paul robertson, Author at Unoriginal Sins

10 Mar HOSTA FLOWER. 1994.

Posted at 19:47h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1994) 12.2 x 8.5cm, 4pp artist's card with a drawing by Gary Hincks on the front. Internally there is a poem by Finlay: HOSTA FLOWER An old summer dress shared by sisters its purple faded to lavender, fitting no-one, a thousand times in the wash The Hosta Flower is the Plantain lily which invaded America in the 1800s from Asia. Finlay sees the colour as reminiscent of the faded colours of poor families. VG+....

10 Mar BRETONNERIE. 1994.

Posted at 11:02h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1994) 8.4 x 6.2cm, 4pp artist's card with a concrete poem internally:

The words:
linen coif in the shape of a cloud l'Ecole re Pont-Aven Hommage a Emile Bernard are placed in the shape of a cloth bonnet with the side ties.
BR> Emile Bernard was a post-impressionist painter who often took Pont-Aven as his source for landscape and town paintings. A linen coif was a bonnet (originally for both sexes but latterly only women wore them)., ...

08 Mar A CLASSICAL MONOSTICH. 1994.

Posted at 10:21h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d.. (1994) 5.5 x 14.8cm, 4pp artist's car with a text 'Schooner, sail your snows to the Pole." in the middle pages. A monostich is a one-line poem. Here the schooner's sails are being compared with snow because of their colour - and the pun of the word "Pole" indicates a double meaning of the sails being hoisted to the masts. VG+....

04 Mar 2 CONSTELLATIONS FOR A COLUMN, THE GYLE. 1994. WITH BOOKMARK.

Posted at 16:26h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994 10 x 7.4cm, 8pp plus wrappers and printed dustjacket. Artist's book with a poem by Finlay and a quote from Virgil's Aeneid about sailing which regards ships as "nymphs of ocean".:

"ships
nymphs

nymphs
ships

.

bark
barque

barque
bark

VG+. JOINT (LAID IN): 10 x 4.5cm, 2pp explanatory card ('bookmark") by Thomas A. Clark which points to the transformation of boat into wood and wood into boat as well as the classical tropes of change in gods and humans. VG+. ...

27 Feb RATION ULTIMA REGUM. 1994.

Posted at 14:52h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
8.4 x 12.5cm, 1pp card printed red and black on grey with the latin inscription that translates to the "the final argument of kings" which traditionally meant a resort to arms, however Finlay wryly notes that :We have noting to add to our previous correspondence" is a modern equivalent and notes it as "the final argument of our rulers." VG+.

...

14 Feb ARROW. 1994. A VALENTINE CARD.

Posted at 14:47h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
9 x 9cm, 4pp card with a painting of an archery target on the front and inside a definition:
Arrow, n. a heart seeking missile.
and a quotation about cupid from"Myths" by Bulfinch. Finlay updates the original Greek myth to a modern times where the "heat-seeking" missile is replaced by the "heart-seeking" arrow. VG+.

...

09 Feb PROPOSAL FOR A PARK. STADTPARK, KREMS, AUSTRIA. 1994.

Posted at 09:26h in Proposals

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998
12.7 x 16.3cm, 4pp with 1pp transparent leaf internally:

on the left and right of the internal pages are colour photographs of two metal sculptures - both wheel barrows one carrying fallen oak leaves and the other flowering pots. The photographs were taken by Antonia Reeve. The text on the leaf reads:

Be good and with me walk/The old devalued park/Where autumn has set in. - a line from a poem by the American poet Karl Shapiro.

The work shows the two seasons of Autumn and Spring - with the contents of the barrow reflecting the gardener's tasks at each time. VG+. ...

02 Feb SUMMER POEM. 1994.

Posted at 21:02h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
13 x 6.5cm, 4pp card with a poem on the front:

Wild
post.
rose
van

The post and van words are in italics. Recombining the words in different orders gives different images and meanings while the original wild rose and post van are both objects that are red in nature (the card is printed in red on white). VG+.

...

21 Jan A REMEMBRANCE OF LORINE NIEDECKER. 1994. HAND ADDRESSED BY FINLAY TO HIS SON ECK.

Posted at 14:32h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1994
15.3 x 14cm, 2pp card displaying Robin Gillander's photograph of a work in the garden of Little Sparta dedicated to Lorine Niedecker (a friend and a poet published by Finlay in some of his earliest initiatives. The work is hard to read because of shadows.
The image was also used in a book in honour of the dead poet.
This example has been stamped and posted and hand-addressed by Finlay to his son Eck. VG+ with minor postal marks.

...

08 Jan TRANSLATION. ARC-EN-CEIL. 1994.

Posted at 11:46h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1994) 5 x 5.4cm, 4pp artist’s card which has the text:

arc-en-ceil
looping-the-loop

The rainbow is compared poetically with an airplane manoeuvre. VG+. ...

18 Dec PLATS DU JOUR. 1993. LAID INTO WORLD SOUP CATALOGUE. SIGNED BY BOLTANSKI.

Posted at 23:15h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Munich/Stuttgart (St. Gallen): Octogan Verlag, 1993
18 x 12cm, 12pp plus card covers. Artist's book displaying six photographs of meals - each image being brightly coloured and fully saturated to make the posed images seem other-worldly and to emphasis their "fakery". The images resemble those used on restaurant menu boards.
This is one of 400 copies found in "World Soup" - this was Hans Ulrich Obrist's first ever curated exhibition and had major contributions by Hans Peter Feldmann, Roman Signer, Paul-Armand Gette, Fischli and Weiss, Richard Wentworth, C.O. Paeffgen, Frederic Bruly Bouabre. And each like Boltanski included an original publication or print to the catalogue which was published in only 400 copies.
Additionally there was a 30 x 21cm, 16pp pluys card covers general catalogue for the show which each artist provided a page contribution to - Bolanski showed two colour photographs of a kitchen cupboard but the second image has had a candle photo-manipulated into the image.
A rare publication - and this example has the Boltanski booklet signed on the first page in ink. All VG+ in like folder.
Reference: Calle Boltanski Artist's Books Page 77

...

15 Dec A FLAK-DAMAGED B-17. 1993. WITH HANDWRITTEN NOTE FROM FINLAY.

Posted at 14:21h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
9.7 x 9.2cm, 4pp Christmas card printed black on white with a drawing after John Flaxman by Gary Hincks of "Sleep and Death conveying the body of Sarpedon to Lycia" - from Homer's 'Iliad'.
Finlay uses the image to add a new legend:
A flak-damaged B-17 finds a friendly escort in enemy airspace. Level contrails are those of out-going USAAF formations.
A previous published card by Finlay also updates a re-working of Flaxman to the second world war.
Sarpedon was a prince in the Trojan war who was killed and sent home for burial with the help of the gods. This example is in original mailing envelope and has the message "happy Chrstmas from Ian in red felt tipped pen over the inner blank double pages. VG+.

...