John Giorno

LET IT COME LET IT GO, YOU CAN'T HURT ME CAUSE STORMS CAN'T HURT THE SKY, DO THE UNDONE

John Giorno was an American poet, devout Buddhist in the Tibetan Nyingma lineage, performer, and multimedia artist, known for his live performances and typographic silkscreen paintings and sculptures. Giorno first rose to prominence in the early 1960s, gaining attention as the subject of several of Andy Warhols experimental films, including the groundbreaking durational work Sleep. In 1963 Giorno founded the not-for-profit Giorno Poetry Systems, and began producing experimental poetry-based multimedia projects and records. Notable among them remains Dial-A-Poem, a dedicated phone line providing pre-recorded contemporary poems to callers. Participants in the project included John Ashbery, William S. Burroughs, John Cage, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski and Laurie Anderson among others. It remains operational today.

At the same time, Girono began producing silkscreened paintings featuring lines and excised fragments of poetry, a practice he continued for the duration of his career. This body of work later extended into carved bluestone sculptures, also bearing lines of his poetry.

Exhibitions of Giornos work include a traveling retrospective originating at Palais de Tokyo, Paris among others.

John Giorno was an American poet, devout Buddhist in the Tibetan Nyingma lineage, performer, and multimedia artist, known for his live performances and typographic silkscreen paintings and sculptures. Giorno first rose to prominence in the early 1960s, gaining attention as the subject of several of Andy Warhols experimental films, including the groundbreaking durational work Sleep. In 1963 Giorno founded the not-for-profit Giorno Poetry Systems, and began producing experimental poetry-based multimedia projects and records. Notable among them remains Dial-A-Poem, a dedicated phone line providing pre-recorded contemporary poems to callers. Participants in the project included John Ashbery, William S. Burroughs, John Cage, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski and Laurie Anderson among others. It remains operational today.

At the same time, Girono began producing silkscreened paintings featuring lines and excised fragments of poetry, a practice he continued for the duration of his career. This body of work later extended into carved bluestone sculptures, also bearing lines of his poetry.

Exhibitions of Giornos work include a traveling retrospective originating at Palais de Tokyo, Paris among others.

John Giorno was an American poet, devout Buddhist in the Tibetan Nyingma lineage, performer, and multimedia artist, known for his live performances and typographic silkscreen paintings and sculptures. Giorno first rose to prominence in the early 1960s, gaining attention as the subject of several of Andy Warhols experimental films, including the groundbreaking durational work Sleep. In 1963 Giorno founded the not-for-profit Giorno Poetry Systems, and began producing experimental poetry-based multimedia projects and records. Notable among them remains Dial-A-Poem, a dedicated phone line providing pre-recorded contemporary poems to callers. Participants in the project included John Ashbery, William S. Burroughs, John Cage, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski and Laurie Anderson among others. It remains operational today.

At the same time, Girono began producing silkscreened paintings featuring lines and excised fragments of poetry, a practice he continued for the duration of his career. This body of work later extended into carved bluestone sculptures, also bearing lines of his poetry.

Exhibitions of Giornos work include a traveling retrospective originating at Palais de Tokyo, Paris among others.

John Giorno

John Giorno

LET IT COME LET IT GO, YOU CAN'T HURT ME CAUSE STORMS CAN'T HURT THE SKY, DO THE UNDONE

Exhibition

Exhibition

Materials & Dimensions

Materials & Dimensions

Bluestone

24 x 54 x 18 inches, 36 1/4 x 56 1/2 x 18 inches, 43 3/4 x 36 x 31 inches

Year

Year

2019-2021

Site

Site

Wisconsin Ave. and Jefferson St.

Credits

Credits

Courtesy of Galarie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich and the John Giorno Foundation.

