Henry Flynt (born 1940 in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

) is an American philosopher, musician, writer, activist, and artist connected to the 1960s New York

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

. He coined the term "

concept art Concept art is a form of visual art used to convey an idea for use in films, video games, animation, comic books, or other media before it is put into the final product. Concept art usually refers to world-building artwork used to inspire th ...

" in the early 1960s, during which time he was associated with figures in the

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

scene. He later received attention for his anti-art demonstrations against New York cultural institutions in 1963 and 1964. Since 1983, he has focused on philosophical writing related to

nihilism Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by I ...

, science,

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of forma ...

, post-capitalist economics, and

personhood Personhood or personality is the status of being a person. Defining personhood is a controversial topic in philosophy and law and is closely tied with legal and political concepts of citizenship, equality, and liberty. According to law, only a l ...

. A number of his archival musical recordings, which fuse hillbilly music with

techniques, were released in the 2000s. He has collaborated with artists such as C.C. Hennix,

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best k ...

George Maciunas George Maciunas (; lt, Jurgis Mačiūnas; November 8, 1931 – May 9, 1978) was a Lithuanian American artist, born in Kaunas. A founding member and the central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers ...

, and John Berndt.

Background

Henry Flynt was born and raised in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

where he first studied classical

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

. He became interested in

logical positivism Logical positivism, later called logical empiricism, and both of which together are also known as neopositivism, is a movement in Western philosophy whose central thesis was the verification principle (also known as the verifiability criterion o ...

as a teenager, and later attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

on a scholarship, where he studied

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

alongside companions

Tony Conrad Anthony Schmalz Conrad (March 7, 1940 – April 9, 2016) was an American video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, sound artist, teacher, and writer. Active in a variety of media since the early 1960s, he was a pioneer of both ...

and John Alten. Flynt was introduced to

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and the "New Music" of

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading f ...

, and he also discovered country blues music through

Samuel Charters Samuel Barclay Charters IV (August 1, 1929 – March 18, 2015) was an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet. He was a widely published author on the subjects of blues and jazz. He also wrote fiction. Overview Cha ...

's 1959 book on the subject at this time. He soon dropped out and visited New York in 1960, where through Conrad he was introduced to

and other figures in the city's

scene. Young would dedicate his 1960 composition "X for Henry Flynt" to him. In 1960 and 1961, Flynt took part in the monthly concert series held at

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

's Chambers Street loft. Flynt’s work developed from what he called "cognitive

", a concept he first announced in the 1960 and 1961 drafts of a paper called ''Philosophy Proper.'' The concept derives from insights about the vulnerabilities of

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from prem ...

and mathematics, and aims to turn the principles of scientific

positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...

and analytical philosophy against themselves. Embracing

Rudolf Carnap Rudolf Carnap (; ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism. ...

empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...

and his positivist critique of

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

, Flynt concluded that science itself did not satisfy the syntactical criteria for empirical claims; he therefore set about developing a "radical empiricism" (or "radical unbelief") which undermined scientific systematization and much "avant-garde" art. Flynt refined these dispensations in the essay ''Is there language?'' that was published as ''Primary Study'' in 1964.

Concept art and activism

In 1961 Flynt coined the term "

" in the proto-

book '' An Anthology of Chance Operations'' (co-published by Jackson Mac Low and La Monte Young) that was released in 1963, alongside works by Fluxus artists such as

George Brecht George Brecht (August 27, 1926 – December 5, 2008), born George Ellis MacDiarmid, was an American conceptual artist and avant-garde composer, as well as a professional chemist who worked as a consultant for companies including Pfizer, Johnson ...

and Dick Higgins. Flynt's ''concept art'', he maintained, devolved from cognitive nihilism and described art in which the material was

concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by ...

s. Drawing exclusively on the

syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituenc ...

of logic and mathematics, concept art was meant to surpass both mathematics and "serious" compositional practices by evacuating concepts of substance via logical paradox. Flynt maintained that to merit the label ''concept art'', a work had to be a critique of logic or mathematics in which the material is a linguistic concept, a quality which he claims is absent from subsequent "conceptual art." In 1962 Flynt began to campaign for an anti-art position. He advocated that

art and its institutions be superseded by the terms of ''veramusement'' and ''brend''—

neologism A neologism Ancient_Greek.html"_;"title="_from_Ancient_Greek">Greek_νέο-_''néo''(="new")_and_λόγος_/''lógos''_meaning_"speech,_utterance"is_a_relatively_recent_or_isolated_term,_word,_or_phrase_that_may_be_in_the_process_of_entering_com ...

s meaning approximately pure

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or plea ...

