Billy X Curmano

"But few have yet to scan this vast territory of national water issues, which is outside of most of their experiences. There are, of course, exceptions, such as Billy Curmano's heroic and often hilarious swim down the entire Mississippi as a performance work and environmental statement, accompanied by a deluge of hokey fan club press releases ("As American as Apple Pie, But Better for You!"); at the beginning of the 1996 swimming season, he had swum 1,928 of the 2,500 miles from his home state of Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico." - Lucy R. Lippard, The Lure of the Local, The New Press, NY, 1997, page 167
            Billy X. Curmano is an award winning former McKnight Foundation Interdisciplinary Art Fellow. He was trained as a painter and sculptor (If, of course, painters and sculptors can be trained). His more traditional objects have been exhibited both here and abroad since a first solo show in 1970.  Notably, his paintings represented the USA in the “III Vienna Graphikbiennale”. His works are included at the Museum of Modern Art Library and other prestigious collections.
            He is probably best known for eccentric “Live art”. During one extended performance and environmental statement, he swam from the source of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and the mayors’ of St. Louis, Cape Girardeau and New Orleans all proclaimed Billy X. Curmano Day in their cities.
            He was buried alive for three days in 1983, created a Tiger Cage on Wheels that focused attention on political prisoners and performed for cows with a busload of baffled tourists looking on. He marked the Millennium in Death Valley with a 40-day, juice and water fast and traveled thousands of miles on public transportation to bring a 10-minute greeting from the Mississippi to the Arctic Sea. He dedicated three years to InClimate a project focusing attention on the changing climate. Amused journalists have dubbed him, “The Court Jester of Southeastern Minnesota” with comparisons to P.T. Barnum, Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp.