Sam Goodman:
Notes (1967)
Frontline culture soldiers confrontation artists fade away, too. Sam Goodman died of cancer of the throat, age forty-eight, April 29, 1967 at Montefiori Hospital, New York City. — Uncompromising NO!artist of the Sixties, co-author of Doom, NO, and Shit-Show, the latter glorifying New York art-world in particular—amongst other more theoretical objectives; co-author of “American Way of Death” — just a short time before his own demise. A challenger and provoker of the powerful—as well as of the weak. Sketches for manifestoes and scribbled communications while deprived of ability to communicate orally; then the switching-off of life's light bulb—but not on heroic battlefields of culture-challenge and of contestation. No, slow death cries out for new pajamas, “brand new”, for a wheelchair, "I need strength"! in scribbles, protest is even here as loud as the scribbling is noiseless. No winners at the cancer ward. (Note by Boris Lurie)
AM-/AMBULATORY!/ JUST CANT TALK!
OH TO RETURN TO THE WOMB/ OF THE CLASSIC, TRADITION, accepted/ MORES CAST YOUR BRONZES ON THE/ WATERS./ POISED TENSE, READY, WHITE/READY WAITING./ - I CRY
TODAY NOW IS ALL WE/ REALLY KNOW. HISTORY/ A LIE. POSTERITY/ A MYTH ... LIFE /
IS A SERIES OF NOWS./ THERE ARE REALLY/ NO "BIG DADDYS GODS"/ EACH OF US MUST/
LEARN BY EXPERIENCING/ OUR OWN NOW.TO FRANZ/ what is a world/ with out/ color./ WILKES BARRE P.A./ SLAG. HEAPS like/ regurgitated MOUNTAINS./ then -/ WORLD WAR II a rejectee/ bum ticker, a/ regurgitated humanity/ black with/ FURNACES & death/ "what" could COLOR mean?/ color color/ is "LIFE"
I walk thru busy crowded streets/ pass bodies, grim & huddled tense/ blank faces held in terror/ the end has come — total/ inconceivable/ focus on one, he should be in his/ prime/ 40ish/ played out, deceived (perhaps self-/ deceived)/ TRUTH IS TO BEHOLD, - "HE" LOOKS/ AWAY./ LETS FORGET - WHO WANTS TO/ REMEMBER, BURY YOURSELF IN/ JAZZ, Le CINEMA, LOOK AWAY/ LOOK AWAY, IN DIXIELAND I'LL NOT/ TAKE ANY STAND TO LIVE & DIE./ THE FALSE WITNESS OF THE MYTH/ OF ROCK-N-ROLL, OF FRONTIERS & BLEEDING/ HEARTS & WAR ECONOMY.
Desire/ I crept at close inspection thru/ valley & ravine/ the slopes & hollows held my/ eye the hills./ I keenly spied with/ antenna all aware & finger tips/ so keen./ with pulse pulsating and/ nerves of full aware/ I went a hunting for/ vistas everywhere.
WHY WAR?/ ART IS DEAD!/ ITS PALLBEARERS/ THE MUSEUMS CLIQUES, DEALERS,/
CRITICS 4-ART HISTORIANS./ "ART" WITHOUT CONSCIENCE IS A/ CULTURE WITHOUT HOPE!!/ HOPLESSNESS LEADS TO BORE DOME/ + BORE DOME to HATE & HATE TO/ -WAR!! THERE MUST BE/ A (PSYCHOLOGICAL) REASON FOR/ WAR???/ MUSEUMS & GALLERIES ARE RUN BY/ A CLIQUE OF INTERNATIONAL/ FAGGOTS & EVERYONE KNOWS THAT/ FAGGOTS ARE MADE OF HATE, & /
HATE DESTROYS! IS SICK!/ THE ONES THAT ARE NOT OUT -/ RIGHT FAGS ARE AC-DC. WHICH IS/
EVEN A MORE VERSATILE APPROACH TO/ COMPLETE DOMINATIONPIMPS OF CULTURE,/ VULTURES OF HEALTH./ - REFERRED TO AS POLITICS IN ART/
HOW CAN ART BE POLITICAL?/ ART MUST BE CRITICAL OF/ POLITICS!REGRESSIVE, PERVERSE/ RARIFIED, PETRIFIED, VALUES/ MUST NOT PREVAIL./
WEVE REGAINED THE CONSCIOUS/ THE DRAMA IS IMMINENT.the full mind, the rich nature/ makes itself felt in the/ tracing of a few vivid lines/ — the empty mind, the poor/ nature is betrayed in the most/ elaborate composition
All or nothing at all/ THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE/ THAT ANY ART CAN PLAY IN A/
LIFE & DEATH STRUGGLE IS TO/ UNVEIL THE REALITIES OF "NOW"/ - ONLY ART CAN DO THIS./
