Peter Coates - Unoriginal Sins

12 Sep A PROPOSAL FOR THE GROUNDS OF THE SERPENTINE GALLERY. 1997.

Posted at 20:28h in Proposals

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
11 x 22cm, 20pp plus two fold outs and leaf patterned boards with tipped on label. A proposal for the grounds of London's Serpentine Gallery which consisted of semi-circle of 8 benches with plaques and a single central plaque in the Meadow Area. The texts are all translations from Vigil talking of a distant view - but each translation takes on different nuances of the original. Translations are by Finlay himself with Jessie Sheeler, Samuel Palmer, C Day Lewis, W F Jackson Knight, Harry Gilonis, John Caryll, and Charles Calverley. Virgil's own Latin quotation is also present on the final bench.
A further plaque again quotes Virgil: "Home, goats, home, replete, the evening star is coming." - a quotation that in which one recognises aspects of Finlay's most famous work - "Evening will come, they sew the blue sail."
A massive carved circular paving stone is also proposed to be placed at the entrance to the gallery listing the latin names of trees that are found near to the gallery. Lettering was drawn by Peter Coates and Andrew Whittle. Maps and cover paper by Gary Hincks.

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05 Jun AN URN FOR NOVALIS. 1997.

Posted at 18:23h in Artist's Postcards

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1997
20 x 13.8cm, 2pp artist's card with a drawing (elevations and plan) by Peter Coates of the sides of a memorial urn.

Novalis was the pseudonym of Friedrich von Hardenberg a German Romantic poet - the urn has on one side the name Sophie who was the poet's young love (13 when they met!) but who died not long after before she was 16. The other side of the urn has the abbreviated Greek name for Christ in some emotional sense equating the dead girl to the godhead. The top of the urn has a stylised eternal flame. VG+.

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