07 Sep

Posted at 11:57h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1984
10 x 10.5cm, 1pp artist's card with a drawing of a marble temple in a landscape by Mark Stewart below which Finlay has added a definition work:
TEMPLE, n, a marble edifice, a veined edifice; the sear or summit of reason.
and two quotations from Ovid's Metamorphses and Finlay's own Despatches from the Little Spartan War. In the former quote Philemon and Baucis have their hut turned into a Temple - which Finlay clearly regards as a similar process to his own renaming of a building on the estate as the Garden Temple. The second quote notes how Strathclyde raided the Garden Temple to take away artworks in lieu of what they claimed was unpaid rates. Clearly Finlay saw the second events as sacrilegious. VG+.

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21 Aug

Posted at 17:30h in Miscellany

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1984)
21 x 15cm, 1pp printed red on cream paper. The order form for the two limited edition medals issued by Finlay as commemorations of the Little Sparta wars - First Battle of Little Sparta and Terror/Virtue. Scarce ephemera from the period when Finlay took on the might of Strathclyde Region over local property taxes and sort of won. Central vertical crease else VG.

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18 Aug

Posted at 11:21h in Miscellany

30 x 21cm, 1pp vintage b/w xerox copy of two articles one of which is a news report of a theft from a Hindu temple and the other of Christie's auctioneers holding the artworks taken by Strathclyde Region under a poinding of items in Finlay's Garden Temple after their dispute over what they claimed were unpaid rates. Finlay has added a typed headline above both "CHECKPOINT SANDY STRIKES AGAIN!" and circulated the xerox to friends and supporters to point out the hypocrisy of the situation. VG+.

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10 Aug

Posted at 09:49h in Invitation Cards

Edinburgh: Graeme Murray Gallery, 1984
18 x 12cm, 1pp. The announcement card for a show of mostly small sculptural works and editions. The drawings of such works shown by and Nicholas Sloan. VG+.

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07 Aug

Posted at 13:17h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1984 18.3 x 12.4cm , 1pp black on white card. The card appropriates a first world war recruitment poster with the original question "What did you do in the Great War Daddy?" replaced with a question about the Little Spartan War.
This card was sent to Harry Warschauer by Finlay and is hand addressed but also has two rubber stamp impressions one in red: "LITTLE SPARTA IS A LUCID MOMENT IN STRATHCLYDE REGION" and in blue "CONVERSE BY TOOM-TOM IN STRATHCLYDE REGION". VG+ although some ink smears caused by the postal system and the franking.

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07 Aug

Posted at 11:38h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1984
16 x 14cm , 1pp black on white card.
The card appropriates Lord Kitchener first world war recruitment image with the slogan altered to "NEOCLASSICISM NEEDS YOU". A clarion call. VG+.

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07 Jul

Posted at 11:45h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1984
21 x 21cm (unfolded size) , two-sided folding paper which turns into a paper dart - with a marbled pattern on one side.
The inner message is "THE MARBLE ARROW ALWAYS HITS ITS MARK!". Finlay has made this into a paper dart which is a weapon of sorts in the Little Spartan Wars. VG+.

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24 Jun

Posted at 16:57h in Page Works & Contributions

Noordwijk: MW Press 28, January 1983
38 x 28cm, 20pp. Artist's journal in the form of a tabloid newspaper which here has an 3pp contribution by Finlay - three full pages of "mean terms" - those of Wildflower, Net, Shadow and Sackcloth. The paper is fragile due to being very cheap and is unavoidable browned. Folded for storage. Very scarce.

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19 Jun

Posted at 09:33h in Exhibition Catalogues

London: Serpentine Gallery, 1984
21 x 21.5cm, 48pp plus card covers and dustjacket. Exhibition catalogue for a rather strange transporting of the Murray Edinburgh Gallery to London, various works by the likes of Richard Long, Hamish Fulton, Sol Lewitt, Alan Johnson and five works by Finlay reproduced in the catalogue. VG+.

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14 May

Posted at 17:36h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1984 23 x 18cm, 4pp card with 1pp 30 x 21cm insert. The announcement and artist's card for the re-opening of the Little Sparta Temple and Garden after Finlay closed it. The front of the card displays a painting by Gary Hincks of a watering can and a reference to the guillotining of the Robespierrists during the "month of Heat" (Arrosoir being the symbol of that month in the new revolutionary calendar).
The insert is A NOTE ON THE PRESENT SITUATION IN THE LITTLE SPARTAN WAR. An update by Finlay on the ongoing fight with the Strath=clyde region and that they had been granted a new summary warrant against the Garden Temple. Folded else VG+.

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07 May

Posted at 13:29h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1984 15.2 x 11.8cm , 1pp light blue on white card. The card with a drawing of a floral bundle with ribbons by Laurie Clark above a "definition" work:
CHARM, n. a something pleasing in a person or thing; it came in with the Revolution and went out with the War.
There is also a quote from Michelet's History of the French revolution discussing the major public festivals that were organised during the later years of the uprising. Finlay's definition of Charm is heavily related to the actions of the French revolution - placing it on a footing equal to Virtue. VG+.

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