SimplySimplify (Personal edition) 2020, printer paper, Post-it, inkjet printer ink, Letter & A4
Artist Cory Arcangel has produced two very special Opening Editions for the occasion of Printed Matter’s Virtual Art Book Fair (PMVABF).
The common sticky note is often addressed to oneself. Here, the author scribbles a reminder to take a breath and scale down, but in a rush misspells and starts over. This humorous artwork by Cory Arcangel acknowledges the paradox of more is more; we try to manage it all, but soon enough our reminders need reminders.
SimplySimplify is a new work produced as two editions, one as a digital download in an open edition, and the second as a limited edition screen print, available here.
The open edition is a PDF with easy instructions from the artist on how to make your own SimplySimplify print. All you need is a sheet of standard paper, a sticky note, and access to a printer. The act is both intimate and mechanical—a gesture toward an analog process of production that may allow for a moment of respite from the screen, or to slow down.
Upon purchase you will receive a confirmation email and downloadable pdf with instructions for how to create your own Cory Arcangel edition. #simplesimplify Note: nothing will be physically mailed.
Cory Arcangel was born in Buffalo, New York in 1978 and lives and works between Stavanger, Norway, and Brooklyn, New York. Arcangel is a leading exponent of technology-based art, drawn to video games and software for their ability to rapidly formulate new communities and traditions and, equally, their speed of obsolescence. His work is often surprising, funny and poignant, whether in the final form of installation, video, printed media or music composition, in the gallery or on the world wide web. Reconfiguring web design and hacking as artistic practice, Arcangel remains faithful to open source culture and makes his work and methods available online, thus superimposing a perpetual question-mark as to the value of the art object.
Arcangel received a BM from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2000. He is the youngest artist since Bruce Nauman to have been given a full floor solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2011). Since he has had major exhibitions at CC Foundation, Shanghai (2019), Art Projects Ibiza, Spain, with Olia Lialina (2017); Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland (2015); Espace Louis Vuitton München, Munich, Germany (2015); Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark, Copenhagen (2014); Fondation DHC/Art, Montreal, Canada (2013); Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, USA (2013); Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK (2011); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany (2010); and Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, USA (2010). In 2014, he launched Arcangel Surfware, a merchandise and publishing imprint, and regular exhibitor at Printed Matter Art Book Fairs. Its flagship store opened in Stavanger, Norway in 2018 and ran open on Saturdays — staffed by Arcangel — for two years.
Purchase these very special Opening editions in support of Printed Matter’s Virtual Art Book Fair (PMVABF).
Fundraising editions support Printed Matter’s year-round work of serving artists and the public through free programs and services that champion artists’ books and publications, including our Art Book Fairs. Special thanks Cory Arcangel, Josie Keefe, and the entire artist’s studio.
