A BOOK ABOUT DEATH WALES - PRESS RELEASE, POSTER & EXHIBITION LAUNCHES SATURDAY 18 OCT 2014 [238]

A Book About Death Wales launches 18 October 2014 at the Royal Cambrian Academy in Wales.

To help prepare, a press release in PDF is now available for download.  Please download the ABAD WALES PR HERE.

And please send it to a local journalist in your city.

UK artist and illustrator Rob White produced a poster for the exhibition.

Please use the Twitter and FB and other social media buttons below to send his poster across the planet and help generate interest and awareness of the exhibition, the 30th in the ABAD canon.  

To see the catalog and other details about ABAD Wales or to connect with curator Sonja Benskin Mesher please visit: http://abookaboutdeathwales.wordpress.com/

And while we have your attention, consider donating some money to support Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) in their front line efforts to fight ebola.  We are all together in this fight, pitch in... Donate here.

ABAD WALES Set to Launch 18 October 2014 at The RCA Wales; Rob White Poster Created For The 30th ABAD Exhibition [237]

All information on the exhibition, catalog, downloads, press plese visit: ABAD WALES.

ART CALL: ABAD RCA WALES: [230]

The Royal Cambrian Academy                                         

Academi Frenhinol Gymreig Open Call: A Book About Death

An International Art Project exhibiting at the RCA
Organised by Sonja Benskin Mesher RCA UA
A Book About Death Wales Website (online catalog)


A BOOK ABOUT DEATH was launched as an underground, global art project in September 2009 at the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in New York City, New York. It was conceived and curated by American artist Matthew Rose as an open, unbound book on the subject of death. Taking the name, A Book About Death from the artist Ray Johnson, Rose paid homage to the founder of mail art and at the same time offered artists to explore the theme of death through post card sized works in an edition of 500; thus the “book.” The NYC exhibition was extremely well attended and set off a series of exhibitions around the world – ABAD – numbering thus far, 27, the most recent taking place in Australia. With an archival set of the New York ABAD show (487 works) new exhibitions touch upon particular, local themes but draw from a growing and global well of artists. All exhibitions invite artists to mail in their works, usually in post card format.

How to Enter:
Open call for art work from visual artists and writers etc to create a postcard size artwork 4 x 6 inches based on the theme of Death.

All work will be exhibited and archived and the artwork will not be returned but become part of the project.

Please post your artwork to address below by 30th September 2014

Work in the first instance to be sent to:
Sonja Benskin Mesher, Y Stiwdio, Tynllan, Llanelltyd, Dolgellau, Gwynedd, LL40 2SU
sonja@sonja-benskin-mesher.com

Please, send your works well-packed and write NO COMMERCIAL VALUE on the envelope. The organisers are not responsible for any damage during the transportation.
There is no participation fee and the work may be exhibited in the future.

An online “live” archive will record the work and other details of the exhibition as the works come in.

Exhibition dates: October 18th to November 15th 2014
The Royal Cambrian Academy ABAD show in Wales will be the 28th ‘A Book about Death’ exhibition. Included will be the work from the initial New York exhibition, as well as works from from ABAD Wales, at MOMA Machynlleth.

PLEASE USE THE BUTTONS BELOW TO SHARE THIS ARTIST CALL VIA TWITTER / FB / AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA.... Thank You! 

MoMA WALES A BOOK ABOUT DEATH [80]

Article, above, from the Cambrian News, Wales, UK. April, 2010.

The launch of A Book About Death at MoMA Wales is a continuing success.  Sonja Benskin Mesher's curatorial stunner, brought together nearly all aspects of previous exhibitions and added several chapters to the "book."

Among other aspects, Sonja installed her late husband's chair in the gallery space and opened the box of cards from the original exhibition at the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in a quiet, almost ceremonial fashion.  Then, each artist was listed in a "Book of the Living," which became part of the exhibition. Along with a full installation of the works from the New York exhibition, MoMA Wales included nearly all the posters from previous shows, and several hundred new works sent especially to the exhibition in Wales.  Films are planned, as are discussions through out the exhibition.

See 50-plus installation photos on the FaceBook Group page and Sonja's album here.

A view of the exhibition is also here.

Sonja recounts the opening of the works from New York and the installation of the pieces on one of her blogs: "After 6 months of work, and 5 months of having the box unopened in the house, on that empty chair, the time had come.

Some arrived early, before 10 am needing coffee, duly supplied by MOMA.

By 10 am a group gathered, quiet and waiting. Slowly without direction, friends started to hang the postcards from the new call for work. The staff at MOMA watched in respectful silence.

At about 10.20, I decided time it was to open the box, so I sent a whisper around the room.

Again a gathering, this time by the cabinet where the box had been waiting in the Gallery for two weeks.  After months in the house, the chair looking like an art installation, I had decided it was time for it to go into MOMA's keeping. They installed it on the landing, framed posters of the global exhibitions lining the stair way.

A brief introduction and I turned the key, and took out the parcel. Very emotional I was by then.

The silence was broken by Wilfred, my grandson asking ’What’s inside’ over and over. He and I carried it through into the Gallery space...."   Click here to read the full post.

The exhibition at MoMA Wales continues through 8 May 2010.  For more information on the show, please see: MoMA Wales.  

Sol Lang : ABAD MoMA Wales UK [79]

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Mary Bogdan Poster: MoMA Wales UK [69]

Artist Mary Bogdan created this poster for the exhibition at MoMA Wales UK.  Mary is an artist who participated in the Emily Harvey Foundation exhibition for A Book About Death.  The exhibition in Wales is being organized by Sonja Benskin Mesher.  The exhibition runs from 27 April through 8 May 2010.

Visit the FaceBook Group for the MoMA Wales A Book About Death Project.

You can download this poster for free (and print it out) by clicking here: MARY BOGDAN POSTER.

Call for ArtWorks: MoMA Wales 27 APRIL – 8 MAY 2010 [68]

Artist Sonja Benskin Mesher has organized a new exhibition of A Book About Death with the original works from the Emily Harvey Foundation show in New York and a new call for works.

The exhibition at MoMA Wales will take place at THE TABERNACLE MoMA WALES, MACHYLLETH, Wales, UK.

Dates: 27 APRIL – 8 MAY 2010.

MoMA Wales website: http://www.momawales.org.uk/

See more details on the event page Sonja Benskin Mesher has set up on FaceBook: MoMA WALES Exhibition.

Here is her call for artwork:

CALL FOR WORK ON PAPER A BOOK ABOUT DEATH
Size: POSTCARDS - Approximately: 4 X 6 INCHES

Works should be based on the theme of death.

SEND SMALL JPEGS TO : sonja@sonja-benskin-mesher.com

Deadline for jpegs is 16 March 2010.

Applicants will be expected to have their cards sent to Sonja by 13 April 2010

Work sent will not be returned, as it will become part of the "A Book About Death" collection held @ MOMA, Wales.  Image at right is MoMA Wales at night.

The exhibition in Wales is not the only one being organized for the spring.  Other exhibitions are being planned for Belgium, Croatia and San Diego.  Several inquiries have been made from Chile, Montreal and Beijing.

As of yet, no mainstream press has touched upon this exhibition.  If you are a journalist or know of one who would be interested in writing about this global exhibition that is exclusively artist-driven, please get in contact.