Joe Brainard Bücher

»Ein unglaublich originelles Buch.« The New York Review of Books »Zum zauberhaften Vermächtnis des amerikanischen Künstlers Joe Brainard gehören seine Memoiren mit dem Titel I remember.« taz »Joe Brainard feiert den Akt des Erinnerns in einer Sprache, die unprätentiös ist und doch präzis.« Deutschlandfunk Dem Zauber von Joe Brainards Memoiren sind schon viele erlegen, so auch Paul Auster, der das Buch zu seinem Lieblingsbuch erklärte und exklusiv für die deutsche Erstausgabe bei Walde+Graf ein begeistertes Vorwort beisteuerte. In „Ich erinnere mich“ lässt Brainard sein Leben Revue passieren. Die Wörter »Ich erinnere mich …« dienen ihm dabei als Ausgangspunkt für seine unsortierten, in Zeit und Raum hin- und herumspringenden Erinnerungen und Assoziationen: Jugendliches und Erwachsenes, Banales und Bedeutendes, Spezifisches und Allgemeinwissen fügen sich in Ich erinnere mich zu einem ebenso klugen wie originellen Erinnerungsfeuerwerk.

Joe Brainards Memoiren "I Remember" sind ein unentdecktes Meisterwerk in Deutschland. Mit dem Satz "Ich erinnere mich..." reflektiert er sein Leben und schafft unsortierte, assoziative Erinnerungen, die Jugendliches und Vielschichtiges vereinen. Das Buch gilt als eines der originellsten Werke unserer Zeit.

Known during his life primarily as an artist associated with the New York School of poets, Joe Brainard (1942–1994) was also a wonderful writer whose one-of-a-kind autobiographical work I Remember (“a completely original book”—Edmund White) has had a wide and growing influence. It is joined in this major new retrospective with many other works that for the first time allow the full range of Brainard’s writing to be savored in all its deadpan wit, nonstop goofy inventiveness, self-revealing frankness, and generosity of spirit. Collected Writings gathers journals, jottings, letters, stories, one-liners, comic books, mini-essays, and playlets, much of which exist in print only in expensive rarities, if at all, to create “one of the most dazzlingly minute autobiographies ever written” (Harper’s Magazine). “Brainard disarms us with the seemingly tossed-off, spontaneous nature of his writing and his stubborn refusal to accede to the pieties of self-importance,” writes Paul Auster in his introduction to this collection. Assembled by the author’s longtime friend and biographer Ron Padgett and including fourteen never-before published works, here is a fresh and affordable way to rediscover a unique American artist.

Featuring a curated collection of letters from 1959 to 1993, this book provides an intimate glimpse into Joe Brainard's personal and artistic journey. The correspondence reveals his thoughts, relationships, and creative processes, showcasing the evolution of his work and the influences that shaped his life as an artist. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of Brainard's unique perspective and the context behind his contributions to the art world.

Alex Katz celebrates an old friendship, illustrating Brainard's 1970s journals with charcoal flower drawings In this tender posthumous collaboration initiated by Alex Katz (born 1927), the artist embellishes journal entries by his old friend Joe Brainard (1941-94) with a new series of exquisite charcoal drawings of flowers (a popular motif in Brainard's own art). Katz and Brainard often collaborated with poets--particularly those of the New York School, such as Ted Berrigan, Anne Waldman and Ron Padgett--on artists' books, poetry publications, book covers, writings and paintings. Brainard's journal entries in this volume, written between 1971 and 1972, express this milieu, with accounts of conversations and expeditions with Waldman and Padgett as well as frequent mention of his appreciation for Katz's work: "How Alex has remained so pure all these years is beyond me," he notes in one entry, enumerating his favorite Katz works. Katz's charcoal drawings are simple and clear in execution, matching the serene clarity that famously characterizes Brainard's prose.