buon giorno

a few weeks ago a friend and i were tooling around georgetown, in our nation's capitol, looking for some yummy italian eats. en route to finding ristorante piccolo (which was molto fantastico), we stumbled upon the vibrantly painted yellow fine art and artists gallery. as if the facade was not enough to draw me in, i spied this stunning textual piece, welcoming the flowers 2007, dominating the back wall of the gallery.

the gallery was, unfortunately, closed when we returned to investigate this enormous and engaging piece, but this keen eye was not deterred. after all, i do have a strong affinity for the art of text. as i gazed longingly into the window of the faa, i was determined to figure out who was responsible. a little searching lead me to the art of john giorno. giorno, known predominately for his poetry and his giorno poetry systems, was socially linked to andy warhol, jasper johns, and robert rauschenberg in the sixties. it's clear that they also had quite an influence on his visual aesthetic.

as giorno is represented by galleries across the country, prices for his pieces are hard to come by without direct inquiry. nonetheless, i wanted to feature a few striking works that really hit my hot button. individual prints from welcoming the flowers are available - it's considered a series of prints making one sceenprinted poem. for example, you might love almost miss america rose - in which case you would contact durham press:

as much as i love the prints that make up welcoming the flowers, i'm really loving this one, featured by galerie almine rech. i think it's so sweet and pure in sentiment.

i'm thrilled to have discovered john giorno's poem-prints, and hope to someday add one or two of them to my growing collection of words and images.