Writing about Kevin Bewersdorf’s work prior to 2009 is difficult.
Bewersdorf erased his website, maximumsorrow.com, as well as all of the texts, photos, songs and documentation of sculptures that were housed on the site.
While there are scattered traces of his thought floating in various blogs, the ability to view the scope and meaning of it is greatly diminished.
If this work is to survive, then, one must attempt to translate it – piece together his project in one’s own words, from one’s own memories of it.
It’s a difficult thing and it forces one to consider work in more depth than one typically would.
When art is on the Internet, there is a tendency to always put off viewing it or understanding it in-depth because it is always at-hand. The viewer knows that, without any real effort, she can view it tomorrow when there is more time.
If the work is taken off of the Iunternet, though, then the viewer must really consider it and try to understand it in a more serious way. It creates an urgency.
However, one question is: Why go to all this trouble? What would be worth this effort?
One answer is: Go to all the trouble when the work is, like a ghost in an attic, haunting.