15 Oct

Posted at 16:56h in Proposals

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
20.9 x 14.8cm, 12pp, card covers and printed dust jacket. A proposal for a public work at Tout Quarry, in Portland, Dorset in the form of an artist's book - the intent is to use the giant blocks of stone that are abandoned in the quarry and have them carved on the upper face and along the sides with an inscription 'Gods of the Earth / Gods of the Sea' from Virgil's Aeneid Book III. The full original text is "Gods of the Earth / Gods of the Sea, Gods who rule over storms, give us a wind to help our voyage and may your breath bring us aid."
The block will have an image of a net (where there are knots will be mechanically drilled holes and the lines by light chisling) and deeper letter forms. There are two drawings by Gary Hincks and Nicholas Sloan is also credited....

09 Oct

Posted at 16:57h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
10.4 x 14.8cm, 2pp. A photograph by Ron Costley show a relief on a wall that has the sculpted word FiGLEAF over which leaves have been painted. In front of that the photograph shows more leaves but real this time. Hence the work about censorship is itself censored. Meta. VG+.
This example of the card has a short signed note in blue ink from Finlay to John Stathatos giving the latter Stuart Mill's address.

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01 Oct

Posted at 17:20h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
11.5 x 11.2cm, 4pp. Folding card with a drawing by Gary Hincks on the front of a ship in a storm. On the back Finlay lists the names of some of the RN "Flower" class corvette - of which the ship depicted is one. The unpredictable torrents it rides causing it to be a "wild" flower . VG+

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27 Sep

Posted at 09:56h in Prints + Posters

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
70 x 82cm, full colour offset lithograph with a reproduced painting by Gary Hincks of various weeds and flowers - each named after a prominent woman of the French Revolution. Charlotte Corday, the heroine who murdered the evil Marat in his bath, is shown as a nettle and Marie-Antoinette as a lily. The work is subtitled as "after Anselm Kiefer" who produced a major sculptural installation of the same name with beds made out of lead for each woman.
One of only 250 issued. VG+ condition.

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24 Sep

Posted at 17:23h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
11.5 x 11.2cm, 4pp. Folding card with a drawing of a still life by Kathleen Lindsley on the front of a basket of fruit, flowers and a crayfish. Fructidor was the twelfth month in the French Republican Calendar: named after the Latin word fructus, which means "fruit"
Each month in the republican calendar lasted 30 days and the weeks were repurposed to ten days each called decades. Further within every decade, each day had the name of an agricultural plant, except the fifth day when there was the name of an animal, and on the last the name of an agricultural tool.
In his instruction to the artist, Finlay has had same the ten fruits and flowers and animal included in the basket as in the names of the last decade of the month (the last name of the decade being actually "basket". VG+

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22 Sep

Posted at 22:18h in Poems in folders

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
15.3 x 11.1cm, 4pp grey outer folder with a drawing of a fallen leaves printed in green. Internally a 15.3 x 11.1cm, 4pp sheet with a poem:

SUICIDE NOTE

"The canoe
of life
is shattered.."

The windblown
willows' leaves
hide the path.

The suicide note referred to is from the Russian avant-garde poet Mayakovsky. The reference to the 'canoe of life is shattered" is a direct quote from his despairing final letter. Finlay brings attention to the shape of the willow leaves that have fallen (shattered by the wind) to the ground. The image on the front of the folder also shows that death of the leaves.

This is one of a series of works which the Wild Hawthorn Press denoted as "Poems in folders". VG+.

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19 Sep

Posted at 09:45h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Saint-Gall: Stiftsbibliothek, n.d. (1992)
10.5 x15cm, 8pp (original postcards bound in) plus front and back cards. Artist's book consisting of postcards showing installation views of a small exhibition of books by Boltanski from a library exhibition in the abbey of Saint-Gall. The show consisted of a single vitrine it seems. The images do not really allow one to see the books but the library is clearly impressive. The installation was organised by Hans Ulrich Obrist but he claims elsewhere his first curated exhibition was one year later (which also included Boltanski).
Reference: Calle Boltanski Artist's Books Page 76.

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24 Aug

Posted at 17:38h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
15.9 x 20cm, 2pp. Card with a reproduced colour painting by Gary Hincks with the various names of important female figures in the French revolution illustrated with particular flowers. Éléonore Duplay, here "Madame Duplay" was Robespierre's companion and possible lover. She is shown as a wildflower (a sometime symbol of zeal in Finlay) - possibly Queen Anne's Lace but that is not certain just our amateur identification. The was also a large print version of this work (see elsewhere on this site).
This example has been posted and is hand addressed by Finlay in bklack ink with a note "love from Ian 23.8.92" to Dawn MacLeod. VG but a little battered by the mailing system.

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19 Aug

Posted at 15:54h in Exhibition Catalogues

Edinburgh: Fruitmarket Gallery, 1992
23 x 17.5cm, 108pp plus blue embossed and foil stamped boards. The exhibition catalogue for a group exhibition of works by a range of artists including Finlay. While not being specific to concrete and visual poetry the events (which included talks, films and workshops as well as the exhibition) - a large number of those exhibited worked in that field. A number of Finlay's works are reprodcued in full colour
Poiesis as we all know is a definition of poetry as "anything supremely harmonious or satisfying" - which to be fair describes much of Finlay's work and motivation and is almost a definition of neo-classicism. Minor wear at folds else VG..

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