ROBIN CROZIER John M. Bennett Robin Crozier, 1936-2001 (Dec. 21). Robin was born in Gosforth, England; he studied art and taught at the Sunderland Polytechnic in northern England. Survived by his wife, Chris Nolan. Robin was a word artist, THE word artist of his time; an artist who worked with language as a medium and who expanded the possibilities of language immeasurably. He was a conceptual poet, a sound poet, a visual poet, a Fluxist, a mail-artist, and one of the most generous and wide-ranging collaborators of the 20th century. His influence has been profound and his life and work has touched innumerable artists and writers all over the world.
I began corresponding and collaborating with Robin in the early 1970's, initially meeting him in the mail-art network. We were alike in our obsessive need to relentlessly explore and pursue the possibilities of language and over some 30 years we produced hundreds of works together: visual, textual, conceptual, and every combination imaginable. One of our projects, the Chapters, worked on steadily over some 25 years, consisted of a sheet of paper mailed back and forth, on which we would add one line at a time. When the sheet was full, it became a complete Chapter, and I published it in Lost and Found Times. In his last letter to me, dated Dec. 10, he enclosed the completed Chapter 24, on which he has written/drawn a row of shoes. He suggested "maybe all they need is a good shine". (He also told me he had decided to forgo therapy for his terminal cancer in order to continue working in the network.) So I added a shine to the shoes and started a Chapter 25. That start and my letter and other material were in the "out" mail basket at the library where I work when I learned he had died. I retrieved the envelope in order to write to his wife instead. I am now planning to publish all the Chapters together in a single book, a task that gives me great sadness and joy combined. Another major and long-lasting project we did together was a (seemingly) endless series of TLPs (Tacky Little Pamphlets is the technical term) that we sent back and forth to each other, intervening in them each time, until I decided they were "done" and printed them. There are dozens and dozens of these. We also did envelopes, visual poems, modified and re-modified texts, drawings; you name it. Robin seemed completely unconcerned with art as a gallery commodity, and dealt with it for what it should be, a fundamental life force. This attitude I very much shared with him, and the loss of such an energetic. committed, intelligent, and generous friend and colleague has been devastating to me. And all the networks he participated in will greatly miss his numerous on-going projects: the Memo(random)s, the Wanda work the chairs and tables, the self-portraits, the writing, and so much much more. Long live Robin Crozier! John M. Bennett Dec. 31, 2001
