What better metaphor is there for the life of an artist than a game of poker: bluffing, knowing when to lay low, taking risks, capitalizing on some luck, creating the belief that your hand is extremely valuable?
Rules of the Game is about the ephemeral: a Saturday night poker tournament that lives on in the collective memory of the players, but also as an artists’ book. It contains and documents new art collections assembled through wit, skill, and chance, therefore becoming an extension of that Saturday performance.
Are you in?
The Game
The game is Texas Hold ‘ Em and the wager is art. Six artist-poker players each wager an original work. The seventh player, an institution or collector, wagers an original artwork by Melissa Brown.
The collection at each of the 5 tables is determined by drawing names. One artist, one collector, or one institution leaves the table with an art collection earned through chance, luck and skill. This is a performance about acquisitions, permanent collections, fake collections, new collectors, and randomness.
The Players
Each table represents a series of temporal social relationships, connections, and influence.
Table 1
- Dike Blair
- Franklin Evans
- Tamara Gonzales (winner)
- Butt Johnson
- David Kennedy Cutler
- Leslie Park (winner)
- Wendy White
Table 2
- Kari Cholnoky
- Carla Edwards
- Derek Eller* (winner)
- EJ Hauser
- JJ Manford (winner)
- Christian Patterson
- Clayton Schiff
Table 3
- Erik den Breejen
- Jim Drobnick
- Caroline Larsen
- Michael Mahalchick
- Tony Matelli
- Sherly Oppenheim
- Siebren Versteeg (winner)
Table 4
- Trudy Bensen
- Maria Calandra
- Adam Cvijanovic
- Ellon Gibbs
- Jonah Kaner
- Jacques Louis Vidal (winner)
- Sean O’Connor
Table 5
- Tony Bluestone
- Matthew F Fisher
- Luke Murphy
- John O’Connor
- Jason Roussos‡ (winner)
- Dannielle Tegeder
- Jake Troyli
(*for Abigail Dansiger)
(‡ JPW3 as alternate)
The Book
Produced in an edition of 5, Rules of the Game consists of a manual, a deck of cards, a photo album, and the wager. At the end of the games, the player portfolios will either contain the original works of wagered art, or black and white xerox reproductions depending on the owner/player’s outcome in the game.
The Context
Since the 1960’s performance artists have been using the artists’ book as a space to present the ephemeral. In 1964 Yoko Ono released her iconic book Grapefruit—a collection of performance scores that has delighted art students and art lovers for years. In 1967 Alison Knowles Big Book became a site for interaction and she invited the audience to explore the landscape of this 8-foot-tall artists’ book. In 1976 Franklin Furnace was founded to support artists using publishing and performance and has presented these two time-based mediums side by side for nearly 50 years. In 1992 Susan Joy Share performed at Center for Book Arts using her book performance props. In 2019 Angela Lorenz performed her Chewing Tzu – The Rumination Book, her 1993 artists’ book which takes the form of several sticks of chewing gum printed with words to ruminate on. Melissa Brown’s book Rules of the Game continues in this lineage.