Anges Denes

Wheatfield: A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfill, Downtown Manhattan

Anges Denes

Wheatfield: A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfill, Downtown Manhattan

Anges Denes

Wheatfield: A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfill, Downtown Manhattan

Tyree Guyton

TIMEOLOGY

Tyree Guyton

TIMEOLOGY

Tyree Guyton

TIMEOLOGY

David Hammons

Toilet Tree

David Hammons

Toilet Tree

David Hammons

Toilet Tree

thank you

To our generous sponsors, partners, collaborators, and supporters who make our work possible.

presenting

Founding & Sustaining
Sponsors

* indicates both Founding and sustaining founding sponsor

Anonymous
Donna & Donald Baumgartner*
Black Box Fund
Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation
Susan & Mark Irgens*
Mellowes Family*
Sue & Bud Selig*
Julie & David Uihlein*

sculpture

Wayne & Lori Morgan

Visionary

George & Karen Oliver

Exhibition Partner

leader

Anonymous
Baird Center
Heil Family Foundation
Godfrey & Kahn

Collaborator

Betty Arndt
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
Kelli Gabel & Craig Karmazin
GRAEF
Guardian Fine Art Services
Hawks Landscaping
Mark Jungers
New Land Enterprises
Raymond & Barbara Krueger
ManpowerGroup
National Endowment for the Arts
Nonprofit Management Fund
Austin Ramirez
Syslogic Inc
Wisconsin Arts Board

Connector

BMO
Foley & Lardner
Imagine MKE
MajicPro
Milwaukee Magazine
Open Pantry
PNC Bank
PwC
Russ Darrow Group
Town Bank
US Bank
WeycoGroup
Woman's Club of Wisconsin Foundation

Sculpture Milwaukee is always free and open to the public thanks to our generous supporters.

We work with trusted community partners to ensure great contemporary art is accessible to all.

Sign up to receive news about our exhibitions and artworks, announcements, events and more

© 2025 Sculpture Milwaukee

thank you

To our generous sponsors, partners, collaborators, and supporters who make our work possible.

presenting

Founding & Sustaining
Sponsors

* indicates both Founding and sustaining founding sponsor

Anonymous
Donna & Donald Baumgartner*
Black Box Fund
Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation
Susan & Mark Irgens*
Mellowes Family*
Sue & Bud Selig*
Julie & David Uihlein*

sculpture

Wayne & Lori Morgan

Visionary

George & Karen Oliver

Exhibition Partner

leader

Anonymous
Baird Center
Heil Family Foundation
Godfrey & Kahn

Collaborator

Betty Arndt
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
Kelli Gabel & Craig Karmazin
GRAEF
Guardian Fine Art Services
Hawks Landscaping
Mark Jungers
New Land Enterprises
Raymond & Barbara Krueger
ManpowerGroup
National Endowment for the Arts
Nonprofit Management Fund
Austin Ramirez
Syslogic Inc
Wisconsin Arts Board

Connector

BMO
Foley & Lardner
Imagine MKE
MajicPro
Milwaukee Magazine
Open Pantry
PNC Bank
PwC
Russ Darrow Group
Town Bank
US Bank
WeycoGroup
Woman's Club of Wisconsin Foundation

Sculpture Milwaukee is always free and open to the public thanks to our generous supporters.

We work with trusted community partners to ensure great contemporary art is accessible to all.

Sign up to receive news about our exhibitions and artworks, announcements, events and more

© 2025 Sculpture Milwaukee

thank you

To our generous sponsors, partners, collaborators, and supporters who make our work possible.

presenting

Founding & Sustaining
Sponsors

* indicates both Founding and sustaining founding sponsor

Anonymous
Donna & Donald Baumgartner*
Black Box Fund
Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation
Susan & Mark Irgens*
Mellowes Family*
Sue & Bud Selig*
Julie & David Uihlein*

sculpture

Wayne & Lori Morgan

Visionary

George & Karen Oliver

Exhibition Partner

leader

Anonymous
Baird Center
Heil Family Foundation
Godfrey & Kahn

Collaborator

Betty Arndt
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
Kelli Gabel & Craig Karmazin
GRAEF
Guardian Fine Art Services
Hawks Landscaping
Mark Jungers
New Land Enterprises
Raymond & Barbara Krueger
ManpowerGroup
National Endowment for the Arts
Nonprofit Management Fund
Austin Ramirez
Syslogic Inc
Wisconsin Arts Board

Connector

BMO
Foley & Lardner
Imagine MKE
MajicPro
Milwaukee Magazine
Open Pantry
PNC Bank
PwC
Russ Darrow Group
Town Bank
US Bank
WeycoGroup
Woman's Club of Wisconsin Foundation

Sculpture Milwaukee is always free and open to the public thanks to our generous supporters.

We work with trusted community partners to ensure great contemporary art is accessible to all.

Sign up to receive news about our exhibitions and artworks, announcements, events and more

© 2025 Sculpture Milwaukee