news | Wednesday September 5, 2012

Counterfeit Pennies - Work by Gerry Gilbert

Canadada stamp
by Ed Varney

Jamie Reid is drawing attention to the highly original and distinctive art and poetry of Gerry Gilbert, including Counterfeit Pennies, which you can view online.

Counterfeit Pennies, a work of art produced in 1996 by Vancouver poet, Gerry Gilbert, has been rescued from obscurity amongst the 25 boxes of memorabilia, films, videos, photograph albums, books and unpublished manuscripts found in the home of Gerry Gilbert after his death on June 20, 2009. This remarkable treasure trove from a hugely prolific life in poetry and art remains still unsorted in the Simon Fraser Special Collections Library. It has found a place there owing to the efforts of Gilbert’s daughter, Tamsin, and his son, Jeremy, as well as to the generosity of the Simon Fraser Special Collections Library and its director, Eric Swanick.

Thanks to the dedication and technical expertise of poet Lary Bremner, the first of these works will now appear in electronic format on the Internet, entirely for the delight of those poetry aficionados ready to appreciate again the special and irrepressible character of Gilbert’s enormous contribution to the body of Canadian avant garde poetry.