We Apologize
It would have been impossible for me to choose a favorite book based on content—there are far too many interesting things tucked away in the stacks, and I didn’t have nearly enough time to get a really comprehensive idea of what was available. Instead I decided to pick something more obviously odd or unique, and in a library filled with artists’ publications, it wasn’t hard to find things beyond the traditional pages-enclosed-between-covers book. And when I came across We Apologize—which Cataloging Fellow Rachel Juris also wrote about recently—while labeling books, it became an easy decision. The Jean Outland Chrysler Library has #12 out of 100 copies of We Apologize, each copy constructed from recycled materials (the cover of the Chrysler’s is a B.B. King record cover), signed by authors/artists Paul Lamarre and Melissa Wolf, and containing a manifesto printed on a napkin, a book retrospective of their work since 1983, and a flow chart tracking these years. Lamarre and Wolf work together under the intentionally ambiguous acronym EIDIA, whose meanings are laid out in the manifesto and which include “every intellect develops intuitive art” and “everything I do is art.” The latter seems to sum up their philosophy pretty well: among the work discussed in We Apologize are documentary films, photography, a recipe, an encounter with the Virgin Mary, and instillations of bread, antiques, and Jackson Pollock-style paintings. There is also a clear tone of activism throughout, especially regarding the NEA and censorship, and a press release inserted in the book explicitly states their position against “America’s desperate neo-conservative agenda of privatization and homeland security.” While the art of EIDIA may be hard to swallow for many, We Apologize is worth seeing as the product of two passionate contemporary artists who approach their work determinedly and from every possible angle.
- By Brendan Higgins, Library Intern Summer 2009
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