. Thus he demonstrated against cultural institutions in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(such as

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; ...

and

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

) with

and Jack Smith in 1963 and against the composer

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundb ...

twice in 1964 (accusing Stockhausen of

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White ...

and

cultural imperialism Cultural imperialism (sometimes referred to as cultural colonialism) comprises the cultural dimensions of imperialism. The word "imperialism" often describes practices in which a social entity engages culture (including language, traditions, ...

). Flynt read publicly from his text ''From Culture to Veramusment'' at Walter De Maria's loft on February 28, 1963—an act which can be considered

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 ...

. In the mid 1960s, Flynt converted himself to

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

and published the article "Communists Must Give Revolutionary Leadership in Culture" in collaboration with

, criticizing the

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

cultural touchstones of the left-wing tradition and championing African-American music. In 1987 he revived his "concept art" for tactical reasons; and spent seven years in the art world.

Music

Henry Flynt is known for musical work that attempts to fuse hillbilly music with the

, often with him performing on violin or guitar. Other influences included the

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Coll ...

;

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and b ...

and country blues music; and the North Indian classical music he learned with singer Pandit Pran Nath. With the exception of the 1981 German cassette ''You Are My Everlovin'/Celestial Power'', Flynt's recordings remained unreleased until the 21st century, via labels such as Recorded and Locust. Flynt performed duets with

in the 1960s, but recordings of these performances were rejected by

Mainstream Records Mainstream Records was an American record company and independent record label founded by producer Bob Shad in 1964. Mainstream's early releases were reissues from Commodore Records. Its catalogue grew to include Bob Brookmeyer, Maynard Fergu ...

employee

Earle Brown Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems. Brown was the creator of "open form," a style of musical construction that has influenced many composers since� ...

as being too unconventional for a classical label. In an early 1960s conversation with

, Flynt announced his intention to abandon "serious" modern composition and pursue music in the style of rock artists like

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, inc ...

and

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

, to which Cage expressed confusion. Flynt briefly performed violin with

the Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise ...

in 1966 as a fill-in for

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various sty ...

, and received guitar lessons from

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...

. In 1966, he recorded several rehearsal demo tapes with Walter De Maria and others in the

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

band the Insurrections, which were later compiled and released in 2004 on

Locust Music Locust Music was a Chicago-based independent record label founded in 2001. See also * List of record labels File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg File:Bingola1011b.jpg Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trade ...

as '' I Don't Wanna''. In 1974 and 1975, Flynt led the group Nova'Billy and recorded material spanning rock,

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

that was later collected on ''Henry Flynt & Nova'Billy'' (Locust, 2007). With Catherine Christer Hennix, Flynt formed the

jazz-rock Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyb ...

group Dharma Warriors in 1978, initially including Arthur Russell on keyboard. ''Dharma Warriors'' (Locust, 2008) showcases another meeting between Hennix & Flynt recorded in 1980 in Woodstock, New York. ''Purified by the Fire'', recorded in December 1981, features Hennix on tamboura and Flynt on electric violin and was released in 2005 on Locust. Flynt's first CD release was a reissue of ''You Are My Everlovin'/Celestial Power'' on Recorded (curated by John Berndt, and initiating the ''New American Ethnic Music'' series on that label), quickly followed by ''Spindizzy'' and ''Hillbilly Tape Music'' also on Recorded. Later Recorded released NAEM 4, ''Ascent to The Sun.'' Recently, Flynt's ''Glissando No. 1'' was published by Recorded (2010).

Philosophy

Flynt's philosophical writing attempts to sketch out a post-capitalist, post-scientific civilization which would be at odds with the current civilization's values. Flynt's early philosophical writings on logic and epistemology, including the 1961 draft of ''Philosophy Proper'', was published in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

in the book ''Blueprint for a Higher Civilization'' (1975). Deriving broadly from his early arguments around "cognitive nihilism" and positivism, Flynt's work aims to overturn the dogmatic

scientism Scientism is the opinion that science and the scientific method are the best or only way to render truth about the world and reality. While the term was defined originally to mean "methods and attitudes typical of or attributed to natural scientis ...

and apparent coherence of contemporary scientific and mathematical discourse. In the early 1970s, he returned to college to study communist economics. In the late 1970s, he organized several meetings on the "crisis in physics" in an attempt to identify the areas where modern science represses incoherent or irrational logics in order to propagate its "objective" worldview. From about 1980, Flynt has written on philosophy and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

in mostly unpublished papers, focusing on two concepts which did not achieve the notoriety of the early actions: his concepts of meta-technology and personhood theory. These concepts continue his work in sketching a worldview which would supersede scientific objectification and dissolve contemporary determinations of objective reality. Much of his writing is now available on his website.

