an acryl or oil painting. Ironically enough, this embarrassing unequal exchange is fully in line with Alfred Jarry’s historic psychological, social and economic disposition, meaning his narcissism and scamming.
Thanks to:
- Armen Eloyan
- Urban Zellweger
- Walter Pfeiffer
- Thomas Sauter
- ….
- ….
Main Room:
I wanna be Alfred Jarry / Cleveland / Toulouse-Lautrec, 1896 / 1897 / 2011
Silverprint photograph 24.1 x 30.5 editon 1/5
Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec, , 1896
Lithograph, 23.5 x 31.8
Sketch for Simpson Chain, advertisement poster
I wanna be Alfred Jarry / Cleveland 1897 / 2011
Historic bicycle
I wanna be Alfred Jarry/ Cleveland / Toulouse-Lautrec, 1896 / 1897 / 2011
16 mm (transferred to dvd), 4.35 sec. , editon of 10
I wanna be Alfred Jarry, Cleveland, skip mark, 1897/2912
WHITE SILICON
I wanna be Alfred Jarry, AJ, 2010
Bronze, 35 x 17 x 17 cm, durchmesser approx 18x
Counting backwards, Approaching the era of Alfred Jarry (1873 - 1907), 1939/40 - 2012/14
Broken handle bar, apprx. 1960/70s, plastic tool bag apprx. 1950, chainring, approx. 1990s
Counting backwards, Approaching the era of Alfred Jarry (1873 - 1907), 1939/40 - 2012/14
Inner tube, apprx. 1930/40s, leather saddle, apprx. 1930/40, country district cyclist photograph, approx. 1900
Rainer Ganahl, For Jarry, Henry Rousseau, Various Painters, 1895/2014
Oil or acrylic paint on canvas (40x 50 cm)
SWISSJARRY Vacations @ Hacienda , Lecture one – ten, 2014
Indrawings. 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, Pfizer, 1998 1903, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, Rollex, Amstrong, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, AJ , 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, PMF, PFIZER AJ, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, PMF, PFIZER, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
I wanna Be Alfred Jarry, AJ, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
GIVE ME SWISSJARRY, UBU UBS, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
GIVE ME SWISSJARRY, SWATCH, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
GIVE ME SWISSJARRY, PMF, DICK, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
GIVE ME SWISSJARRY, PMS JARRY LAROCHE, 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
--
SWISSJARRY, Budget, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, two dicks , (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, PMF, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, gun, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, pipe dick, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, dick, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, AJ, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
SWISSJARRY, dick wheel, (Do It Yourself Instruction for Cheese Cutting), 2014
Ink drawing, 21 x 29.7 cm
CE QUI ROULE - THAT WHICH ROLLS - EARLY FORMS OF ROLLIN' ROCK, 2008
Film stills
Absinthe, La fée verte,
Use a bicyce,
UBU LENIN,