Exquisite corpse, also known as cadavre exquis, is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see only the end of what the previous person contributed. This technique was invented by surrealists and is similar to an old parlour game called Consequences in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the writing, and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution.
Artist and curator Lisa Bowman contributed to an Exquisite Corpse show at The Drawing Center in New York City in the mid 1990s. At the start of 2020, while living in Los Angeles, she thought to do an Exquisite Corpseproject again, and proposed the project to her friend, the artist Peter Alexander who said, “Oh, that’s fantastic. Go for it.” His contribution to the project was the last work he created before his death in May 2020. What began as a project of 30 or so artists ballooned during the pandemic to over 200 artists, musicians, actors, writers, filmmakers, curators and their families, resulting in the drawings that make up this collection – each piece tells a story.
Contributors:
John Ahearn
Carlos Ahearn
Michelle Akouka
Peter Alexander
Pietro Alexander
Ariston Anderson
Mike Ballou
Lily Bardani
Larry Barnes
Adriana Barone
Antoine Barraud
Paul Bauman
Megan Berk
Joanne Berman
Mike Bidlo
Donna Binder
Rafaella Binder
Laura Bloom
Keiko Bonk
Lisa Bowman
Chloe Brown
Gomez Bueno
Tom Burchardt
Michael Buscemi
Pam Butler
Kathy Butterly
Kevin Cabaret
Victoria Campbell
Micaela Carolan
Amanda Carter
Fanny Cohen
Nora Cohen
Nan Collymore
Luce Collymore Abbas
Mia Collymore Abbas
Mary Corey
Molly Corey
Kadia Dabo
Dr. Stephen Dansiger
Dave Darmstaedter
Lynn Deegan
Laddie John Dill
Sara Driver
Peter Edlund
Ava Egan
Dashiell Egan
Nick Egan
Brigitte Engler
Russell Etches
Claire Evanoff
Ned Evans
Bodin Evensen
Thor Evensen
Susan Fairbairn
Sasha Filimonov
Mimi Fisher
Erik Foss
Jodie Foster
Stella Rose Gahan
Jessica Gandolf
Jimmy Gilroy
Marilyn Gold
Elliott Green
Phyllis Green
Maria Guzman Capron
Luc Hammond Thomas
Emma Hammond Thomas
Valerie Hammond
Bonnie Harris
John Haubrich
Ann Haugan
Robert Hawkins
Daniel Healey
Alexandra Hedison
Richard Hell
Roger Herman
Esther Loop Hershkovits
Nissim Hershkovits
Conner Hinson
Jacob Hirsch
Marta Hoskins
Tessa Hughes Freeland
Tabitha Jackson
Kristen Johnson
Curt Klebaum
Liz Kresch
Justine Kurland
Scooter LaForge
Charles Lahti
Jessica Langham
Juanita Lanzo
Vicky Lazlo
Jennie Jieun Lee
Jiyoun Lee Lodge
Marie Losier
Gary Lucidon
Jacob Lyon
Masha Mandzuka
Sophie Matisse
Karen May
James McBride
Kim McCarty
Lily McElroy
Trixie Merkin
Mathew Miller
Alexandre Moratto
Maggie Morris
Louis Mueller
Myles Mullen
Jenna Newman
Fredrik Nilsen
Jack Nilsen
Steve Olson
Jared Oppenheim
Claudia Parducci
Victoria Pederson
Pat Place
T. Pleman
Geoffrey Poppler
Michael Randall
Tom Recchion
Alex Rivkin
Walter Robinson
Charles Rosenberg
Natalia Sacasa
India Sachi
Prakash Sachi
Ira Sachs
Steven Saltzman
David Sandlin
Hal Saulson
Kenny Scharf
Ben Schneider
Ricardo Tarrega Shayegan
Wayne Shimabukuro
Emily Siri
Cynthia Sley
BooBoo Stewart
Daniel Subkoff
Naoki Sutter-Shudo
Theo Tarrega
Hally Thacher
Zann Thibodeaux
Boris Torres
Felix Torres
Viva Torres
John Tottenham
Kristy Tully
Lorna Turner
Valentina Vaccarella
Marguerite Van Cook
Sally Webster
Jeannie Weissglass
Robin Winters
Dale Wittig
Eve Wood
B. Wurtz
Habib HK Zamani
Paula Zanger