JOHN GIORNO

John Giorno was born in 1936 in New York. After graduating from Columbia University,Giorno moved to the Bowery in the mid-1960s where he joined a vibrant art scene.He quickly became close with Brion Gysin, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and AndyWarhol, featuring in the latter‘s famous movie Sleep (1963). At the crossroads betweenpoetry, visual arts, music and performance, the work of this key figure of the Americanunderground scene has been an influence on several generations of artists such asElizabeth Peyton, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Pierre Huyghes and Ugo Rondinone.

From the beginning, Giorno aimed at opening up poetry to an audience wider than its usualpublic. He is considered to be the inventor of ‘Performance Poetry’, intense and vividlyperformed poetry readings in front of an audience, and of Dial-A-Poem (1968), a freetelephone line to connect listeners to recordings of poems, which was groundbreakingfor using this type of communications technology. For several years he has also beencreating what he calls ‘Poem Paintings’: works where typography and colors play anessential role, evoking both advertising slogans and buddhist mantras. Composed ofsentences from his own writings, these works borrow from a variety of media: painting,drawing, watercolor and screen printing. Thus taken out of their purely literary context,poetic works such as these redefine the contours of our relationship with words andlanguage.

The work of John Giorno has been presented at numerous institutions, including thePalais de Tokyo in Paris and the Flux Laboratory in Carouge, Switzerland (both 2015);during the opening exhibition of the Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris (2014); at the artcenter Faux Movement in Metz (2012); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2012); and theCentre Pompidou, Paris (2008).

The exhibition UGO RONDINONE : I ♥ JOHN GIORNO takes place at the Palais deTokyo until January 10, 2016. John Giorno will present three performances in thecoming weeks: November 18, 2015 at the Palais de Tokyo as part of the ParisAutumn Festival; November 23, 2015 at the Centre Pompidou-Metz; and November25, 2015 at Maison Rouge Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris.

John Giorno
View of the exhibition GOD IS MAN MADE
21.11 - 19.12.15Almine Rech Gallery, Paris
© Rebecca FanueleCourtesy of the artist and Almine Rech Gallery