Viva La Marriage Book with Rudy Shepherd / Published by Swiss Institute

Frank Olive and Rudy Shepherd have been faxing drawings to each other for the last few years. The drawings are usually roughly based on conversations that they have during their daily lunch together. Two artists, two gallery managers, two husbands, two friends, two fax machines…two drawings. A furtive dialogue between artist-colleagues from grad school to gallery work in New York City: inside jokes and collective dissatisfaction to worthwhile exchanges of art and ideas, and the occasional stroke of genius. Usually jammed with fax spam (Cheap Holidays to Disney Land, Low Mortgage Rates), the fax machines at the Swiss Institute and the Drawing Center have been re-activated by Olive and Shepherd as an implement of their artistic exchange. And the fax machine is still an excellent little piece of technology. An utterly efficient tool for sending sketches – no scanners, no stamps, just a local call – the machine leaves an electronically signed and dated record of its purposeful mechanical reproduction on each page, neatly cataloging the collaboration. The drawings run the gamut, flowing from simple comments about the working day and the artists’ daily lives, to jokes about popular culture and word plays, spelling mistakes and complete nonsense… Masked as a furry bear and a tinny robot we follow Olive and Shepherd through their daily work; an oscillataion between fiery exasperation and elegant triumph.

Excerpts taken from Gabrielle Giattino’s essay It Takes Two in Viva La Marriage



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