Stephen Kaltenbach
The Anonymous Artforum Ads
January 1 - February 28, 2023
Starting with the November, 1968 issue, Stephen Kaltenbach published a series of twelve advertisements in Artforum magazine. The twelve sequential issues in which these advertisements were published concluded at the end of 1969. What really made these intriguing and bold was the fact that they were anonymous and surprisingly and intentionally are not promoting an exhibition or book or art work for sale defeating/confusing the role of purchased advertising in a magazine. There is no reference as to who is the author or company and they are only a series of text statements or commands (except for one photograph). In studying these ads, it become apparent that most of these ads are not random but reflect and extend Kaltenbach's work and activities at the same time. These ads often mirror the other work/ideas/exhibitions that preoccupied him during the same very busy period while in New York. It is as though these were like a distillation of his current work as though they were his sketchbook.
The Anonymous Artforum Ads
Cindy Nemser interview with Stephen Kaltenbach, Artforum magazine, November, 1970
November, 1968
ART WORKS, 1968
Artforum magazine, November, 1968, Ed size unknown, NFS
"Printing the 'ART WORKS' In the ad section of Art Forum was Interesting to me for several reasons. I liked the fact that it was initially misleading; at first take, posing as a promotion for the sale of art objects and then transforming into a much broader philosophical statement on the nature of art. This also happened at the inception of conceptual art where information could be art. The idea of an ad playing this role was delightful." - Stephen Kaltenbach
ART WORKS, Edition began in 1968 (each plaque is dated as 1968 / (and the year each work from the edition was cast)
5" x 8" x .05", Cast Bronze, Proposed edition of 100 (to date less than 40 have been cast), $ 3,000 (includes shipping)
This multiple is the first of Kaltenbach's bronze "sidewalk plaques" and predated his November, 1968 first Artforum ad.
December, 1968
JOHNNY APPLESEED, 1968
Artforum magazine, December, 1968, Ed size unknown, NFS
In December, 1968, Stephen Kaltenbach exhibited an dark felt oval (as an homage to Richard Artschwager's "blp" shape in the Johnny Appleseed Artforum ad) in the first Castelli Warehouse gallery curated by Robert Morris.
January, 1969
Wrapped ART, 1969
Artforum magazine, January, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
"I considered the wrapped art photo as the following statement: The placement of art in an 'ART Environment' identifies it as art and has the power to conceal some important aspects of its force because if you know you are seeing ART, you have the security of knowing you are not seeing life. It can affect you but it can't 'bite'" - Stephen Kaltenbach
5 5/8" x 10 3/4" x 2", Image from "Stephen Kaltenbach: The Beginning AND The End", at the jan shrem and maria manetti shrem museum of art, Davis, CA
Collection - Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Wrapped ART (Artforum advertisement, January, 1969), 2019,
2.5" x 7" x 5", Cast bronze, acrylic paint with COA, ed of 10, $10,000 (includes shipping)
I want to purchase Wrapped ART
February, 1969
Tell a lie, 1969
Artforum magazine, February, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
"Tell a lie was one of a series of works referencing conceptual minimalism. I believed that art could be strengthened by stripping it of its substance other than the concept: a story became stronger without its ARTificial nature by posing as reality. Though I was yet to become a Christian publishing this statement plagued my conscience. Actually telling lies was a similar experience. I tried to limit these works to stories that were free from attainment of advantage through the telling. At first I used it to create info fiction works for Street Works pieces in shows that were sponsored by museums; which violated the ART IDENTITY principle addressed with the January ad. Eventually these pieces became favorites of mine as they began to keep them secret. They segued into my first non-existent works. My favorite work is the photo of my ash glaze pot in my Art Forum article." - Stephen Kaltenbach
Artforum magazine, February, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
March, 1969
Start a rumor, 1969
Artforum magazine, March, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
"Start a rumor and perpetrate a hoax were in some ways even more difficult to work with as I felt that the likelihood of them causing trouble was even greater than tell a lie. I printed them anyway because the five 'illusions' from TELL A LIE to BECOME A LEGEND was so attractive to me." - Stephen Kaltenbach
Cindy Nemser interview with Stephen Kaltenbach, Artforum magazine, November, 1970
John Perrealut's review of Street Works I performances, March 15 in NYC from the March 29, 1969 issue of the Village Voice and citing Stephen Kaltenbach's performance that never occurred.
