James Lee Byars (April 10, 1932,

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– May 23, 1997,

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) was an American

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

ist and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist specializing in installations and

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

s, as well as a self-considered mystic. He was best known for his use of personal esoteric motifs, and his creative persona that has been described as 'half dandified trickster and half

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post– World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...

seer'. Byars' notable performance works include ''The Death of James Lee Byars'' and ''The Perfect Smile'', and in terms of multiple sculptures, the many letters he wrote that were composed as decorated sculptures.

Themes and motifs in his works

Byars' works are often noted as constantly incorporating specific personal themes and motifs, leaning towards

the esoteric The Esoteric is an American hardcore/ rock band founded in 1996 from Lawrence, Kansas. They are currently signed to Prosthetic Records. Following several self-produced EPs, the band's debut full-length, '' With the Sureness of Sleepwalking'' ...

while simultaneously being ritualistic and materialistic: Robert Clark, writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' on the occasion of a Milton Keynes exhibition of his work, described it as 'impenetrably yet intriguingly

hermetic Hermetic or related forms may refer to: * of or related to the ancient Greek Olympian god Hermes * of or related to Hermes Trismegistus, a legendary Hellenistic figure based on the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth ** , the ancient and m ...

'. Most in particular was

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

as a material, which served as an elemental identifier. As well as this, works of his demonstrate a fascination with the symbolism of numbers: Clark quotes in the same exhibition, referring to a specific piece of his, writing that he 'imbued the number

100 100 or one hundred ( Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

with symbolic significance, having made a symmetrical arrangement of 100 white marbles and draping 100 nude volunteers in a collective red garment'. A common theme in his works is

perfection Perfection is a state, variously, of completeness, flawlessness, or supreme excellence. The term is used to designate a range of diverse, if often kindred, concepts. These have historically been addressed in a number of discrete disciplines, ...

(especially upon the word 'Perfect'), which he extended into a personal journey that led to his ambiguously celebratory exploration of shapes, numbers and precious materials. A MoMA text explaining his oeuvre, in the context of his piece ''The Table of Perfect'', noted that while it "looks pristine, it—like any other object—can only ever exist as a sign of perfection and can never embody the total concept." The American artist

Matthew Barney Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and film director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing. His works explore connections among geography, biology, geology and mythology as well ...

played Byars in the film '' River of Fundament'' (2014), a work loosely based on the Norman Mailer novel '' Ancient Evenings''. Barney has argued,

I think Byars had this
Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
subtext through his work. ..''Ancient Evenings'' is to do with the ambition of the Pharaoh and the ambition of the nobleman to live again and again and again. So there's something about Byars that has always interested me in his work to do with its ambition to become pure gold and its failure to be pure gold. It's always a veneer. It wants to be something it can't be. And I love that about the work, I love the theatre of it.

