Art & Language and The Red Krayola

Lisson...ON AIR

In this episode, of Lisson ON AIR Art & Language (Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden) talk with Lisson Gallery’s Hana Noorali and Ossian Ward about its 40-year collaboration with the Red Krayola, a proto-punk band founded in Houston by Mayo Thompson. They discuss the largely improvised performances, the themes that went into these recordings – covering everything from conceptual art and activism to politics and philosophical thought – as well as how the first songs were written in residency at Robert Rauschenberg’s studio on Captiva Island, Florida, but only after Michael was detained by the CIA for carrying sensitive communist propaganda. Combining text from these tracts, as well as from their Index 01, exhibited at Documenta 5 in Kassel in 1972, Art & Language provided the lyrics that were sung or chanted by, among others, Michael Baldwin, Ian Burn, Kathryn Bigelow, Charles Harrison, Pauline Harrison, Sandra Harrison, Christine Kozlov, Lynn Lemaster, Philip Pilkington, Mel Ramsden and Mayo Thompson. Having released many albums with Red Krayola since 1976, Art & Language continue to develop this extension of their practice in advance of a performance in New York this September. Track List: The Red Krayola with Art & Language, Gross and Conspicuous Error #8, 1976 Art & Language, Mayo Thompson, Jesse Chamberlain Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSJ7XwawZOc The Red Crayola with Art & Language, Keep All Your Friends from Kangaroo?, 1981 Art & Language, Allen Ravenstine, Ben Annesley, Gina Birch, Lora Logic, Mayo Thompson, Epic Soundtracks Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Ga7COGUn0 The Red Crayola with Art & Language, Portrait of V.I Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock, pt.1&2 from Kangaroo?, 1981 Art & Language, Allen Ravenstine, Ben Annesley, Gina Birch, Lora Logic, Mayo Thompson, Epic Soundtracks Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzlW3q1g9gY The Red Crayola with Art & Language, Sighs Trapped by Liars, from Sighs Trapped by Liars, 2007 Art & Language, Elisa Randazzo, Sandy Yang-singers, Tom Watson, Mayo Thompson, Jim O'Rourke, Noel Kupersmith, John McEntire-drums Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JrbXylij9k The Red Krayola with Art & Language from Gross & Conspicuous Errors, 1976 Art & Language, Kathryn Bigelow, Mayo Thompson, Jesse Chamberlain Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6cnevh5bPc The Red Krayola with Art & Language from Gross & Conspicuous Errors, 1976 Art & Language, Kathryn Bigelow, Mayo Thompson, Jesse Chamberlain Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwT892J7STs Art & Language, Postscript To SDS' Infiltration, Music-Language: Corrected Slogans, 176 Art & Language, Jesse Chamberlain, Mayo Thompson, Colin Bateman, Thomas Duffy, Wieslaw Woszczyk, Sandra Harrison, Pauline Harrison, and Lynn Lemaster. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH0_WE_kkp0 The Red Krayola with Art & Language from Gross & Conspicuous Errors, 1976 Art & Language, Mayo Thompson, Jesse Chamberlain Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwT892J7STs Lisson...ON AIR is written and presented by Hana Noorali