In this short essay written in the early nineteen-eighties, Kurt returns to several of his favorite topics: weaving, architecture and mythology. "On the islands of the Indonesian archipelago the status of weaving within a scale of culturally valued activities is most elevated. Wherever the most ancient forms of weaving--warp ikat techniques--have survived, the art and craft of spinning, dyeing and weaving are accorded paramount respect among all of the visual arts. Weaving is regarded as the principal art form, comparable to calligraphy in Islamic culture, painting in 19th century Europe, TV today.”
Audio: Local Color
When he moved to the Napa Valley in 1969, Kurt sank his roots deeply into the Valley's rich heritage. In this 15-min. reading of his prose-poem "Local Color" (1982) one hears his reverence for the land, its original inhabitants, nature and its bounty.
The text is included so that as Kurt reads you may read along.
The Interpenetration of Art and Life
The Peace Tower created in 1966 in Los Angeles, the collaboration of over 300 artists opposed to an escalation of the Vietnam war, is the lead subject of Kurt's article from April, 1966 in Art International magazine. "When art is removed from the irrelevant sanctity of the gilt frame, the anaesthetic atmosphere of the academy, or the marble museum's hallowed halls of death, and is set down in the middle of life, it is inevitably more vulnerable to destruction than are all the visual atrocities found so tolerable by the vulgar," states Kurt, and he goes on to explore "the interpenetration of Art and Life."
Amanita Muscaria: The magic mushroom of the ancients
Kurt was so entranced with the Amanita muscaria mushroom that he named one of his daughters Amanita. This short essay was tucked away in a folder labeled "Soma." According to Kurt, "Amanita muscaria is the current taxonomic name for the magic mushroom of antiquity. The identity of this extraordinary plant is one of the most venerable mysteries in the history of civilization. It is among the earliest psychotropic substances ingested by man, and as such occupies a central and seminal place in the formation and archaic evolution of human culture."
On Audio: UCLA Campus Rally in Support of Kurt von Meier - 1967
Highly popular among his many students, the non-renewal of Kurt's teaching contract at UCLA in 1967 created a storm of protest. Found among the unlabeled reel-to-reel tapes in the Archives of von Meier is this recording of a campus rally in his support.
Kurt makes some remarks to the assembled students, who are then urged by another speaker to confront the school administrators; at that point the recording ends. The recording documents an inflection point in his teaching and professional career. Find additional information about Kurt's dismissal here.
On Eating Words
Kurt's interest in haute cuisine drew him to explore the ancient origins of human diet--cannibalism, and grain agriculture--and speculation about the shift in eating from mere necessity to matters of "style, art and ritual...the distinction between filling the belly and appreciation of fine food."
Avant-Garde Sculptor Harold Paris
In this article for Art International magazine from December 1966, Kurt critiques and widely praises the work of sculptor Harold Paris and a wide range of sculptors working in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. It was, in fact, at the opening of an exhibition of Harold Paris' work that Kurt staged a "happening" at UCLA, featuring five rock bands (including Frank Zappa) and light shows, all taking place simultaneously and generating considerable press attention.
Mandala: Mirror Reflections
In 2003 (as Emeritus Professor of Art History during his last year of teaching), Kurt and his students at Sacramento State University created an exhibit of his teaching collection: various artworks, sacred ritual objects, carpets, tapestries and items of curiosity. A CD was created by Michael Azevedo which includes commentary by Kurt about the exhibition and the pieces displayed. The culmination of his teaching career, the exhibition and his commentary recap the remarkable diversity of his interests, his vast body of knowledge and his fascinating life experience. That CD has now been converted to a self-playing movie file on YouTube. Click on the video link above to view it (runs approximately 90 minutes).
Cover illustration by Andy Warhol, LIZ, 1962. All photos courtesy of Sam Parsons, Audio production courtesy of Spider Studios. Photo courtesy of Sam Parsons, CSUS Media Services, All images Copyright 2003, Sam Parsons, CSUS Media Services.
Art Treasures from Japan
This article from December, 1965 in Artforum magazine was one of Kurt's first upon joining the faculty at UCLA (as an Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the Art Galleries). In it, he reviews an exhibition of "Japanese Treasures" at the Los Angeles County Museum, which he finds lacking in organization and effect. Images (some the same ones as were included in the original article) have been added.
