paul robertson, Author at Unoriginal Sins

19 Apr THROUGH A DARK WOOD. MIDWAY. SQUARE TILE. 1975. ONE OF 100 MADE.

Posted at 18:14h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
14.8 x 14.8.cm, red on white ceramic tile with one of the Heroic Emblems on it. The text "THROUGH A DARK WOOD. MIDWAY." refers to the defining sea battle of the War in the Pacific when the USA destroyed the Japanese fleet. The image of an aircraft carrier hidden in smoke to prevent air attacks is associated with Dante's opening words from the Inferno "In the middle of our life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood.”. One of only 100 made. Very scarce object multiple.

...

19 Apr BATTLE OF MIDWAY FOURTH JUNE 1942. 1975.

Posted at 16:29h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
15.3 x 15.3cm., purple on white ceramic tile with a design after a drawing by Laurie Clark representing the American and Japanese Fleets during the battle of Midway as bees and hives. The American fleet destroyed most of the ships while the Japanese airplanes were in air and the latter had nowhere to land after launching. The various hives (with the names of the ships) can be seen to be on fire. The vast distance between the ships meant that they never saw each other - and the intervening rosebushes obscuring the hives from each other act as a metaphor for the distance. One of only 100 made. VG+....

10 Apr HOMAGE TO THE L. A. DOUST ART MANUALS. 1975.

Posted at 09:47h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
4.5 x 11cm, 4pp. Black on light brown card with a drawing of ketch boats on the front by what looks like Gary Hincks but is uncredited. Inside is the two line poem:

HOMAGE TO THE L. A. DOUST ART MANUALS
s ketch

The art manuals were a popular adult and child series of books which were meant to teach drawing skills. Finlay uses the front cover drawing as a icon for that activity and makes a joke by adding the s to the name of the boats to make "sketch.VG+.

...

09 Apr PIERROT. HOMAGE A GRIS. 1975.

Posted at 09:53h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
16.5 x 13.5cm, 4pp. A b/w photograph of a model airplane made by Finlay has alternative sides of the plane painted in different colours. The homage of Jean Gris the cubist brings to mind his painting of a Pierrot where alternative sides of the actor's clothing are different colours (presumably in part by patching - a symbolism of love for Finlay). Photograph by Dave Paterson. VG+.

...

08 Apr TRAM STOP. 1976. SIGNED BY BEUYS.

Posted at 15:55h in Joseph Beuys Postcards

N.p.: FIU, 1976
11.7 x 17cm, 2pp artist postcard showing a b/w image of Beuys' Tramstop installation at Venice at the Biennale in 1975 (the photograph taken by Caroline Tisdale). Verso details of the image and a standard postcard design. This card is signed by Beuys in red ink on the front. VG+. ...

02 Apr THE DIVIDED MEADOWS OF APHRODITE. 1975.

Posted at 09:57h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. A drawing by Gary Hincks of the deck of an aircraft carrier is labelled with the Greek and the English quotation - the divided meadows of Aphrodite. As discussed elsewhere on this site (a blanket in the object multiples section) this does not only reference the verdant landscapes of the classical Greerk gods but also is a sexual metaphor for the goddess' labia. The drawing shows the red path where the planes take off and land on - which is clearly a visual reference to the vaginal opening. VG+

...

30 Mar MARINE PROTOTYPES. 1975.

Posted at 10:01h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
14.7 x 11cm, 2pp. Two photographs are shown - one of a harbour with a boat (LH 62 - a trawler) and below it (by Vic Smeed) a commercial image of four modern irons with model numbers and the brand name Sunbeam in front of them. The visual correspondence is in the shape of the front of the irons and the prow of the boat. And the numbers on both images allow Finlay to suggest that the subject of the photographs are prototypes of each other. VG+.

...

29 Mar ZUM TOTLACHEN. KINDHEITSERINNERUNGEN. 1975. SIGNED BY BOLTANSKI.

Posted at 10:04h in EPHEMERA

Dusseldorf: Stadtische Kunsthalle, 1975
21 x 15cm, 1pp announcement leaflet for a performance by Boltanski with "his talking doll" - one of the first of such performative works by the artist where a besuited and be-hatted artist discussed "childhood memories" in a faux ventriloquist act. Interestingly young people under 10 are specifically invited to attend. On the back Boltanski has signed the leaflet to Berg thanking him for is support. VG+. although formerly folded.
JOINT WITH:
Hand addressed envelope from Boltanski to M. Berg sent from Germany.

...

28 Mar CHERRY STONES. 1975.

Posted at 10:09h in Artist's Postcards

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
10.1 x 14.7cm, 2pp. A photograph by Paterson of two model rockets (with wings) coming out of thick cloud (cotton wool) is identified as two V1s of the Kirschkern (Cherry Stone) project. The V1 was the much feared German "flying bomb" that was used indiscriminately against the British population in and around London during the blitz
Much like a cherry stone that one bites onto without warning, these bombs would fall without warning (if you heard the sound of them falling then you were safe as the auditory waves followed the missile's path because of speed - cf the theme of the wonderful Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon)> A cherry stone might hurt your crunching teeth and the German codename for the missile project reinforces that consideration. VG+.

...

25 Mar SAVED BY HELICOPTER. 1975.

Posted at 10:48h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
12 x 12cm., olive green and black on white ceramic tile. The image is a newspaper story of how the Morning Star ran aground and that a boat called the Twilight came to the rescue. Clearly the story appealed to Finlay due to the coincidences of the names. One of 100 published. Very scarce.

...

20 Mar THROUGH A DARK WOOD. MIDWAY. 1975. MEDALLION.

Posted at 12:52h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
3.5cm, dia. copper and brass plated aluminium medallion with chain. With a design by Ron Costley (which originally was created for the exhibition Heroic Emblems) of the smoke issued by the aircraft carriers to reduce visibility to enemy planes and helicopters during the battle of Midway The text borrows from the opening lines of Dante's 'Divine Comedy': 'In the middle of the journey of our life ('Midway'), I came to myself in a dark wood". The dark wood here is a smoke, This is based on a Costley drawing for the book "Heroic Emblems" and is one of four Finlay medals based on those original collaborative illustrations.
All of the Heroic Emblems showed modern machines (mostly of war) in reference to Classical myths. With original box and 14.5 x 14.5cm, 1pp (folded twice) leaflet with a commentary by Stephen Bann. Edition size not known but very hard to find.

...

20 Mar BUTLER THE WORLD’S MOST GRACIOUS MAN. BYARS. 1975. UNIQUE MAIL ART.

Posted at 10:00h in James Lee Byars

16 x 8cm, 6pp. Single folded printed card. Unique mail art work sent from Bern to James Butler by Byars in August 1975 (from postmark) comprising a breakfast menu from the hotel (Guten Morgen/Bonjour/Good Morning/Ohayo Gozaimasu/Buenos Dias/Buon Giorno/Boker Tov printed on the front) and on the open middle pages with the food options Byars has written across the top in his starry handwriting :"BUTLER THE WORLD'S MOST GRACIOUS MAN. BYARS" and on the back panel "WITH SOFT SEATS AND A 2 O'CLOCK CHECKOUT TIME EXQUIS INTELLIGOUT" (sic). JOINT WITH 9 x 17,3cm, pink mailing envelope hand addressed by Byars with return hand written address. A mailed and franked example./ Unique work....