The second volume in Cabinet’s “24-Hour Book” series, artist David Scher’s Hail, Cretin! features the melancholy peregrinations of a demi-centurion missing his upper half. Wandering through a land over which his forces perhaps once held dominion, our protagonist—a lonely postimperial half-man who seems fated to permanent homelessness—now experiences the flowers and stones of the landscape as if for the first time.

About Cabinet’s “24-Hour Book” series
Inspired by literary precedents such as automatic writing, by the resourcefulness of the bricoleur making do with what is at hand, and by the openness toward chance that all artistic production under severe constraint must necessarily incorporate, this series invites distinguished authors and artists to be incarcerated in an unfamiliar space to complete a project from start to finish within twenty-four hours.

About David Scher
David Scher is an artist living in New York City. He is represented by Pierogi in New York, Galerie Jean Brolly in Paris, and Galerie Ute Parduhn in Dusseldorf. In 1969, he cofounded o.n.e.m., a performance and music group that has persisted.

Cabinet wishes to thank the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for their support of this project.