Other Ideas

This seemingly insignificant, slim volume is the catalog for a groundbreaking exhibition curated by Sam Wagstaff at the Detroit Institute of Arts. A renowned curator and collector, Wagstaff is best known as the benefactor of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and poet-musician Patti Smith. Other Ideas, one of the earliest group shows for some of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 1960s and 70s, such as Linda Benglis, Dan Flavin, and Nam June Paik, earned Wagstaff a reputation as "one of the most innovative curators in Detroit's history," according to Patricia Morrisroe, in her biography of Mapplethorpe, and had a transformative impact on the city's art scene. The catalog, designed by graphic designer and Detroit native Bill Butts, includes a biography and exhibition history for each artist in the form of type-written and hand-annotated CVs. The cardboard cover is a nod to 20^th century artists’ objet trouvé motif that embraced the use of everyday materials in artmaking.