Harvard Art Museums > 64.2004: The distance from this page to your eye is my sculpture in 1972 Prints Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"The distance from this page to your eye is my sculpture in 1972 (Ken Friedman) , 64.2004,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, May 18, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/77803. This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 64.2004 People Ken Friedman, American (New London, Connecticut, USA born 1949) Title The distance from this page to your eye is my sculpture in 1972 Classification Prints Work Type print Date 1972 Culture American Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/77803 Physical Descriptions Medium Rubber stamp on a postcard Dimensions 8.3 x 14.1 cm (3 1/4 x 5 9/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks Signed: Ken Friedman [stamp] legend: yes, ink, rubber stamped, signed: The distance from this page to your eye is my sculpture in 1972 -- Ken Friedman ["design," "subject," and "signature"] inscription: black ink, hand written, in artist's hand: [name and address of person to whom the artist sent the postcard:] Jan van der Marck / School of Art / University of Washington / Seattle / Washington 98195 stamp: black ink, machine stamp: [in circle] RIFLE, CO 81650 / JUL 12 / PM / 1972 [postal cancelation mark] Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Anonymous Loan in honor of Mazie Harris Copyright © Ken Friedman Object Number 64.2004 Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Commentary Friedman is the author or editor of several important source books and histories of Fluxus, with his own role as leader of Fluxus-West (California Fluxus) taking a prominent part in these. And this particular postcard has been cited as the epitome of Fluxus by Craig Saper in his essay "Fluxus as a Laboratory" ('The Fluxus Reader,' Ken Friedman, ed., p. 136), following this description of the characteristic Fluxus work of art: "Fluxus often parodied the kind of art that posits a masterpiece appreciated by a spectator. By contrast, Fluxus works highlighted social-poetic interaction and encouraged epistemological experimentation among participant-users." The movement's latter-day propensity for very long words should not overwhelm the brief, Zen-like formulation of the postcard, again, entirely characteristic of Fluxus and mail art, especially as practiced in the slightly later, West-Coast mode, as here. It is interesting to note that in an interview with Friedman conducted some time in the 1970s, the artist prophesized the internet, at least as his desire, as a qualitative leap beyond mail art. The interviewer, George M. Gugelberger, had said, "A large part of your achievement is correspondence. You seem to consider yourself as a large correspondence center." Friedman replied, "Yes. Truly I am waiting for an information system that would make it possible for us to enter into a telephone booth and be put in contact with everything essential." ("Doing My Doingness: An interview with the Fluxus-West Director Ken Friedman," pp.6-7). Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
