paul robertson, Author at Unoriginal Sins

09 Jul VISITOR. 1997.

Posted at 17:37h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1997) 6.4 x 6.8cm, 4pp. Artist's postcard a drawing by Gary Hincks of a pedelo.

A text internally reads:

Visitor
Veni
VIDA.
Vici.

She came
She saw
She sailed
The text references and updates a Latin phrase popularly attributed to Julius Caesar who, according to Appian, used the phrase in a letter to the Roman Senate around 47 BC after he had achieved a quick victory in his short war against Pharnaces II of Pontus at the Battle of Zela, the updating presumably referring to a modern visitation by the boat.

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08 Jul GROVE. 1997.

Posted at 18:17h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
8 x 16cm, 2pp artist's card with typography by Michael Harvey printed green and lime on white card. The poem reads

GROVE.
FLYING-JIB OR OUTE-JIB. MAIN-STAYSAIL JIB. MAIN-TRYSAL. FORE-STAYSAIL MIZEN-STAYSAIL. FORE-TRYSAIL JIB-HEADED SPANKER

The ship is described by its various masts and sails - the verticality of which reminds Finlay of a grove of trees. The bring colour of the card also evokes vegetation. VG+.

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06 Jul PORTMADOC NAMES. 1997.

Posted at 17:55h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
11.3 x 7.6cm, 4pp artist's card with a drawing of a ship by Gary Hincks printed black on blue. Inside the folded card is a poem by Finlay:

PORTMADOC NAMES.

of fathers
mothers
owners
aunties
ships

Finlay notes the tradition in Pormadoc of naming boats after relatives - and in the final line of the work he equates the ships to being as much alive as the characters they are named after. VG+.

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02 Jul BOAT LORE. 1997.

Posted at 17:49h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
9.5 x 5.7cm, 4pp artist's card with a drawing of coiled boat ropes by Gary Hincks. Inside the folded card is a poem by Finlay:

BOAT LORE

Sails
are sails
but ropes
are
sheets
or stays.

On one level a simple explanation of boating terms (sailboat sheets are ropes or lines that are used to trim a sail), on another a deeper consideration of tautology and meaning. VG+.

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29 Jun JAR. 1997.

Posted at 17:46h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
17.5 x 11.9cm, 2pp silkscreen artist's card with a drawing by Gary Hincks of pencils in a jar that are also propellors. One of the most attractive of Finlay's later postcards. VG+.

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26 Jun LES REGISTRES DU GRAND-HORNU. 1997.

Posted at 21:22h in EPHEMERA

Grand-Hornu: Grand-Hornu Images, 1997
13 x 19.7cm, 1pp invitation card to the opening of the title exhibition. Typographic only - black on brown. VG+ although some light (sun) damage along the bottom of the card.

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26 Jun CLINKER BUILT. 1997.

Posted at 17:05h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997 9 x 2cm, 21pp. Second of three cards issued by the press that displays the effects of the "clinker" method of boat building where the edges of hull planks overlap each other. The boat number (which for Finlay is often a poetic construct anyway) is broken up by the irregular sides of the hull. The drawing is by Gary Hincks. VG+. ...

26 Jun LES REGISTRES DU GRAND-HORNU. 1997. WITH ORIGINAL PUBLISHER’S BANDEAU.

Posted at 09:11h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Grand-Hornu: Grand-Hornu Images, 1997
19.5 x 12.7cm, 16pp (single folded sheet that opens up to 25.4 x 78cm. Artist's book that was circulated during the exhibition which reproduces the portrait page of children's passport documents (Dutch and French) these appear to be wartime documents.
Still extant is the publisher's wrap around bandeau which reproduced details of the exhibition on it although a mistake in the printing has meant that a hand addition to the times has been made. VG+. Very scarce.

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22 Jun CURVED TO FLAT. 1997.

Posted at 17:42h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
10.6 x 14.8cm, 2pp artist's card with various boats numbers which create a sort of phonetic poem:

4 F43 BF437
5 A58
K CK4 BCK41

VG+.

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18 Jun EIN RAUM VON IAN HAMILTON FINLAY. 1997.

Posted at 11:44h in Invitation Cards

Basel: Stampa, 1997 15 x 10.5cm, 2pp announcement card for a art fair presentation of Finlay's work. The front of the card shows a sculptural form of his SAILS/WIND work - the shape of the chair seat and back mirroring the concrete poem painted on the chair. VG+. ...

14 Jun UNTITLED (NONE OF THE BUILDINGS ON SUNSET STRIP). 1997. UNIQUE PHOTO NOT USED IN THE BOOK..

Posted at 09:26h in Jonathan Monk

14.5 x 18.8cm, b/w silver gelatine print on Ilford MgIV paper displaying an unused (ie not reproduced in the artist's book "None of the buildings on the Sunset Strip") - an unique photograph.
On the rear in Monk's handwriting are the settings for the camera that he used, the word's "Artist's Proof" and the title "NONE OF THE BUILDINGS ON SUNSET STRIP", his signature in ink and the date 1997.
One small stain on the reverse and a very small, hard to notice fixative stain on the front but otherwise mint condition and unique.
JOINT:
A handwritten note from the artist to Paul Robertson explaining the photograph and offering it in part trade for future purchases. The letter is coffee stained on the left hand side due to large-dog-accident (bloody Yuri the first avant guard dog did it, clumsy lump of an animal but much missed).

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13 Jun RUDDER/VARNISH. 1997.

Posted at 16:50h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
17.0 x 6.3cm, 4pp outer folder content of two "cards" both 17.0 x 6.3cm, 1pp but one is a red and black drawing by Gary Hincks of a rudder and the other a transparent plastic with the word "Varnish" at the top. The plastic placed over the drawing reproduces the shine of the varnish one finds on most rudders. VG+.

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