"One Of A Kind": last exhibit before Pierre Menard closes its doors March 11, 2011

Pierre Menard Gallery presents One Of A Kind, an exhibition of unique artist’s books; curated by Heide Hatry. Opening reception on Thursday, March 17, 6:00-9:00 pm; exhibit runs through April 9th. Regular gallery hours: Mon.-Sat., 12:00-6:00 pm, or by appointment. Free and open to the public. Pierre Menard Gallery, 10 Arrow Street, Cambridge. For more information, 617-868-2033 or www.pierremenardgallery.com.

Pierre Menard Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition ONE OF A KIND curated by Heide Hatry. This will be the final exhibition at Pierre Menard Gallery. The Gallery’s lease has not been extended past April 15, 2011, therefore the Gallery will be closing its doors.

For those of us for whom the codex represents the apex of human achievement and the vessel for all that is greatest in our history, the fact that the printed book is at best a dubious medium for art, if not an environment overtly hostile to it, has always been a disappointment. Although there have been some glorious marriages of image and text, the vast majority of so-called livres d’artiste are unhappy ones, even many of the most celebrated. They rarely manage to transcend the aporia created by the juxtaposition of two media fundamentally at odds with each other, the regularity and visual gravity of text and the irrepressible vitality and multifarious flow of art.

Yet the codex has a wholly other life, which, though it was supplanted as the primary medium for the conveyance of information by the advent of print, has retained the power and aura that we associate with the great illuminated manuscripts of the middle ages, in the unique artist’s book. Untrammeled by the dictates of type or the standards of mass production and use, the unique artist’s book remains an expressive and versatile art medium, which is animated by the unique cultural, historical, and inherent potency of the codex. Its capacity for visual narrative and the expression of time in general, the creation and release of visual tensions, its integration of movement and meditation, make it a medium distinctly different from any other, and the intimacy of the codex form determines a relationship to visual material that is incomparable.

We rarely have the opportunity to dwell in the world of the unique artist’s book, as considerations of security render its purpose almost impotent in the context of the museum, and its very uniqueness insures that any individual example is going to have an almost hermetic history. It is therefore with great excitement that we announce an exhibition of unique artist’s books, curated by artist Heide Hatry, herself a former rare bookseller and maker of unique books.

An exhibition catalogue will be available at the opening reception, with texts by Thyrza Nichols Goodeve and others.

The first leg of the exhibition will take place at Pierre Menard Gallery in Cambridge, MA, and will contain work by more than 50 artists using the book as a medium for a diverse range visual and aesthetic experience. The artists involved in this exhibition are: Roberta Allen (US), Tatjana Bergelt (Germany/Finland), Elena Berriolo (US/Italy), Christine Bofinger (Germany), Dianne Bowen (US), Ian Boyden (US), Dove Bradshaw (US), Eli Brown (US), Inge Bruggeman (US), Kathline Carr (US), Chrissy Conant (US), Steven Daiber (US), George Deem (US), Thorsten Dennerline (US), Peter Downsbrough (US), Debra Drexler (US), Tim Ely (US), Max Gimblett (US/New Zealand), Heide Hatry (Germany/US), Laura Hatry (Germany/Spain), Rick Haynes (US), Anna Helm (Germany), Betty Hirst (US), Richard Humann (US), Iliyan Ivanov (US/Bulgaria), Paul Manfred Kaestner (Germany), Kahn & Selesnick (US), Ulrich Klieber (Germany), Bodo Korsig (Germany/US), Rich Kostelanetz (US), Christina Kruse (US/Germany), Andrea Lange (Germany), Nick Lawrence (US), Jean-Jacques Lebel (France), Gregg LeFevre (US), Annette Lemieux (US), Stephen Lipman (US), Larry Miller (US), Kate Millett (US), Roberta Paul (US), Jim Peters (US), Raquel Rabinovich (US), Aviva Rahmani (US), Osmo Rauhala (Finland), Tom Roth (Germany), Jacqueline Rush Lee (US), Elsbeth Sachs (Austria), Cheryl Schainfeld (US), Carolee Schneemann (US), Ilse Schreiber-Noll (Germany/US), Pat Steir (US), Michelle Stuart (US), Aldo Tambellini (US), George Trakas (US), Sharone Vendriger, (Israel), Maria Vivandi (Italy), Jan Wechsler (US), Clemens Weiss (Germany/US), Mark Wiener (US), and Ottfried Zielke (Germany).

The One Of A Kind exhibition will then move on to New York City to be shown at the HP Garcia Gallery from April 19 to May 21, with an opening reception on April 21st. More information can be found at www.hpgarciagallery.com.

Heide Hatry (b. 1965) is a German visual artist and curator. She studied art at various German art schools and art history at the University of Heidelberg. She taught painting at a private art school for 15 years, while simultaneously conducting an international business as an antiquarian bookseller. Since moving to New York in 2003 she has curated numerous exhibitions in Germany, Spain and the United States. She has shown her own work at museums and galleries in those countries as well and edited more than two dozen books and art catalogues. Her book Skin was published by Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, in 2005 and Heads and Tales by Charta Art Books, Milan/New York in 2009. She has produced more than 100 unique artist's books, most of which are today held in private collections and public institutions.

In 2004, Pierre Menard Gallery and its companion Lame Duck Books were founded by John W. Wronoski, a true believer in creating an environment where literature and art could happily co-exist. In an interview that he gave to the Harvard Crimson last October, when it came to light that the gallery and book store closings were a likely inevitability, Wronoski shared that he had no desire to resurrect his “two children” in another location. But that could change, if the opportunity presents itself. His passion for showcasing interesting art may get the best of him. That being said, the gallery doors at 10 Arrow Street will close for good on April 15th. For a listing of the outstanding exhibits that have been held at this location, visit www.pierremenardgallery.com/exhibitions.html.