Francis Alys the Prophet and the Fly

by Alys, Francis

• ISBN13: 9788475065489
• ISBN10: 8475065481
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-07-01
• Publisher: Distributed Art Pub Inc

Summary

This unique volume side-steps the performance work for which Francis Als is most recently recognized, presenting instead his recent paintings and drawings. Over 30 beautiful, encaustic-layered canvases illustrate passages from D. H. Lawrence, Plato, and other great writers, and, in a fluid exchange, are likewise illuminated by them. Als entered the art field by accident, through what he calls "a coincidence of geographical, personal and legal matters [that] resulted in indefinite vacations which, through a mixture of boredom, curiosity and vanity, led to my present profession." A compulsive wanderer, his personal explorations of the cities in which he finds himself have formed the basis for an eclectic body of work that has involved the varied mediums of documentary film and photography, video, painting, and performance, each put to work in a way that reflects specific social and economic conditions in a highly individual style. A close observer and occasional manipulator of the quirks of everyday life, Als responds to fleeting and contingent circumstances from the viewpoint of a passerby who is both involved and separate.

Table of Contents

I
Prologue	8	(34)
The Liar	10	(12)
The Prophet	22	(10)
Turista	32	(10)
II
Images	42	(108)
While I was shaving, the mirror slid...	48	(12)
The Consecuence of Ignorance	60	(14)
The Source and The Source	74	(10)
Virtues	84	(4)
La Petite Mort	88	(8)
Walking a Painting	96	(4)
When Faith Moves Mountains	100	(4)
Two Sisters	104	(24)
Fuego and Man Levitating	128	(6)
Redemption	134	(6)
Le Cochon dans le Cochon	140	(10)
III
Cabinet	150	(32)
El Soplon	152	(6)
Painting and Punishment	158	(6)
Cabinet	164	(18)
List of Works and Acknowledgements	182