Nicholas Sloan - Unoriginal Sins

12 Jul EIN PROJEKT FUR DAS BANKHAUS. SCHRODER MUNCHMEYER HENGST & CO. 1995.

Posted at 21:33h in Proposals

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1995
252 x 14.8cm, 28pp plus card covers and typographic dust jacket. A proposal in book form for the cladding and internal walls and glass of a German bank. The external works are all "definitions" such as:

AFFLUENCE n.
A SHORTAGE OF SACKCLOTH & ASHES.

which is ironic for a bank.
Internally wall paintings of "Evening will come they will sew the blue sail" and also "Wave/Rock" are found. The glass entrance doors have Star/Steer etched upon them.Text in English and German and all works photographed in b/w. The central seven images of the outer claddings open out as an accordion fold-out. VG+.

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15 Oct A PROPOSAL FOR TOUT QUARRY PORTLAND, DORSET. 1992.

Posted at 16:56h in Proposals

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1992
20.9 x 14.8cm, 12pp, card covers and printed dust jacket. A proposal for a public work at Tout Quarry, in Portland, Dorset in the form of an artist's book - the intent is to use the giant blocks of stone that are abandoned in the quarry and have them carved on the upper face and along the sides with an inscription 'Gods of the Earth / Gods of the Sea' from Virgil's Aeneid Book III. The full original text is "Gods of the Earth / Gods of the Sea, Gods who rule over storms, give us a wind to help our voyage and may your breath bring us aid."
The block will have an image of a net (where there are knots will be mechanically drilled holes and the lines by light chisling) and deeper letter forms. There are two drawings by Gary Hincks and Nicholas Sloan is also credited....

15 Jun PROPOSAL FOR A KUNSTHALLE. 1993.

Posted at 17:08h in Proposals

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1993
23.4 x 18cm, 4pp. A proposal for a permanent installation in a new art museum planned for Germany. The work consists of a sentence from Saint-Just in four different languages:

THE NATIVE LAND IS NOT THE LAND IT IS THE COMMUNITY OF FEELINGS

on the ground of a 60 x 60m terrace. VG+. ...

10 Aug TALISMANS AND SIGNIFIERS. 1984.

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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02 May UNTITLED (A COLUMN A DAY). 1983.

Posted at 10:40h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983 20.5 x 10.4cm, 4pp (folding from the top). A cut-out drawing by Nicholas Sloan of a section of a tree trunk with an arrow piercing the wood allowing a three-dimensional paper sculpture to be made. The final image reminds one of Saint Sebastian martyred because of his supposed defence of early Christians. The attacks on Finlay at this time probably made him feel like a martyr but this image could also be read as a symbol of the garden of Little Spartas as being under attack. The title of the card is not included and the title here we have taken from Murray's catalogue raisonne although there is no reason to be sure it is correct. VG+.

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30 Apr ELAVAZIONE DEL TEMPIO DI GIARDINO A PICCOLA SPARTA CON IMPTOVIMENTI NUOVI. 1983.

Posted at 12:28h in Artist's Postcards

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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06 Mar THE PRESENT ORDER IS THE DISORDER OF THE FUTURE. 1983.

Posted at 15:46h in Artist's Postcards

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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24 Jan INTER ARTES ET NATURAM. IN MW MAGAZINE, ISSUE 3. JANUARY 1983.

Posted at 16:52h 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 8pp contribution by Finlay in Nicolas Sloan's facsimile handwriting. Also has "an illustrated history of the Little Sparta Wars" along with a "diary" and reproductions of two letters. The paper is fragile due to being very cheap and is unavoidable browned. Folded for storage. Very scarce.

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30 Aug CONCILIUM ARTIUM DELENDUM EST. c. 1982.

Posted at 08:43h in Prints + Posters

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (c. 1982)
30.5 × 43.2m, red on white offset lithograph. This is one of four which carry ant-Arts Council messages in Latin. This poster print has " CONCILIUM ARTIUM DELENDUM EST" which roughly translates into "The Arts Council Must be Utterly Destroyed" although there are some liberties taken in the language by Finlay.
Printed as part of Finlay's campaign against the muribund Scottish Arts Council and Strathclyde Region over a Rates dispute, these lithographs were fly-posted on the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish Arts Council building and other places in Edinburgh by supporters of Finlay (called the Saint-Just Vigilantes).
Apparently ‘The Arts Council Must be Utterly Destroyed’ is derived from a phrase Cato would add to the end of every speech as a reference to his hatred of Carthage.
This lithograph is folded but all copies are rare as many were used as campaign posters on the buildings as described above. Apparently the typography was by Nicholas Sloan.

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23 Jun ANGELIQUE ET MEDOR. 1981.

Posted at 21:23h in Prints + Posters

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1981
22.8 x 16.5cm, two colour lithograph in printed folder. Design and drawing by Nicholas Sloan.
Angelica and Medoro are two characters from the 16th-century Italian epic Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. Angelica was an Asian princess at the court of Charlemagne who fell in love with the Saracen knight Medoro, and eloped with him to China.
Angelica had a habit of carving the lovers' names onto trees which the print here reflects - and as the folder text explains, Finlay used their French names so that the accents on the words would reflect the marking on the tree bark. Additionally the image resembles an ex libris or bookmark.
One of 300 printed. VG in like folder.

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