1993 - Unoriginal Sins

28 Feb 1794. 1993.

Posted at 14:09h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
18.5 x 12.2, 4pp. Folding card with a reproduced colour painting by Gary Hincks on the front which is a wild rose. The date 1794 was an important year in the French revolution as it not only saw the death of Danton by degree but also the Law of 22 Prairial where Robespierre centralised his unofficial dictatorship over the country by removing rights of defendants when accused of sedition or slandering the state. The wild rose for Finlay (which here has a bud alongside a fully opened flower) is signifying the wild actions of the Committee for Public Safety but also the potential of the revolution (which ultimately failed like most and returned France to the monarchy then Napoleon's despotism). This "definition" was used by Finlay in other works including a limited edition vase for wild flowers. VG+.

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27 Feb CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI: BOOKS, PRINTS, PRINTED MATTER, EPHERMERA. 1993.

Posted at 09:20h in EXHIBITION CATALOGUES

NYC: New York Public Library, 1993
30 x 21cm, folded twice - single sheet of card which opens to a 60 x 42cm, full sheet poster displaying a page from the Inventory of Objects belonging to a Young Woman of Charleston. There is also an essay by Robert Rainwater. VG+.

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14 Feb LISTE DES SUISSE MORTS DANS LE CANTON DU VALAIS EN 1991. 1993. ONE OF 50 SIGNED & NUMBERED COPIES.

Posted at 09:27h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Lausanne: Musée Canonale des Beaux-Arts, 1993
21 x 14 m. 62pp plus original typographic wrappers. Artist's book listing all of the deaths for a year (organised by day) in the Swiss Canton. Boltanski always notes that he chose Swiss people (although this was released in Switzerland as part of the exhibition Les Suisse morts in 1993 in Lausanne) because of their association with peace and the fact that their deaths were usually not caused by trauma.
This copy is one of 50 signed and numbered copies - on the last page in blue ink by Boltanski. VG+.

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29 Jan HARBOUR OF BOAT BOOKS CARDS AND PRINTS BY IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. 1993.

Posted at 08:49h in Exhibition Catalogues

London: workfortheeyetodo, 1993
15 x 10.5cm, 12pp plus printed glossy card covers. Exhibition catalogue listing 76 books and cards by Finlay. Text only. VG+

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24 Jan WILDFLOWER. 1993.

Posted at 14:15h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
18.5 x 10.6, 4pp. Folding card with a reproduced colour painting by Gary Hincks on the front which is of a yellow wild flower. The definition of a Wildflower is given by Finlay as "A Mean Term between Virtue & Revolution". The word "mean" has two meanings here - an averaging or the synthesis of the two ideas of virtue and revolution and/or the effects of the themes of virtue and revolution causing chaos and unpleasantness (which is a mild way of describing The Terror). VG+

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19 Jan LUX EUROPA. 1993.

Posted at 15:47h in Exhibition Catalogues

Edinburgh: European Art Festival, 1993
24.5 x 17cm, 80pp and cover. Exhibition catalogue for a major public exhibition of light works which took place in Edinburgh. Finlay installed a huge neon work on the top of the Government's St Andrews House - the work was EUROPEAN HEADS but the word HEADS is upside down as if fallen and decapitated. Illustrated in colour. The glue binding has come loose else VG.

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