DAN WITZ - IN PLAIN VIEW : 30 Years of Artworks - Illegal and Otherwise is the first and long overdue monograph on the work of Dan Witz. Throughout his decades-long carrer, Witz has drawn on his understanding of historical underpinnings and current forces in the cultural world - mininialism, the punk scene, and modernist rejection strategies such as those of DuChamp and John Cage. Witz brings a fierce energy and surprising subtlety to his art, working within the worlds of both street art and high art, while always revolving around a vibrant interplay with New York City itself. Witz's subversive humor thrives in surprising reactions against the art establishment - from his first street art spectacle in the late 1970's of over forty hovering delicate street art hummingbirds that Witz dubbed "anti-hip," to trompe l'oeil shrines to the victims of September 11 th on the bases of light poles in New York City, to the painting of light itself. Witz's work, even when not explicitly utilizing poetry (as in pieces such as 1980's "Broadway Poem"), always benefits from his poetic hand. Witz says of his early career and philosophy, "What good is art that makes people feel unworthy and left out ? 1 still don't know. This was the beginning of a life-long aversion to anything exclusionary. Or boring. Especially boring. For me, that was the worst thing art could be. If you couldn't dance to it (metaphorically, I mean) then fuck it."
