Brion Gysin

Brion Gysin
BornJohn Clifford Brian Gysin
19 January 1916
Taplow, England
Died13 July 1986(1986-07-13) (aged 70)
Paris, France
Occupation
  • Painter
  • writer
  • poet
NationalityBritish/Canadian
EducationSorbonne, Downside School
Literary movementBeat, Postmodern, Asemic writing

Brion Gysin (19 January 1916 – 13 July 1986) was a British-Canadian painter, writer, sound poet, performance artist and inventor of experimental devices.

He is best known for his use of the cut-up technique, alongside his close friend, the novelist William S. Burroughs. With the engineer Ian Sommerville he also invented the Dreamachine, a flicker device designed as an art object to be viewed with the eyes closed. It was in painting and drawing, however, that Gysin devoted his greatest efforts, creating calligraphic works inspired by cursive Japanese "grass" script and Arabic script. Burroughs later stated that "Brion Gysin was the only man I ever respected."[1]

  1. ^ Burroughs, William. "Introduction." in Man from Nowhere: Storming the Citadels of Enlightenment with William Burroughs and Brion Gysin. Ambrose, Joe, Frank Rynne, Terry Wilson. Dublin: Sublimin, 1992, n.p.

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