Relationship with Fluxus

Because of his friendship and collaboration with

and

, Flynt sometimes is linked to Fluxus. While Flynt himself describes Fluxus as his "publisher of last resort" (Flynt did permit Fluxus to publish his work, and took part in several Fluxus exhibitions) he claims no affiliation or interest in the Fluxus sensibility. In fact, he is a strong critic of the neo-Dada sensibility.Owen Smith (1998) Fluxus: The History of an Attitude, San Diego State University Press.

Bibliography

* Henry Flynt, (1975) ''Blueprint for a Higher Civilization'', Milano * Henry Flynt, (1988) "Being=Space X Action: Searches for Freedom of Mind Through Mathematics, Art, and Mysticism", edited by Charles Stein, a special issue of Io (#41) on Henry Flynt and Catherine Christer Hennix. * Henry Flynt, "Concept-Art (1962)", Translated and introduced by Nicolas Feuillie, Les presses du réel, Avant-gardes, Dijon * Henry Flynt,"Concept Art," in An Anthology, ed.

(1st edition, New York, 1963) * Henry Flynt, "Concept Art" (revised), in An Anthology, ed. La Monte Young (2nd edition, New York, 1970) * Owen Smith (1998)

: The History of an Attitude,

San Diego State University Press San Diego State University Press (or SDSU Press) is a university press that is part of San Diego State University, with noted specializations in Border Studies, Critical Theory, Latin American Studies, Cultural Studies, and comics. It is the ol ...

* Christophe Levaux, (2015) ''Henry Flynt et la réinvention des racines culturelles'', tacet 4. * Kristine Stiles & Peter Selz
''Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings''
(Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Kristine Stiles)

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facul ...

2012, reprinting of Henry Flynt, ''Concept Art'' (1961) pp. 974–975.

Discography

*''You Are My Everlovin' / Celestial Power'', Hundertmark/Recorded (1986/2001; recorded 1980-81) *''Graduation and Other New Country and Blues Music'', Ampersand (2001; recorded 1975-79) *''Raga Electric'', Locust Music (2002; recorded 1963-71) *''C Tune'', Locust Music (2002; recorded November 17, 1980) *''Back Porch Hillbilly Blues, Volume 1'', Locust Music (2002) *''Back Porch Hillbilly Blues, Volume 2'', Locust Music (2002) *''New American Ethnic Music, Volume 2: Spindizzy'', Recorded Records (2002; recorded 1968-1983) *''New American Ethnic Music, Volume 3: Hillbilly Tape Music'', Recorded Records (2003; recorded 1971-78, 2001) *'' I Don't Wanna'', Locust Music (2004; recorded 1966) *''Purified by the Fire'', Locust Music (2005; recorded December 14, 1981) *''Henry Flynt & Nova' Billy'', Locust Music (2007; recorded 1975) *''New American Ethnic Music, Volume 4: Ascent to the Sun'', Recorded Records (2007; recorded December 2004) *''Dharma/Warriors'', Locust Music (2008; recorded 1983) *''Glissando No. 1'', Recorded Records (2011; recorded 1978-79)

References

External links

Henry Flynt Philosophy
Collection of Henry Flynt writings
Works by Henry Flynt
at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

Henry Flynt Interviewed by Kenneth Goldsmith on WFMU
February 26, 2004 (3 hours)
"Taking Henry Flynt Seriously" by Benjamin Piekut, ISAM Newsletter, Spring 2005Baltimore City Paper article on Flynt's SpindizzyHenry Flynt in New York
(29 videos)

at

UbuWeb UbuWeb is a web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith. It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives. Phi ...

Does Anyone Remember Henry Flynt?: Conceptualism and Raga RockJulian Cope's review of Henry Flynt & the Insurrections - I Don't Wanna
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flynt, Henry 1940 births Living people Musicians from Greensboro, North Carolina American male violinists Fluxus Avant-garde violinists Postmodern artists Artists from New York (state) Mass media theorists American conceptual artists American experimental musicians American noise musicians Postmodern theory Postmodernists 20th-century American philosophers 20th-century classical composers Experimental composers Postmodern composers American male classical composers American classical composers American sound artists Pupils of Pran Nath (musician) 20th-century American composers 21st-century American violinists Henry Flynt & the Insurrections members 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Locust Music artists