Bruce Conner for Supervisor
  • editioned print
  • screenprint
  • duotone
  • 66 x 50.7 cm.
  • [1] pp.
  • edition size unknown

Bruce Conner for Supervisor

Bruce Conner

Bruce Conner for Supervisor

description

Print published in support of Bruce Conner's campaign for San Francisco City Supervisor in 1967.

In today's era of political turmoil it's refreshing to remember when politics were perhaps more sane, more rational, more inspirational, more honest, and more genuine. Take San Francisco in 1967 for example, and the "Beat Artist" Bruce Conner's run for a seat on the board of city supervisors.

For him [Bruce Conner] the campaign was more like a game. At that time there was no fee to run for supervisor in San Francisco. So it was free publicity. He got to give speeches to the public. He also got to publish at no cost in the booklet where the candidates listed their qualifications and positions. The speech he gave was a list of candies and desserts and I believe the one that went into the voter's booklet was about light. He went through the Bible, probably the New Testament, and picked out all the verses in which light was mentioned and that was his statement. Bruce voted in every election and was very critical of friends who didn't vote. Even if his was the only "no" vote, it was important to let someone know that someone had protested. -- Jean Conner, Bruce Conner: Die 70er Jahre, Verlag für moderne Kunst, Vienna, Austria, 2010

Conner, riffing San Francisco's emerging counterculture graphic sensibilities designed a screen-printed campaign poster featuring the image of the artist painting the word "LOVE" on a two-year-old elephant, a commission by Goldwyn Studio for Peter Sellers' notorious spoof "The Party."

"That psychedelic part threw me at first," said Conner. "I didn't know quite what it meant. I once did endpapers for a book by Timothy Leary. You're supposed to read it when you're on a trip. I didn't care much for the book so I tried to make the endpapers nice so people would have something nice to look at." -- Bruce Conner, Los Angeles Times, May 17, 1967

San Francisco, CA: Dagny Janss,
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$3,500.00
Condition:  Very Good. Recto clean and unmarked. Verso shows mild staining.
[Object # 37101]