Cindy Nemser interview with Stephen Kaltenbach, Artforum magazine, November, 1970
April, 1969
Perpetrate a hoax, 1969
Artforum magazine, April, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
"Writing the fake 'Rosa Gardenas' art historical data hoax with Connie Bower was fun but clearly impossible to activate." - Stephen Kaltenbach
Kaltenbach designed fake historic hoax with the plan that historian Connie Bower would present to the art world.
May, 1969
Build a reputation, 1969
Artforum magazine, May, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
"I considered it to be equally unreal in most people. I do believe that working to achieve congruence with one's reputation is a high goal.
No. But It is about the drive to achieve greatness; a motivation that I recognized in myself at the age of seven. I was given a set of watercolors by my second grade teacher who told the class that I had talent. I still remember walking home thinking, "It's just going to be me, Rembrandt, and Van Gogh."
I remember that I had the epiphany that I could express art via influence. I had this vision of the whole history of art being made and appreciated by subsequent generations who developed their esthetic through the experience of art. In fact this influence was both inescapable and a very good thing. It fostered evolution and the development that freed one's art from the limits of the personal esthetic. " - Stephen Kaltenbach
Cindy Nemser interview with Stephen Kaltenbach, Artforum magazine, November, 1970
Summer, 1969
Become a legend, 1969
Artforum magazine, Summer, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
“BECOME A LEGEND.” It was a command. But it was also a crazy dream to live by—a stunning credo Stephen Kaltenbach issued to himself and each of the thousands of readers of this magazine in the sum-mer of ’69. This was the eighth of twelve anonymous ads the now seventy-year-old artist placed in Artforum between November 1968 and December 1969. It is still, more than forty years later, the tightest, most thrill-ing “micro-manifesto” (his term) you could ever read. I want to put an exclamation mark at the end of it, but the original better reflects Kaltenbach’s own decision, made long beforehand, that he would become a legend quietly—in disguise, and through the back door." - The opening words in Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer's feature piece on Stephen Kaltenbach, Artforum magazine, September, 2010
Become a legend, 2018
10.5" x 10.5", Typeset Letterpress Print on Reich's Savoy #236 White,
Ed. of 25, $1,500.00, unframed (includes shipping)
I want to purchase Become a legend print
This print reproduces his largest anonymous Artforum advertisement from the Summer, 1969 issue
September, 1969
Teach Art, 1969
Artforum magazine, September, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
Curious that Teach Art comes out in the September issue when most students are returning to school after their summer break.
October, 1969
Smoke, 1969
Artforum magazine, October, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
"These works, SMOKE and TRIP were in some ways as problematic as 'TELL A LIE'. I was in my first year of drug experience and this was a time of great optimism for the potential for the development of human thought. Both of these drugs gave me amazing perspective that supported my philosophical ideas. This was before Charles Manson who changed everything." - Stephen Kaltenbach
Niovember, 1969
Trip., 1969
Artforum magazine, November, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
"These works, SMOKE and TRIP were in some ways as problematic as 'TELL A LIE'. I was in my first year of drug experience and this was a time of great optimism for the potential for the development of human thought. Both of these drugs gave me amazing perspective that supported my philosophical ideas. This was before Charles Manson who changed everything." - Stephen Kaltenbach
December, 1969
You are me., 1969
Artforum magazine, December, 1969, Ed size unknown, NFS
Cindy Nemser interview with Stephen Kaltenbach, Artforum magazine, November, 1970
"This is about a social consciousness developed during the period when I was meditating a lot and was in my Buddhist phase when there was a lot of thought about kindness and consideration for others. I was experiencing a lot of ESP, or thought I was. This was what was what was being valued at the time. As is clear from most of the ads, I was trying my best to express these ideas in an extreme form." - Stephen Kaltenbach
You are Me (mirror), 2019
24" x 20", laser etched mirror with COA, ed of 10, $5,000 (includes shipping)
I want to purchase You Are Me mirror
January, 1970
"I considered January to be the last ad." - Stephen Kaltenbach