THREE GATES. ON THE WAY TO LITTLE SPARTA. CHRISTMAS 1996.

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1996
15 x 24cm, 18pp plus printed green boards. Artist’s book with nine b/w photographs by Robin Gillanders of the path to Little Sparta which in turn shows the ground, the gate from a little distance and then the sign on the gate. The first sign informs the public that “Following the authority’s action against the Garden Temple Little Sparta is closed to the public”. The second announces that “Strathclyde Region made war on little Sparta/Strathclyde Region is no more.” – an adaption of a Committee of Public Safety announcement about Lyons and the final biting sign “Closed with the support of the Scottish Arts Council” which is a parody of the usual acknowledgement statement the SAC required to gain funding.
This was Finlay’s retort at the end of the “Little Sparta Wars” where Strathclyde Regional Council fought with the artist over a ratings issue of a building they claimed to be an art gallery while Finlay believed to be a Garden Temple. By closing Little Sparta and claiming the Garden Temple was reclassified as a “store” then Finlay found a way of ending the dispute allied to the fact that Strathclyde Region was abolished due to the UK Government’s reorganisation. His dislike to the Scottish Arts Council remained however as he felt they had not given him any support at all in his fight and the book quotes Andrew Nairne, Visual Arts Director of the SAC as saying “Little Sparta should be sacrifices to the greater good of the arts in Scotland” which is astonishing now that Little Sparta is regarded by many as the major artistic venture in Scotland of the 2oth century.An interesting documentation of the end of the dispute as much as an artist’s book.
Very good + condition although there are two small marks to the front cover.