EACH DAY ON AWAKENING/ WE MUST RECREATE THE WORLD/ A NEW.ART IS DEAD! ITS PALL-/ BEARERS, THE MUSEUM CLIQUES, GALLERY CLIQUES, CRITIC CLIQUES, & ART HISTORIAN/ CLIQUES. LET US "RESURRECT" IT/ FROM THE DEBRIS TO A NEW!/ CONSCIOUSNESS/ AMBIGUITY RULES
THE ART WORLD./ THE NATURE OF THIS SICKNESS/ IS "DOOM" I PERHAPS THE/
REST OF US WHO ARE LESS CON-/ TAMINATED CAN RESURRECT/ FROM THE "DEBRIS" AND FROM/ THIS DEBRIS CREATE A NEW WORLD/ WE ARE NOT FOR A NEW LOOK/ OR A NEW SCHOOL OF ART./ WE DEMAND "ART" WITH MEANING/ IN TERMS OF NOW! ART WITH/ COURAGE TO SAY WHAT IT SEES!NOT SOME "REMOTE" AMBIGUOUS/ INFERENCE, AN ALLUSION TO SOME/ SUBTLE INNUENDO ET AL. ETC .../ (WHY DO THEY GIVE US A COOK-/ BOOK, WHEN WE CRY OUT IN/ HUNGER?!) QUOTE/
THE TIME IS PERILOUS./ WHERE ARE THE CREATIVE/ FORCES FOR TRUTH (ART) HONOR/ (A DIRTY WORD?): COURAGE/ WILL BE THE BYWORD FOR "ART"/ FROM NOW ON - THE "NEW/ CATALYST!!! FOR A BETTER/ WORLD/JOIN US.NOW/ WE DEDICATE OURSELVES/ TO THE "NOW"!!/ EVERYTHING ELSE IS MEANING/ LESS, USELESS WHEN CONFRONTED WITH/ THE NOW! THE KEY TO THE/ NOW IS ART/ WE ARE NOT EXPERIMENTING-/ SPACE TO US IN NOT AN AESTHETIC/ AREA BUT A LEBENSRAUM, TO WORK/ OUT OUR FEARS & HOPES-LOVES./ LET US KILL "AESTHETICS"./ ART IS NOT JUST THE BACKGROUND/ FOR HAPPENINGS BUT A PART OF THE/ DYNAMIC WHOLE.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW -,/ GLAD/ YOUR HERE/ REALLY/ LIKE A BOILER/ FACTORY!
my God "Leger" just/ died - his gospel/ false false — a pain/ in the ass — /
Cezanne the cripple/ looking for his/ crutch/ Each day to be/ born again, to/ remake the universe/ without & a square &/ ruler /.../.../... meaningfulCOULD I SLEEP FOR + HOURS/ I NEED/ STRENGTH
art is no longer/ a window of/ longing in a wall/ but a hole with soft/ edges blown into it/ with disintegrator gun/ overlooking our/ dilemma/ is the art of wallpaper/ to create a pleasant/ background for/ conversation/ Hail the new era!
than the game/ Stalin had clay feet/ & died & his/ disciples still all died/ too./ God is just behind/ the ... brow/ in the morning & by/ night sinks to the fleet/ a bulls eye is no/ longer a thing to/ be aimed at,/
but a background for / conversations.IMAGES (OR FORMS) OF/ YESTERDAY ARE TODAY/ DEAD DOORNAILS/ MORPHOLOGICAL IS/ PATHOLOGICAL-ART/ IS NOT PSYCHIATRY/ ART IS NOT AN OMNIBUS/ BUT AN ELEVATOR/ HAPPENINGS ARE/ COFFE CLACHES/ WHERE THE BLIND LEAD/ THE BLIND. INVOLVEMENT/
A MONOLOGUE.ARE DRAMAS OF/ DIALOGUE WHERE THE/ SOULS REACH OUT FOR/ A COMMON HUMANITY./ OPPOSITES ARE NOT THE/ SAME IN REALITY/ (ONLY IN THEORY) THE/ ASS IS NOT THE HEAD.
LETS INVENT A MACHINE/ THAT TURNS OUT ONLY/ ORIGINAL OBJECTS/ PEOPLE ARE AS PREDICTABLE/ AS COKE BOTTLES &/ MILK CARTONS ETC./ ARCHITECTURE RELEGATES/
MAN TO THE IMAGE OF/ AN ANT.they don’t/ leave you/ alone for one/ second 24 hrs/ a day needless/ needless/ MOVIE for DOMINIC/
what happened/ to him do youbeing me my own/ pyjamas "brand/ new"/ may I have a/ wheel chair?
YOU KNOW/ THEY STICK YOU WITH/ NEEDLES/ WHEN YOUR ASLEEP/ THEY FEED YOU ASLEEP
THEY SAY THE TUBE/ IS UPSETTING MY STOMACH
"beauty" is a trap
"grace" is pitfall
life is the dream
time the illusionSource: Lurie, Boris; Krim, Seymour: NO!art, Cologne 1988
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SAM GOODMAN: *1919 in Toronto, Canada — † 1967 in New York.—He founded and organized the Experimental Art Group in Toronto in 1937.—Moved to New York in 1947 and created the March Group in 1959 together with Boris Lurie and Stanley Fisher. The NO!art movement came out of this group. ►more
