The Perfect Kiss, Antwerp 1976
1976
Other, 29.5 x 21 cm.
Materials: paper
Collection: Collection M HKA / Collection Flemish Community.
"Leo Dohmen had a – well, is it art deco or Jugendstil? – house in Berchem. That house is still there. Byars wanted to do something there because it was still an original Jugendstil decor, the walls and everything. I think twenty people turned up. The Perfect Kiss. That was just James standing on a small shelf. [...] Those were things that he did here and there, that was not a one-off thing. It is perhaps the shortest statement he made: standing on a podium and moving his lips for a moment, barely visible.
Source: unpublished interview with Patrick Verelst.
"Patrick Verhelst performed The Perfect Kiss at Leo Dohmen, Generaal van Merlenstraat 44, in that Art Nouveau quarter in Antwerp, close to the Cogels-Osylei: there is a kind of diamond-shaped square, the four houses are the four seasons and one of the four was inhabited by Leo Dohmen. That interior was beautifully preserved. Byars must have found that wonderful. One performance was organised in 1976. The first Perfect Kiss was in 1974, but after that he still performed it."
Source: unpublished interview with Yves Gevaert