Byars also showed fascination in predicting his own death and others' deaths.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions include: * 1961 Willard Gallery, New York, NY * 1964 1 by 50 Foot Drawing, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA * 1967 ''The Giant Man of Water Soluble Paper and Dissolved on 53rd Street'', Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, NY * 1968 ''Participatory Events with Communal Garments'', The Architectural League of New York, New York * 1970 ''The Gold Curb'', Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY * 1971 ''The Black Book'', Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne, West Germany * 1974 ''The Perfect Love Letter'', Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium * 1975 ''The Perfect Kiss'', Pavilion Denon, Musėe de Louvre, Paris, France * 1977 ''The First Total Interrogative Philosophy'', Stădtisches Museum, Mönchengladbach, West Germany * 1978 ''The Perfect Kiss'', University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA * 1980 ''The Exhibition of Perfect'', Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA * 1981 ''The Perfect Kiss, The Perfect Cheek, The Perfect Fragrance'', Foundation de Appel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands * 1983 Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands * 1983 Musėe d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France * 1984 ''The Perfect Quiet'', ICA, Boston, MA * 1985 Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne, West Germany * 1985 Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY * 1986 ''James Lee Byars - Palast der Philosophie/The Philosophical Palace'', Kunsthalle Dűsseldorf, Dűsseldorf, West Germany * 1988 Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY * 1989 Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY * 1989 ''James Lee Byars - The Palace of Good Luck'', Castello di Rivoli, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy * 1990 ''The Perfect Thought'', University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA * 1990 ''The Perfect Thought'', Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX * 1992 Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden * 1993 ''Sonne, Mond und Sterne'', Wűrttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany * 1994 Graphische Răume Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany * 1994 ''James Lee Byars - The Perfect Moment'', IVAM Centre del Carme, Valencia, Spain * 1995 Fondation Cartier pour l'art Contemporain, Paris, France * 1996 ''The Monument of Language - James Lee Byars'', The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, England * 1997 ''James Lee Byars - The Palace of Perfect'', Fundaçao de Serralves, Porto, Portugal * 1998 ''James Lee Byars - Four Early Drawings and a Black Figure on the Floor'', Michael Werner Gallery, New York, NY * 1998 The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL * 2001 ''Letters to Joseph Beuys'', Museum fur Kommunikation, Frankfurt, Germany * 2003 ''The Moon Books: Above and Below, An Exhibition of James Lee Byars'', Michael Werner Gallery, New York, NY * 2004 ''James Lee Byars: Letters from the World's Most Famous Unknown Artist'', Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA * 2004 ''James Lee Byars: Life, Love and Death'', Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany * 2004 ''James Lee Byars: The Perfect Silence'', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY * 2005 Barbican Art Gallery, London, England * 2006 ''The Rest Is Silence: James Lee Byars'', Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, NY * 2006 ''The Rest Is Silence: James Lee Byars'', Michael Werner Gallery, New York, NY * 2006 ''The Rest Is Silence: James Lee Byars'', Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY * 2008 ''Im icFull of Byars: James Lee Byars - Eine Hommage'', Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland * 2008 Milton Keynes Gallery, London, England * 2012 ''Klein / Byars / Kapoor'', Musee d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, Nice, France * 2012 ARoS Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark * 2013 ''James Lee Byars: 1/2 an Autobiography'', Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico * 2014 MoMA PS1, New York, NY * 2014 ''FLEX, Kent Fine Art, New York, NY * 2014 ''James Lee Byars'', Random Institute, Zűrich, Switzerland Group shows include: * 1972 Documenta 5, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, West Germany * 1977 Documenta 6, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, West Germany * 1980 La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy * 1981 ''Westkunst'', Rheinhallen der Kölner Messe, Koln, West Germany * 1982 Documenta 7, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, West Germany * 1983 ''New Art at the Tate Gallery'', The Tate Gallery, London, England * 1983 Salone Internazionale Mercanti d'Arte, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy * 1984 ''Skulptur im 20. Jahrhundert'', Basel, Switzerland * 1984 ''Ouverture'', Castello di Rivoli, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy * 1985 ''Spuren, Skulpturen und Momente ihrer präzizen Reise'', Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland * 1986 Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia * 1986 ''Ooghoogte - Stedelijk van Abbemuseum 1936-1986'', Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands * 1986 La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy * 1986 ''Europa/Amerika - Die Geschichte einer kunstlerischen Faszination seit 1940'', Museum Ludwig, Cologne, West Germany * 1986 ''Skulptursein'', Kunsthalle Dűsseldorf, Dűsseldorf, West Germany * 1987 ''Der Unverbrauchte Blick - Kunst unserer Zeit in Berliner Sicht'', Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, West Germany * 1987 Documenta 8, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, West Germany * 1988 ''Űbrigens sterben immer die Anderen: Marcel Duchamp und die Avantgarde seit 1950'', Museum Ludwig, Cologne, West Germany * 1989 ''Bilderstreit'', Museum Ludwig, Rheinhallen der Kölner Messe, Cologne, West Germany * 1989 ''Magiciens de la Terre'', Centre Georges Pompidou, Musėe National d'Art Moderne, Grand Halle - La Villette, Paris, France * 1990 ''Metropolis'', Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany * 1992 Documenta 9, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany * 1994 ''Couplet 2'', Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands * 1996 ''Dessins: Acquisitions 1992-1996'', Galerie d'art Graphique, Musėe National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France * 1999 La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy * 2001 ''Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitanism'', SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM * 2001 ''The Museum of Our Wishes'', Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany * 2002 ''The Inward Eye: Transcendence in Contemporary Art'', Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX * 2003 ''Louise Bourgeois, James Lee Byars - Il disparut dans le silence total'', Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France * 2004 ''Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated): Art from 1951 to the Present'', Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY * 2004 ''Los Monocromos'', Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain * 2004 ''The Big Nothing'', Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA * 2005 ''Colour After Klein'', Barbican Art Gallery, London, England * 2013 ''The Encyclopedic Palace'', 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byars, James Byars, James Lee Byars, James Lee American performance artists American installation artists Artists from Detroit Deaths from cancer in Egypt