Return of the Repressed: Destroy All Monsters 1974-1977
Edited by Mike Kelley, Dan Nadel. Text by Nicole Rudick.
The influential Detroit “anti-rock” group Destroy All Monsters (Mike Kelley, Cary Loren, Niagara, Jim Shaw) made raucous music, irreverent art and legendary zines, performing and disseminating their activities through an elaborate self-mythology. The Destroy All Monsters zines have been reprinted in facsimile editions, but the art objects made by the members have never been examined as independent works. Return of the Repressed: Destroy All Monsters 1974–1977 is the first retrospective of the artwork itself, as well as a DAM overview. Produced in collaboration with the artists, it collects the work of the collective between circa 1974–1977, almost all of which is previously unpublished. Included are dozens of candid photographs of the group and their environs by DAM member Carey Loren, which serve as both documents of a proto-punk group at its height and snapshots of the collective’s often hilarious attempts to construct identities as characters in the larger Destroy All Monsters mythology; early prints and drawings by Jim Shaw that show the seeds of his later work, and remain powerful images; a voluminous quantity of drawings and etching by Mike Kelley, often of monsters and political personalities, that indicate the artist’s anarchic roots; and hitherto unseen drawings and prints by Niagara that show the heady imagination and sure-footed line that would continue to serve her well. Return of the Repressed leaves off just as DAM shifted into the now legendary rock band with Niagara at the helm.
Featured image, a 1976 mixed media work entitled "Love to Love You Baby (Jimmy Hendrix)" by Mike Kelley, is reproduced from Return of the Repressed: Destroy All Monsters 1973-1977, PictureBox's new archive of photographs, drawings, prints and paintings produced by the influential Detroit collective (Mike Kelley, Cary Loren, Niagara and Jim Shaw).
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Los Angeles Times
Christopher Knight
As befits a proto-punk group that erupted from the American Rust Belt's collapsed economy, this paperback edition is a bottomless pit: Most of the hundreds of works reproduced in it haven't been published before. Equally pertinent is the smart introductory essay by Nicole Rudick, former managing editor of Bookforum. Rudick sources what she rightly terms the "sui generis" work's inspirations in everything from composers Sun Ra, Harry Partch and John Cage to artists Jean Dubuffet, Asger Jorn and Joseph Beuys.
STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely.
FROM THE BOOK
"The foursome pulled inspiration from a host of sources—Sun Ra, John Cage, the Hairy Who, Frank Zappa, the Velvet Underground, Fluxus, Dada, Terry Riley, Krautrock, Jack Smith, Captain Beefheart, the White Panthers, the Stooges, William Burroughs, General Idea, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, silent films, Joseph Beuys. This collage of influence produced a richly layered, anti-popular-cultural approach. Art (and by extension, music) represented the best place to explore meaninglessness, the abstract qualities of noises and objects when they are removed from context. Color, form and sound were elements to be deconstructed and rearranged."
Excerpted from Nicole Rudick's catalog essay, "In God's Oasis."
FORMAT: Pbk, 8.5 x 10 in. / 312 pgs / 400 color / 100 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $34.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $45.95 GBP £29.99 ISBN: 9780983719908 PUBLISHER: PictureBox AVAILABLE: 11/30/2011 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA EUR ASIA AU/NZ AFR ME
Return of the Repressed: Destroy All Monsters 1974-1977
Published by PictureBox. Edited by Mike Kelley, Dan Nadel. Text by Nicole Rudick.
The influential Detroit “anti-rock” group Destroy All Monsters (Mike Kelley, Cary Loren, Niagara, Jim Shaw) made raucous music, irreverent art and legendary zines, performing and disseminating their activities through an elaborate self-mythology. The Destroy All Monsters zines have been reprinted in facsimile editions, but the art objects made by the members have never been examined as independent works. Return of the Repressed: Destroy All Monsters 1974–1977 is the first retrospective of the artwork itself, as well as a DAM overview. Produced in collaboration with the artists, it collects the work of the collective between circa 1974–1977, almost all of which is previously unpublished. Included are dozens of candid photographs of the group and their environs by DAM member Carey Loren, which serve as both documents of a proto-punk group at its height and snapshots of the collective’s often hilarious attempts to construct identities as characters in the larger Destroy All Monsters mythology; early prints and drawings by Jim Shaw that show the seeds of his later work, and remain powerful images; a voluminous quantity of drawings and etching by Mike Kelley, often of monsters and political personalities, that indicate the artist’s anarchic roots; and hitherto unseen drawings and prints by Niagara that show the heady imagination and sure-footed line that would continue to serve her well. Return of the Repressed leaves off just as DAM shifted into the now legendary rock band with Niagara at the helm.
