Robert Azensky Fine Art Games

"Oblique Strategies" by Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt - Peter Norton Christmas Gift This piece is from a series of Christmas gifts, given yearly by Peter Norton and his family. This one is from 1996. The white container is Corian, with a solid weight and feel. Within, there are bright and whimsical cards, each congaing a strategy or inspiration for thinking creatively. In 1970, Peter Schmidt created "The Thoughts Behind the Thoughts", a box containing 55 sentences letterpress printed onto disused prints that accumulated in his studio, which is still in Eno's possession. Eno, who had known Schmidt since the late 1960s, had been pursuing a similar project himself, which he had handwritten onto a number of bamboo cards and given the name "Oblique Strategies" in 1974. There was a significant overlap between the two projects, and so, in late 1974, Schmidt and Eno combined them into a single pack of cards and offered them for general sale. The set went through three limited edition printings before Schmidt suddenly died in early 1980. Sixteen years later software pioneer Peter Norton convinced Eno to let him create a fourth edition as Christmas gifts for his friends. Overall size: 6.25"W x 5"D x 2"H Card sizes: 3"H x 4.13"W Peter Norton (b. 1943) is an American programmer, software publisher, author, and philanthropist. He is best known for the computer programs and books that bear his name and portrait. Norton established his family foundation with his former wife Eileen Norton in 1989. The foundation’s primary focus is on supporting contemporary visual arts nationwide. For more than two decades, the Peter Norton Family commissioned annual limited edition artworks to give to friends, colleagues, and museums during the holidays. The “Christmas Projects” evolved from modest prints created in small runs to complexly fabricated objects and editions up to 5,000—with all those gift labels reportedly printed personally by Peter Norton. Each year’s artwork was always a surprise, as was the recipient list. Brian Peter George Eno (b. 1948) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and visual artist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambient music and electronica, and for producing, recording, and writing works in rock and pop music. Peter Schmidt (1931 - 1980) was a Berlin-born British artist, painter, theoretician of color and composition, pioneering multimedia exhibitor and an influential teacher at Watford College of Art. He was part of a generation of art school teachers in the 1960s and 1970s who had great impact on some students who later went on to work in art and music. He worked with Hansjörg Mayer, Brian Eno, Mark Boyle, Dieter Roth and had associations with Russell Mills...