Al Hansen was an artist without a studio for years. I wrote about him in our publication ‘Art, No-Art & Anti-Art’ (2019). Al did not have a fixed home or place to stay either. He often worked in pubs, where he found material for his collages in the ashtrays. When he was travelling in Europe he simply stayed over at friends. Most of his possessions were stored in suitcases and plastic bags. These included clothes as well as collages and drawings, notebooks, letters and pictures of his happenings.
In 1979 we decided to publish a book with an overview of all his activities. The edition had to be inexpensive. I bought twenty plastic binders and a large number of clear plastic sleeves at the office supply store Gebroeders de Winter. We filled the binders with original photos, invitations, newspaper articles and handwritten texts from the suitcases, complemented with additional photocopies. Each binder received at least one original collage or drawing.
Everything was sold by 1983.
Not long ago I found a copy in an auction in Germany. It included the promotional leaflet: in 1979 we offered the books for $200 apiece. (Later copies were more expensive.)
