LACY SOTO | DATE 1/26/2025

Artbook at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles Bookstore presents Tosh Berman and David Totah launching 'Wallace Berman: Off the Grid'

Sunday, January 26, 2025, from 3–4 PM, Artbook at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles Bookstore presents the LA launch of Wallace Berman: Off the Grid with Berman's son, Tosh Berman, in conversation with gallerist David Totah. Q&A followed by a book signing.

Event livestreamed on Instagram at artbookhwla.

RSVP for the event and order a signed copy here.

Wallace Berman (1926–76) was a notorious guru of the 1960s art pantheon. Often cited as a West Coast Beat Generation artist who rubbed elbows with the likes of Allen Ginsberg, Dennis Hopper and the Rolling Stones, his contributions transcend the comparisons of his aesthetic and the associations that he kept. A self-taught artist, Berman was influenced by Surrealism, Dadaism and the Kabbalah, as well as jazz music and the mystical symbols and popular imagery of his time.

Berman is best known for his signature motif, which comes from a reappropriated Sony advertisement picturing a hand holding a transistor radio, which he found in 1964. By removing the speaker grill and inserting random appropriated images, the hand shuffles up messages that appear to spring out of the ether. His early use of the gridding technique creates a visual cacophony that barrages the senses.

Wallace Berman: Off the Grid follows the eponymous 2021 show at TOTAH, a rare East Coast exhibition of Berman’s work, which included a screening of his rare short film Aleph (1956-66), followed by a discussion between Tosh Berman (Wallace Berman’s son) and Andrew Lampert, moderated by poet Anne Waldman. A partial transcript of this conversation is included in the publication.

Tosh Berman is a writer, poet, and publisher of TamTam Books. As a publisher, he focused on post-war French figures such as Boris Vian, Guy Debord, Serge Gainsbourg, and French gangster Jacques Mesrine, as well as publishing Sparks (Ron Mael & Russell Mael) and Lun*na Menoh. His previous book Sparks-Tastic (2013) is a combination of travel journal and thoughts on the band Sparks. His book of poems The Plum in Mr. Blum's Pudding (2014) came out through Penny-Ante Editions. 2019 is the publication appearance of his memoir TOSH: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World (City Lights). He authored the introduction to Wallace Berman: American Aleph from the Michael Kohn Gallery in 2016. He contributed to Wallace Berman: Off the Grid (Totah) 2024. One can visit Tosh Berman's writings at tosh.substack.com.

ARTBOOK AT HAUSER & WIRTH LOS ANGELES BOOKSTORE
Wallace Berman: Off the Grid
Sunday, January 26, 2025, from 3–4 PM
917 East 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone: 213-988-7413
Click here to RSVP and pre-order a signed copy