Donation to City of Ottawa Art Collection, Crazzy Dave Poetry, November 2021
Thrilled to announce my private collection of poetry on found cardboard by the infamous, Ottawa based Crazzy Dave, has been accepted as a donation by the City of Ottawa Art Collection. November 2021.
“Crazzy Dave”, B&W Photograph, 10.75 inches x 14 inches. Signed and dated 2008 on verso. This portrait was taken by photographer Michelle Wilson during the 3rd anniversary of La Petite Mort Gallery. Each year, a different photographer would be invited to photograph the guests in a studio setting, and then results would be exhibited a few months later. This image from from my private collection.
Photograph of Crazzy Dave and his poems on cardboard currently being presented as a donation.
MICHELLE WILSON:
Originally a photo-based artist Michelle Wilson has expanded her practice to incorporate sculpture, textile and text based works. Wilson received her BFA from the University of Ottawa in 2005, and graduated with highest honors from the School of Photographic Arts: Ottawa in 2008. She represented Canada at the Recontres d’Arles in 2008, and more recently presented at the 14th annual Institute for Critical Animal Studies Conference. She will be graduating from the Master of Fine Arts Program at the University of Manitoba fall of 2015.
CRAZZY DAVE aka Dave Dessler:
Crazzy Dave has been the subject of significant media attention since 2008, during which time he has come to be celebrated as the “iconic street poet” of the Ottawa homeless community, known to be found in the Byward Market. Too proud to accept charity, Dave transforms his experiences on the street into observations in the noumenal space between the city’s privileged working classes and the “invisible” homeless.
His poetry offers a reflection of the intelligent and aware existence of a homeless man who considers himself a successful busker rather than a pan-handler, charging a $2 creativity fee in addition to the amount per the buyer’s perceived value of every poem he sells. Dave has been writing prolifically since 2006 and has recently been published in a collaborative volume with an Ottawa photographer.
La Petite Mort Gallery is proud to say we have collaborated with Crazzy Dave since 2006 to look at options, and to create projects to assist Dave is getting work & eventually finding housing via the sale of his poetry & the published book.
History of Crazzy Dave:
Today I Met Crazzy Dave, Ottawa’s Homeless Poet