Solar System & Rest Rooms ─ Writings and Interviews, 1965-2006

Artist Mel Bochner became a writer, he says, almost by accident. In 1965, as a youngartist in New York, he was out of a job; Arts Magazine paid him $2.50 for every review he turnedin, whether they published it or not; a month of review-writing paid his rent--$28.00 a month.His reviews and articles provoked a range of unexpected reactions. "At that time, artists whowrote were looked at suspiciously, as if writing somehow tainted their visual practice," hewrites. A painter friend attacked him publicly for "joining the enemy." Bochner soon begantesting the boundary between writing-as-criticism and writing-as-visual-art. Solar System & RestRooms collects both Bochner's writings on art and his writings as art, offering more than fiftypieces-- reviews, art criticism, theoretical texts, interviews, catalog statements, notecards, andhis groundbreaking "magazine interventions"--many reproduced in facsimile. Bochner is aleading figure in conceptualism; his 1966 installation at the School of Visual Arts Gallery WorkingDrawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art is consideredto be the earliest exhibition of conceptual art. Solar System & Rest Rooms chronologicallydocuments the work and ideas of this important artist over a span of forty years, as well asproviding a unique perspective on the conceptual and post-minimal art scene in New York. This bookoffers a rare insight into what it means to be an artist whose visual practice is inseparable fromthe sustained practice of writing.Mel Bochner has lived and worked in New York City since 1964. Hiswork has been exhibited internationally and is included in major museum collections throughout theworld.

Mel Bochner has lived and worked in New York City since 1964. His work has been exhibited internationally and is included in major museum collections throughout the world.