Lecture on Audio: Theseus and Ariadne
This lecture on Greek mythology was delivered around 1970. It begins with the sound of a cracked walnut, which launches Kurt into a discussion of seeds, the genesis of life, sexual differentiation, women's lib, and moves from there to the myth of Theseus, the king of Minos, the Minotaur, the establishment of patriarchy, the rise of tyranny and the nature of politics. It's a lively and typically animated bit of teaching. It runs about 45 minutes and takes a minute to load.
Artists as Victims of Their Own Success
Here's another lengthy but information-packed article from the November, 1967 edition of Art International magazine--to which Kurt was a regular contributor--a critique of exhibitions by Robert Rauschenberg, Rick Herold, Peter Voulkos, James Turrell and Allan Kaprow at Los Angeles area museums and galleries.
Jose Que and the KRYPTO-HUICHOL FOOD MANDALA
Kurt's alter-ego Jose Que has the munchies. A fact-filled and meandering discussion about American food, Peyote (the sacred food of the Huichol people) and Teachings of Dog Juan follows. He sets off on a systematic analysis with "Category One" but never gets to "Category Two:" It all ends with the invocation of a good Molé.
POMES
Kurt spent a portion of 1958 in Spain at the University of Madrid, a year-abroad program focused on poetry offered by U.C. Berkeley. By all accounts (and they are few) he had a hard time on his trip: little spending money, poor luck hitch-hiking and toasty Spanish heat. But the experience did seem to bring out the poet in von Meier. What follows are poems written between 1958 and 1985 found in a manila folder labeled POMES.
Foreword to an exhibition by artist Robert Ellis
While teaching in New Zealand at the Elam School of Fine Arts, Kurt penned this foreword for an exhibit of works by Robert Ellis. "The paintings of Robert Ellis are mature and in no way parochial. From the technical aspect alone they represent an impressive and highly developed achievement."
Elvis Aron Presley - Parts 1 - 5
This is a five-part series about Elvis Presley and the history of rock n' roll published in the New York Free Press during 1968. Having cemented his place as both art historian and R&R critic, Kurt was eminently qualified. Using his scholastic talents and combining them with popular culture, he was able to write articles which went beyond mere idolatry or public relations. For the Elvis fans out there, it's a long-lost treasure of insights. Links to successive parts in the series can be found at the bottom of each part. Images and links have been added to the original article.
A is for Apple
Here's a delightful, and unusually autobiographical essay by Kurt about his mother's apple pie. It appears to be from around 1985, or at least that's how the manila folder was labeled. Kurt fancied writing a cookbook, and this short essay was to have a piece in it. He never did write the cookbook, but he certainly was one fantastic cook.
The Failure and Future of Art
Kurt challenges the "art establishment" again in this essay published in May, 1967 in the pages of Art International magazine. As was his custom, he swings around to various topics in order to make his point; "...the various factions of the world of so-called Art have been committing suicide over the last few years, without needing much encouragement from the avant-garde." He touches on Flower Power, marijuana, and predicts the creation of the World Wide Web, what he calls "an instantaneous communications network." Never shy about the truth, Kurt states: "...in a highly structured commercial economy the word "free" becomes one of the most suspect and revolutionary threats to be given aesthetic statement."
Gurus Enough
In this short essay, Kurt examines the roots of knowledge and language, and explores our ethocentric western assumptions about the knowledge held by primitive cultures. "The Kalahari Bushmen and the animistic Dogon perhaps share claim to the title of the world's greatest speculative philosophers." Images and links have been added.
The OMASTERS - MIS' DONA
This first chapter of Omasters sets the stage for all that follows. Ironically, the effect of vast islands of garbage and debris floating in the oceans, a present-day problem in 2017, plays a major role in Kurt's fiction of 1975. "The MIS' DONA suckled projects in cetacean interspecies communication, psychoastronomy, and an ongoing sea-skimming operation. Gobbling up masses of off-shore sewage, oil spills, floating Styrofoam, throw-aways and the waste of contributing continents, the MIS' DONA's mission was much like that of a vulture, jackal or shark...." Kurt and Clifford Barney created a work of genius, and you get to read it right here. (For an additional chapter, click here).
Brian Wilson - The Beethoven of Rock
By 1968 Kurt was a recognized authority on Rock and Roll, as this article he authored for Eye magazine (published in August, 1968) attests. Today the genius of Brian Wilson is widely accepted, but in 1968 Kurt was among the first to understand just how talented Wilson was. His focus in the article, however, takes a von Meier turn to the left as Kurt discusses the role of egolessness and cultural change in the Beach Boy Idea. Images and links have been added.
