Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
19.7 x 12.7cm (closed size), 4pp gatefold. A mail art work by Finlay which opens up to read "SHOCK TROPES FOR LITTLE SPARTA" - the literary equivalent of the blitzkrieg, "Tropes" replacing "Troops".
This example was mailed by Finlay to Graeme Murray his then gallerist, Franked and stamped but VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
15.4 x 16.2cm, 1pp artist card with a drawing of the Temple of Apollo which was the disputed building in the dispute with Strathclyde Region. The facade has the carved text: "TO APOLLO/HIS MUSIC/HIS MISSILES/HIS MUSES". The drawing is by Nicholas Sloan. Murray renames this card "Temple of Apollo Facade" but the title should really be in Italian as per the legend on the card.VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
20.6 x 12.5cm, 1pp, black and blue on white card. The "flute" is created by the letters C and U in a repeating series of the words ICE and DUST in a vertical line such as the letters line up. Appended notes explain that Saint-Just owned an ivory flute and the words ICE and Dust come from contemporary revolutionary quotations. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
13.3 x 15.6cm, 1pp black and red on white artist's card with a photograph by John Stathatos. The image is of the table in the Garden Temple on the day Strathclyde Region removed candlesticks TERROT and VIRTUE from Finlay Garden Temple as a poinding ac tion to regain the money they claimed they were owed for unpaid rates. the posed photograph also has a copy of a sheet entitled "La liberte ou la mort 1989" - a study of the rhetoric of the French poet Roche. The title in MUrray's catalogue Raisonne is "LIBERTY, TERROR & VIRTUE" but that is perhaps not correct. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
18.4 × 20.3cm, 1pp, black and red on white card. The quotation from Saint-Just is presented as if they had been carved in separate stones and there is an instruction "Cut around outlines. Arrange words in order." - reflecting the way that the quotation suggests change is inevitable and that causality requires some degree of chaos. The drawing is by Nicholas Sloan.
This work is also found at Little Sparta as one of the largest of the installations to be found there - with the text actually carved into large stones on moorland. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorne Press, 1983 20.3 x 15.5cm, 2pp artist designed postcard issued during the Little Sparta War - with on the reverse the announcement that the "GARDEN & the GARDEN TEMPLE are CLOSED" for the year of 1983 because of the "ASSAULT by Strathclyde Region". The card also notes that "NO-ONE CAN LEAVE THE ARMY EXCEPT AT THE END OF A WAR". VG+. Scarce....
Carlisle: Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery, 1982
14.7 x 10.5cm, 2pp card. One of five cards released during the exhibition ‘Presences of Nature’ - each with a painting by Ian Gardner. Here the illustration shows trees and a river with rain falling. Finlay's one word poem for this image and the main title of Drip-Dry is May. A very British obssesion with the weather. VG+.
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Carlisle: Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery, 1982
14.7 x 10.5cm, 2pp card. One of five cards released during the exhibition ‘Presences of Nature’ - each with a painting by Ian Gardner. Here the illustration shows mountains and a forest and moors. Finlay's one word poem for this image of moorland is marquetry and the look of the landscape does appear to be made up of veneers. VG+.
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Carlisle: Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery, 1982
14.7 x 10.5cm, 2pp card. One of five cards released during the exhibition ‘Presences of Nature’ - each with a painting by Ian Gardner. Here the illustration shows geese flying over a river estuary. The geese however are notes which part with one half ascending, the other descending. Finlay's one word poem for this image is Deep-V-Hull-Geese which creates a visual correspondence with a ship easily pushing waves aside because of its deep V hull. VG+.
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Carlisle: Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery, 1982
14.7 x 10.5cm, 2pp card. One of five cards released during the exhibition ‘Presences of Nature’ - each with a painting by Ian Gardner. Here the illustration shows a ticket in close-up. Finlay's one word poem for this image is "Osiris" with beneath it the word "osiers'. The similarity in the words appeals to the poet and the Egyptian god Osiris was the god of agriculture and by extension fertile growth. Osiers is a type of willow that grows in the wet. VG+.
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Carlisle: Carlisle Museum & Art Gallery, 1982
14.7 x 10.5cm, 2pp card. One of five cards released during the exhibition ‘Presences of Nature’ - each with a painting by Ian Gardner. Here the illustration shows a country landscape at night. Finlay's one word poem for this image is "Curfew" with beneath it the word "curlew'. The similarity in the words appeals to the poet as well as the link between hearing the sound of a curlew (a wading bird) and nightfall about to come down. VG+.
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Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
Two folding cards.
The first card is
ARBOR FELICE ARBOR PHILHELLENE
9.3 x 11.7cm, 1pp green on white. A four sided stand up to create a geometric form of tree trunk with the text "ARBOR FELICE ARBOR PHILHELLENE". One translation is "The tree "suckles you" you lover of Greeks" (our flawed translation) but there are other alternatives it seems. VG+
The second card is
THE BIRCH TREE RECALLS YOU O PHILHELLENES
11.6 x 14cm, 1pp green on white. A four sided stand up to create a geometric form of tree trunk with the title text. Again praise for those who praise the Greeks. Birch trees only just grow on the northern borders of Greece and also in colder, higher areas.
These two card sculptures are paired - and there are large scale tree plaques by Finlay that also bear the inscriptions and are expected to be exhibited/installed together. VG+.
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