Evento

PHILIP GUSTON: A LIFE LIVED + DISCUSSED

In light of the newly published Collected Writings, Lectures and Conversations of Philip Guston (UC Press), poets Clark Coolidge and Bill Berkson will discuss the life, work and influence of one of the most intellectually adventurous and poetically gifted of modern painters. Over the course of his life, Guston's wide reading in literature and philosophy ever deepened his commitment to his art from his early Abstract Expressionist paintings to his later gritty, intense figurative works.

Clark Coolidge, editor of the new UC Press volume, has published many books of poetry and prose, among them a collaboration with Guston, Baffling Means: Writings/Drawings (O-Blek Editions), Now It's Jazz: Writings on Kerouac & The Sounds (Living Batch), and most recently, This Time We Are Both (Ugly Duckling).

Bill Berkson is a poet, art critic, corresponding editor for Art in America, and long-time professor of literature and art history at the San Francisco Art Institute. His many books include a collaboration with Guston, Enigma Variations (Big Sky), and most recently, For the Ordinary Artist: Short Reviews, Occasional Pieces and More (BlazeVOX).

Patrick James Dunagan, author of There Are People Who Say That Painters Shouldn't Talk: A GUSTONBOOK (Post-Apollo), will introduce the dialogue following a screening of the Michael Blackwood documentary film, PHILIP GUSTON: A LIFE LIVED.

Philip Guston: A Life Lived
Late in life, the artist looks back over a career that originated in social realism during the '30s, moved to the center of Abstract Expressionism, and culminated in a return to figuration. Filmed at his retrospective in San Francisco in 1980 and at his Woodstock studio, where Guston is seen painting, the artist speaks candidly about his philosophy of painting and the psychological motivation for his work. 58 minutes, color.

This event is presented by Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization housed at Bird & Beckett Books and Records in San Francisco.