Object Poems

Kyle Schlesinger
Austin, Texas

Bumpers

On average, 120,000 vehicles drive over the Brooklyn Bridge every day. What if each displayed a poem that could be read by the 4,000 pedestrians or 2,600 bicyclists that cross the bridge as well? Poetry is often read alone in a library, cafe, study, or bookstore. The relationship between the reader and the book (or screen) is 1 to 1. Even poetry readings and performances are almost invisible in the public sphere. While the most mainstream poets attempt to gain popularity through banality, Bumpers suggests that an effective (commercial) medium has the power to bring provocative poetry to the people. Bumpers is a collection of 12 crack-’n-peel bumper stickers designed by Kyle Schlesinger and printed letterpress in two or three colors each. Contributors include David Abel, Bill Berkson, Johanna Drucker, Craig Dworkin, Michael Gizzi, Michael Gottlieb, Ted Greenwald, Dorothea Lasky, Hoa Nguyen, Tom Raworth, Kit Robinson, and Carolee Schneemann.

© Michael Gottlieb

Letterpress bumper stickers in box with letterpress label. 2011. Edition of 300.

$250

To purchase, please contact Laura at 23 Sandy Gallery.

About the Artist

Kyle Schlesinger is a poet who writes and lectures on typography and artists’ books. His books of poems include: Commonplace (Cuneiform); Bad Words to the Radio and Other Poems (Least Weasel); Picture Day (Electio Editions); What You Will (NewLightsPress) and Seeing Things (Chax Press). Poems & Pictures: A Renaissance in the Art of the Book, was published in 2010 by the Center for Book Arts in conjunction with a traveling exhibition. He is proprietor of Cuneiform Press and Assistant Professor of Communication Design at University of Houston-Victoria, where he co-directs the Graduate Program in Publishing.

© Johanna Drucker