Genesis Breyer P-Orridge art show in New York City

Right now in New York City, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is celebrating the opening of a new career-spanning art exhibition at the Invisible Exports Gallery. The exhibit, titled "30 Years Of Being Cut Up," presents Breyer P-Orridge's photomontage and Expanded Polaroids, from his early mail art to his latest visual explorations. Of course, the cut-up is a powerful creative tool of collage/montage used by the 20th century Surrealists and rediscovered in the 1950s by Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs, who applied the technique to fiction, film, and sound poetry. As Burroughs once said, "When you cut into the present, the future leaks out." In the early 1970s, P-Orridge became friends with Burroughs and Gysin and embarked on a fully immersive project to "cut up" his entire life. The musical expression of that can be heard in Gen's pioneering work in Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle. And since the early 1990s, Gen collaborated with his wife and collaborator Lady Jaye Breyer to collage their identities into a single "pandrogynous" being. Lady Jaye tragically died last year, but their combined selves live on in Gen. This exhibition traces Gen's quest to break free from Control, in all its forms, by cutting up reality. We are delighted to present this preview of several pieces from 30 Years Of Being Cut Up. Please click on the images to see them larger. Genesis Breyer P-Orridge "30 Years Of Being Cut Up"

• [norskamerikansk]

  David,

  Fine, but “rediscovered in the 1950s” sounds like historical language, and what Boing Boing does is great and (mostly) trusted, so rewriting history from a personal perspective is not cool. “Rediscovered” by whom?

  Best wishes.
  N.A.

• [David Pescovitz]

  @NORKSAMERIKANSK, P-Orridge, Burroughs, and Gysin are particularly important in the history of me though.

• [Anonymous]

  I was just there! It was great–good show, good people, good gin.

• [norskamerikansk]

  Hi. Nice link. But your art historical accuracy about “cut up” otherwise known as collage, is really “cut up”. The surrealists did not start the technique, (it was DADA, and there were earlier proto-collage artists) and neither P-Orridge nor Burroughs are particularly important in the history of collage, or visual art in general for that matter. Try not to mislead the youth please…

• [monstrinho_do_biscoito]

  huh, photomontage really doesn’t age well. I see better things than this on b3ta all day.

• [rszantyr]

  sat across from Genesis last night on the train :) best day of my life