untitled strip painting

Brion Gysin, artist

1916–1986

untitled strip painting, 1961

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: watercolor; paper; acrylic

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 14.8 x 99.2 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 5 13/16 x 39 1/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 x 44 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 13 3/4 x 46 1/4 x 1 in
Weight (Weight): 7 lbs

Credit line: Loaned by the Estate of William S. Burroughs

Accession number: L1990.009

Not on display

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Exhibition Label:
"Brion Gysin: A Selection of Books and Works on Paper," Feb-2005, Steve Goddard and Joanna Sternberg
By the time Gysin adapted his “writing paintings” to the long scroll-like format of the “strip paintings” displayed here, his integration of hand-stamped grids and calligraphic marks reached a chant-like pitch. These works are shot through with subtle patterns and changes that are made verbally manifest in the yellow strip painting which
incorporates parts of Gysin’s poem, “I am that I am.”
In this and related poems Gysin explores the possible
permutations of the words in a short phrase. “I am that
I am” can be seen in the exhibited book, Brion Gysin Let The Mice In, where he explains:

The whole idea of the permutations came to me visually on seeing the so-called, Divine Tautology, in print. It looked wrong, to me, non symmetrical. The biggest word, That, belonged in the middle but all I had to
do was to switch the last two words and It asked a
question: ‘I Am That, Am I?”

The poem can be heard in the selection of Gysin
recordings available in the gallery.