In his poem ‘Digression on Number 1, 1948’, the New York School poet Frank O’Hara celebrates “a fine day for seeing” as he makes his way through the Museum of Modern Art, where he worked as a curator, finally pausing in front of the Jackson Pollock painting referenced in the poem’s title. He talks of Pollock’s “perfect hand” and the “silver range” he discovers within the canvas.

 

O’Hara’s relationship with art and artists was an integral part of his worldview as a poet. The exhibition ‘A Fine Day for Seeing’, held at Southwark Park Galleries in London from 28 July to 29 August 2021, extended that spirit of collaboration between word and image by presenting ten pairs of internationally acclaimed poets and artists who were invited to work in dialogue with each other.

 

The catalogue, published to coincide with the exhibition, features full texts of all the poems alongside their corresponding works. The book includes an introduction by the curators, Tamar Yoseloff, a poet with a strong engagement with visual art, and Paul Carey-Kent, an art writer with a long-standing interest in poetry.

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Poet // Artist

Khairani Barokka // Michelle Williams Gamaker
Leo Boix // Jessica Sarah Rinland
Annie Freud // May Cornet
Martha Kapos //Mali Morris
Roy McFarlane // Hew Locke
Maitreybandhu // Basil Beattie
Julian Stannard // Juliette Marhieux Bartoli
Harriet Tarlo // Judith Tucker
Jane Yeh // Virginia Verran
Tamar Yoseloff // Alison Gill