Stay Ahead of the Game
Between 1961 and 1979 Joe Brainard created thousands of small and large drawings, paintings, assemblages, and collages. He created the highly patterned composition of Stay Ahead of the Game using playing cards and a Victorian sun face pulled from the clutter in his New York loft. Even though Brainard was battling personal demons, including heavy drug use, his artistic career reached a high point in 1975, when People magazine published an article about him and Time/Life commissioned two posters; this is the maquette for one of them.
Artwork Details
- Title: Stay Ahead of the Game
- Artist: Joe Brainard (American, Salem, Arkansas 1942–1994 New York)
- Date: ca. 1975
- Medium: Cut and pasted printed paper, ink porous-point pens, graphite, and opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions: 32 1/2 × 54 1/8 in. (82.6 × 137.5 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Gift of Stanley Posthorn, in memory of the artist, 1997
- Object Number: 1997.404.23
- Rights and Reproduction: © Estate of Joe Brainard
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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Joe Brainard
1970–71
Joe Brainard
1975
Joe Brainard
1976
Joe Brainard
1975
Joe Brainard
1976
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