Artist's Postcards - Unoriginal Sins

07 Jul THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION. News from Strathclyde Region: In Strathclyde, where the Authority has direct access to the citizen’s bank account, self-locking mattresses are all the rage. 1988.

Posted at 12:13h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press / The Committee of Public Safety, 1988 4.4 x 9.9cm (folded size), 4pp artist's card with the text: "THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION. "News from Strathclyde Region: In Strathclyde, where the Authority has direct access to the citizen's bank account, self-locking mattresses are all the rage." and printed black on red. Issued by Finlay as part of a series of c. 13 similar small cards each attacking enemies of the poet. VG+. ...

07 Jul THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION. “Liberalism, n. a state of affairs in which the tree cuts down the axe.” 1988.

Posted at 12:12h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press / The Committee of Public Safety, 1988 4.4 x 9.9cm (folded size), 4pp artist's card with the text: "THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION. "Liberalism, n. a state of affairs in which the tree cuts down the axe" and printed black on yellow. Issued by Finlay as part of a series of c. 13 similar small cards each attacking enemies of the poet. VG+. ...

07 Jul THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION. “Deserters don’t like to be reminded that this world is a battlefield.” 1988.

Posted at 12:09h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press / The Committee of Public Safety, 1988 4.4 x 9.9cm (folded size), 4pp artist's card with the text: "THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION. "Deserters don't like to be reminded that this world is a battlefield." Saint-Just Vigilante on certain liberals who dislike disputes." and printed black on grey. Issued by Finlay as part of a series of c. 13 similar small cards each attacking enemies of the poet. VG+. ...

07 Jul THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION. In liberal democracy the Police may be unarmed but Fashion carries a gun. 1988

Posted at 12:04h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press / The Committee of Public Safety, 1988 4.4 x 9.9cm (folded size), 4pp artist's card with the text: "THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION. In liberal democracy the Police may be unarmed but Fashion carries a gun." and printed black on grey. Issued by Finlay as part of a series of c. 13 similar small cards each attacking enemies of the poet. VG+. ...

07 Jul THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION. DON’T BE OVERHEARD SAYING THAT VIOLENCE EXISTS IN THE UNIVERSE: YOU MAY GET SHOT. 1988

Posted at 11:54h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press / The Committee of Public Safety, 1988 4.4 x 9.9cm (folded size), 4pp artist's card with the text: "THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION "Don't be overheard saying that violence exists in the universe: you may get shot." Saint-Just Vigilante, after listening to Julian Spalding's radio interview with Ian Hamilton Finlay." and printed black on grey. Issued by Finlay as part of a series of c. 13 similar small cards each attacking enemies of the poet. VG+. ...

07 Jul THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION. Millet, Hirschfeld, Hayat…. 1988

Posted at 11:09h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press / The Committee of Public Safety, 1988 4.4 x 9.9cm (folded size), 4pp artist's card with the text: "THE DESMOULINS CONNECTION/Millet, Hirschfeld, Hayat - certain natures compare to human nature as a modern slurry-pit to an old-fashioned farm-midden" and printed black on yellow. Issued by Finlay as part of a series of c. 13 similar small cards each attacking enemies of the poet. VG+. ...

05 Jul “WHEN PLEASURES ARE LIKE POPPIES SPREAD”. 1988.

Posted at 15:05h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1988
8.5 x 12.7cm, 4pp. Artist's card with a reproduced photograph of a Nazi rally where the red swastica flags are brightly coloured against the drab of the uniforms below which the text 'When Pleasures are Like Poppies Spread' (from Rabbie Burns) is continued "or banners in the beds of Roehm's Brown shirts".
Poppies, of course, have became a symbol of war remembrance and the comparison to the banners of evil amongst the crowd seems initially inappropriate but, more deeply, the visual metaphor is perhaps closer to a symbol of forthcoming death. VG+.

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04 Jul MARTIN WATERS SAINT-JUST VIGILANTE 1947 – 1988. 1988.

Posted at 22:58h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1988 5.5 x 9.8cm, 4pp (assymetric fold). A remembrance card for Martin Waters who was one of the Saint Just Vigilantes. VG+. Scarce. ...

20 Jun AFTER BASHO. 1988.

Posted at 16:14h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1988
13.4 x 8.3cm, 1pp. Artist's card with a parody of the famous Haiku by Basho - here updated to being an attack on Michel Blum. The poem now reads:

old pond
frog pontificating
plop

The "frog" here becomes a charged none-too-acceptable reference to Blum's French nationality and the "plop" infers failure or something more scatalogical.
Not Finlay's finest hour although he use of the word "frog" was probably marginally more acceptable in 1988 than now. VG+.

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05 May NEOCLASSICISME REVOLUTIONNAIRE 1979 – 1989. 1988.

Posted at 16:46h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1988
17.4 x10.1cm, 2pp. Artist's card with a drawing of a sculptural work where an urn is covered with a flowing material - possibly a shroud. Similar to the editioned print of the same name (which is in red and black) also by Gary Hincks this is a memorial for the Terror and those who died but also an indication of Finlay's commitment to neo-classicist style and his belief that it is radical and confrontational. VG+.

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05 May SUMMER POEM. 1988.

Posted at 16:26h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1988
3.1 x 7.1cm, 4pp with 4pp stapled insert. Artist's card which has the words Sail and Boat on the inside of the white insert both set at an angle perhaps to indicate the physical orientation of both visual images. A minimalist work by Finlay. VG+.

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04 May BARK. 1988.

Posted at 22:03h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1988 15 x 21cm, 2pp. Artist's card with lettering drawn by John R. Nash. The three words - Bark, Barque and Baroque - are not only a progression in the number of letters all based on the phoneme Bar(k) but an increase in sophistication from the plain (wood) to the baroque via the elaborate bargue. Additionally the three words also refer to the three masted sailing ship. VG+. ...