20 Dec

Posted at 21:47h in Artist's Books

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
5.5 x 8.6cm, printed outer folder content of sixteen 5.5 x 8.6cm, 1pp cards printed black on deep blue. Each card is attack of the hack art critic Waldemar Januszczak who had upset the poet by giving him a poor review (Finlay also fell out with the priggish and ignorant Brian Sewell for which I love the poet even more). The cards all attack with vigour the Guardian' pet critic - "Being outspoken was his claim to shame" is one example. Finlay wounds. Januszczak later tried to retaliate with his own cards (see elsewhere in this collection for those items) but all they did was to parody Finlay's style of attack and frankly failed to hit the target (one has an image of a man giving a Hitler salute - actually taken from early Anselm Kiefer - which is crass). These cards are in VG+ condition in like folder.

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28 Nov

Posted at 21:12h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
14 x 7 x 7cm, ceramic glazed vase in the shape of a classical column and a definition of the word WILDFLOWER in red and blue - "A MEAN TERM BETWEEN REVOLUTION AND VIRTUE." A wildflower is untamed and uncontrolled even when beautiful - here Finlay's definition places the idea of such a person as being "between revolution and virtue" which i the actual French uprising was not seen as incompatible. The word "mean" also is allowed two meanings - "an average" and "an unpleasant'. Together this work invites the viewer to consider the role of the individual within collective action and collective morality.
Sadly this vase was damaged by a member of the public when Paul Robertson's collection was exhibited in Summerhall, Edinburgh - there is a clean break all around the top of the cubic base - and the red and blue glazing is not as strong as it should have been. Finlay gave this vase to Herbert Winter the well-known gallerist in Wein from whence Robertson purchased it. Limitation of the edition is not known but probably not too many.

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06 Nov

Posted at 22:52h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987
14 x 18.4m, 1pp Artist's card with a b/w photograph of a field of sheep near Little Sparta by . Finlay writes underneath "The wine-dark sea, the turnip-marbled field" and "The Hyperborean Apollo of Walter Pater's Apollo in Picardy. In little Sparta he is identified with Saint-Just.". Greek mythology is mixed with Finlay's French revolutionary hero and the landscape which is a prosaic, rural version of Arcadia. VG+.

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01 Nov

Posted at 10:59h in Page Works & Contributions

Cambridge: Kettle's Yard, 1986
21 x 15cm, 56pp. Original wrappers . An exhibition catalogue for a show of artist's books which included Christian Boltanski, Annette Messager, John Latham, Anslem Kiefer and Finlay amongst others. Short texts on each artist. This is more notable however for the bound in 14 x 8cm, 8pp original artist's book by Finlay (which was also published elsewhere by the Wild Hawthorn Press) - Two Billows - from 1980. The blue booklet has on one side of the centre pages the text: "greeness, leaf or bark: and on the other "greeness, leaf or barque" - this changes the image from a tree being blown around to that of a boat being pushed by the wind. We are placing this item in the Page Works & Contributions section but it could be equally be found in artist's books or exhibition catalogues. VG+.

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25 Oct

Posted at 23:10h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986
18 x 13cm, 4pp Artist's card black on light blue (to reflect the colour of the flower) with a drawing of the forget-me-not on the front by Stephanie Kedik and a text:
Myosotis Sylvatica
Forget-me-Not

A wild
flower
within

Memory of a loved one is compared to a wild flower growing in the body. VG+.

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20 Oct

Posted at 22:57h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1987
17.4 x 18.3m, 1pp Artist's card with a b/w photograph by Antonia Reeve of the road up to Little Sparta and the first gate encountered after reaching the sheep field. . Finlay writes underneath "Little Sparta's Eastern Frontier at the time of The First Battle of Little Sparta february 4 1983. The old gate marks the site of the barrier, which has since been removed." Checkpoint Charlie was the nickname for the best known crossing point between East and West Berlin during the cold war. VG+.

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06 Oct

Posted at 23:17h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986 3.1 x 13.3cm, 4pp Artist's card printed black and red on white - the word MARAT is extended to MARATAPLAN! Tthe typography and colour changes emphasis the "rataplan!" which is onomatopoeia - the sound of a drumbeat. The open card causes the neologism MARATAPLAN! to be a clarion call for the ideologue Marat. VG+.

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30 Sep

Posted at 13:35h in Artist's Postcards

N.p. (Glasgow?): n.p. (Hughson Gallery), 1986 15 x 10.5cm, 2pp. Gallery issued postcard (who represented Margot Sandeman) with a reproduction of a painting by the artist based on a poem / "definition work" by her friend, and oft collaborator, Finlay. Each of the 11 painted works had Finlay's original hand-typed poem glued onto the canvas and Finlay later signed all the works on the back of the canvass to given them the status of a work by himself as a collaborator. There were 11 such paintings made.
The definition here reads:
SHEAF, n. a bouquet of corn, grasses, wild flowers etc in the likeness of a torch.
These works were forgotten about until a visit to Sandeman by Paul Robertson in c. 2008 brought them to his notice. Sandeman agreed to exhibit the works at Robertson's gallery and to produce an artist's book together reproducing the works. However within a week of Robertson's visit Richard Demarco found out about the paintings via his assistant who had also visited Sandeman and Demarco went to the artist (who he had known for many years) and took the works away with him when he left. Robertson was not able to exhibit them or publish the book. They were later exhibited posthumously to Sandeman's sad death at Summerhall by Demarco - ironically at a time when Robertson was the visual arts curator for the building.
VG+ - an unknown artist's card presumably because it was not published with Finlay's knowledge. Very scarce.

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26 Sep

Posted at 10:44h in Artist's Postcards

Glasgow: Hughson Gallery, 1986
10.5 x 15cm, 4pp. Gallery issued postcard (who represented Margot Sandeman) with a reproduction of a painting by the artist based on a poem / "definition work" by her friend, and oft collaborator, Finlay. Each of the works had his original typed poem glued onto the canvas and Finlay later signed all the works on the back of the canvass to given them the status of a work by himself. There were c. 12 such paintings made.
These works were forgotten about until a visit to Sandeman by Paul Robertson in c. 2008 brought them to his notice. Sandeman agreed to exhibit the works at Robertson's gallery and to produce an artist's book together reproducing the works. However within a week of Robertson's visit Richard Demarco found out about the paintings via his assistant who had also visited Sandeman and Demarco went to the artist (who he had known for many years) and took the works away with him when he left. Robertson was not able to exhibit them or publish the book. They were later exhibited posthumously to Sandeman's sad death at Summerhall by Demarco - ironically at a time when Robertson was the visual arts curator for the building.
VG+ - an unknown artist's card presumably because it was not published with Finlay's knowledge. Very scarce.

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24 Sep

Posted at 23:28h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1986 18.2 x 14.1cm, 1pp Artist's card with an appropriated image of the dead or dying Marat on his deathbed with a sword labeled "I was a member of the National Trust" hanging like the sword of Damocles as a threat above him. The original David etching from which this was taken is used as a threat or suggestion to members of the National Trust because the organisation had published the Follies book suggesting Little Sparta was one such folly. VG+.

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