Join us for an intimate gathering to launch A Decade of Country Hits: art on the rural frontier, edited by Margo Handwerker and Richard Saxton, published by Jap Sam Books.
A sunday afternoon with readings, a musical performance, film and slide presentations by artists Richard Saxton and Stuart Hyatt (M12 Collective)and Wapke Feenstra (Myvillages).
Sunday 29 June, 3 – 5 pm at PrintRoom
Schietbaanstraat 17, Rotterdam, NL
Doors open at 3, presentation starts at 3.30 pm
Edited by: Margo Handwerker and Richard Saxton
Featuring works by: Richard Saxton, the municipalWORKSHOP and the M12 Collective
Art has its Billboard charts. They focus mostly on artists and exhibitions in urban centers. A Decade of Country Hits is devoted to uncharted hits thriving instead on rural aesthetics and rural knowledge. This richly illustrated volume documents ten years of collective works initiated by artist Richard Saxton in rural communities around the world, from the American Midwest and Southwest to parts of Europe, Australia, and South America. Impossible to attribute to any one artistic genre, the works archived here explore a growing community of artists and researchers drawn to the rural experience in all its complexity. It resembles a sketchbook: with drawings, photographs, and from the hip accounts in the field, as well as contributions from likeminded artists, musicians, poets, and writers.
A Decade of Country Hits includes an international roster of contributors. It contains interviews with Todd Bockley, co-director of the Center for Social Sculpture; Twink Metzler, founder of Living Room Studios; architectural historian Robert Nauman; and Wapke Feenstra, artist and co-founder of Myvillages. Featured throughout are new collaborations with Zach Boddicker, singer and songwriter for 4H Royalty; Kurt Wagner, singer and songwriter for Lambchop; and Matthew Fluharty, director of Art of the Rural.