Maker/Artist
Jarry, Alfred
French writer and graphic artist, 1873-1907
Author of 'Ubu Roi' and other plays, poetry, novels and essays. He has been claimed as a predecessor of Dada, the Surrealist movement, and the Theatre of the Absurd. He created a number of graphic works to illustrate his writings, and associated with visual artists such as Rousseau and Gauguin. He founded two art magazines, "L'Ymagier," with Remy de Gourmont, and later "Perhinderion." He coined the term "'pataphysics" to describe a "science of imaginary solutions," expressed in verbal games and logic so rigorously applied that it slips into the irrational. He has been admired by a variety of writers and artists, and inspired two formal societies, the Collège de 'pataphysique, and Oulipo.
