John Marchant Gallery and Satellite Storefront are very pleased to present John Giorno: Seven Dial-A-Poems, with the kind cooperation of Giorno Poetry Systems in NY.
After earning a BA from Columbia University in 1958, John Giorno (1936-2019) established himself as an active presence in New York’s art scene, lauded for his starring role in Andy Warhol’s five-hour film Sleep (1963). A life-long collaborator, he staged multimedia events with Robert Rauschenberg, developed new recording techniques with Bob Moog, and performed alongside William Burroughs and Brion Gysin. In 1967, he published his first monograph, Poems, and his first LP, collaborating with Rauschenberg and Les Levine on the artwork and designs for both.
Giorno created Dial-A-Poem at The Architectural League of New York in 1969, which was subsequently included in the landmark group exhibition Information at the Museum of Modern Art in 1970. Dial-A-Poem was both celebrated and censored for its selection of readings and speeches by poets and activists. Giorno was unwaveringly unapologetic in his use of politically-charged and sexually salacious content, using his work as a platform to draw attention to his own status as a gay man, to police violence in America, and to the harrowing statistics associated with the war in Vietnam.
In 1971, Giorno visited India and Nepal with Allen Ginsberg, where he gave the Dalai Lama a copy of his book Balling Buddha and met his teacher, His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche. A Buddhist strain began to form in Giorno’s work, and, in the 1980s, Giorno’s lofts at 222 Bowery became a space for communal practice in his adopted lineage of Nyingma Buddhism.
An artist of self-described “promiscuous compassion,” Giorno has always worked just as much to elevate the work of others as he has on his own. In 1965, he created an organisation he called Giorno Poetry Systems, which was initially a pseudonym for his own political organising and the creation of artworks. In 1972, he launched GPS Records, releasing over forty LPs, cassettes, videopaks and CDs featuring a wide range of new wave, no wave, punk, and other artists, musicians, and poets.
In 1984, GPS established the AIDS Treatment Project as an emergency response to the impacts of the epidemic on artists’ lives provided funding for artists living with AIDS through the early 2000s.
Giorno was not just a poet but an artist and a performer. In 1969, recognising that the written word could be powerfully transformed into spoken word, he began a performance practice that he pursued throughout his life, pioneering a distinct and unique style. In 1981, he formed The John Giorno Band and performed at various punk rock venues.
Giorno retired from performing in 2017 and spent the last two years of his life in meditation, artmaking, writing poetry, and working on his memoir, Great Demon Kings. His iconic poem prints, paintings, prints and drawings continue to show in museums and galleries around the world.
Giorno died in his home at 222 Bowery in 2019.
SATELLITE Storefront is open 6-9pm Thursday to Saturday.