Jonathan Monk | Accidental Purchase #1, 2014

Jonathan Monk
Accidental Purchase #1, 2014
Book mounted on wood in acrylic glass
43.94 x 41.91 x 3.81 cm.
Unique work


"I collect books by artists.

This is something I am passionate about and it has become some kind of addiction. The search to find something more obscure to add to my collection often leads to slightly extreme measures. But I do try and focus on specific artists – my collection is not all encompassing.

One artist I'm fascinated by is Richard Prince. His books follow a not so traditional trajectory – repetition is a constant. The same book can appear in a number of different guises. Different covers, different languages, and different sizes.

I was fascinated to discover a series of Richard Prince books on American Muscle cars from the 1960's and 70's – they appeared to fit nicely into his overall production... and I'd never seen anything like it before - so I ordered them. They arrived beautifully packed from a small town in the middle of America – it felt like Christmas...

Once opened it became clear that these were not a publications by the artist Richard Prince but by a Chevrolet expert also named Richard Prince. Mistaken identity filling the shelves. These books became the first Accidental Purchases."

- Jonathan Monk

This week on Tumblr

Henri Chopin | Typewriter poems

Henri Chopin
Typewriter poems
Köln, Germany: Edition Hundertmark, 1982
[16] pp., 20.5 x 14.6 cm., staple-bound
Edition of 500 signed, numbered and dated copies

Available for $75.00 from JN Herlin Books, here.

Dave Dyment | Decade

Dave Dyment
Decade
Toronto, Canada: Self-published, 2017
28 x 13 cm.
Edition of 3 signed copies


My contribution to the MKG127 anniversary exhibition (see earlier post, and visit the gallery here) is a 14-volume mix tape of songs whose titles contain measurements of time, for example:

Two Weeks by FKA Twigs
14 Days by Life Without Buildings
48 Hours by The Clash
24 Hours by Joy Division
16 Minutes by Belleruche
17 Seconds by The Cure
7 Seconds by Neneh Cherry
5 Seconds by Twin Shadow
etc. etc.

Combined, the titles add up to exactly ten years.

Jake and Dinos Chapman | Bring Me the Head of...

Jake and Dinos Chapman
Bring Me the Head of... 
London, UK: Karsten Schubert, 1996
VHS, 30 min
Edition of 200 signed and numbered copies

A thirty-minute film in which two porn actresses pleasure themselves using the head of gallerist Franco Toselli, whose nose has been replaced with a phallus (see previous post).

"I like the way pornography is like an industrial process of the thing which is the most unmechanical and unindustrial: the sexual act or the acts around the sexual act. Constantly in our work there is an attempt to make an object and run around the other side to watch it, in the same way as anyone else would watch it. That is the most infantile aspect of our work. It is a reflective narcissism. We like to be spectators of our own work. The video is the same thing. We wanted to submit this head to the people who made the video and say ‘We want you to neutralize this object’."

- Jake Chapman

Jake and Dinos Chapman | Bring Me the Head of...

Jake and Dinos Chapman
Bring Me the Head of...
Self-published, 1994
40.7 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm.
Edition of 15

In 1994, the Milan gallerist Franco Toselli was slated to exhibit the Chapmans’ sculpture Mummy and Daddy Chapman, produced the year before. When Toselli received the work - two mannequins with genitalia sprouting from various parts of their bodies - he refused to show it.

As revenge, the Chapmans remodelled the head of ‘Daddy Chapman’ and substituted a dildo for his nose. The work was cast in fibreglass and resin, painted and given a wig.

Again and Again

[Klein and Co.]
Again and Again
Toronto, Canada: MKG127, 2017
[unpaginated], 18.5 x 13.5 x 2.5 cm., boxed
Edition of 500

Michael Klein opened MKG127 ten years ago last month, and this gorgeous catalogue (and its accompanying exhibition) celebrates the gallery's milestone.

Housed inside a screen-printed clear box are single-fold booklets for each artist represented by the gallery, an accordion-fold timeline of every exhibition and project from the last decade, and a booklet of texts. The latter includes an interview with Klein by Robert Enright (whose previous interview subjects include Christo, Jeff Koons, Yoko Ono, composer Gavin Bryars, filmmaker Peter Greenaway, etc. etc.), alongside personal essays by Sky Glaboush, Dan Adler, Elle Kurancid, Christina Ritchie and myself.

I confess to having had some serious skepticism about the project (the potential for navel gazing in an anniversary publication typically overwhelms), so consider this my volte-face. The title certainly includes some (earned) love and affection, but never tips over into outright sentimentality, and giving each artist their own brochure allows them to present their own work (sometimes documentation, sometimes an artist project for the page) on its own terms. Despite the fast turn around, nothing in the book feels hurried, which is a testament to Kleins Michael and Lily, and to Alex Bowron, who were responsible for wrangling the two dozen or more participants.

The project is beautifully designed by Emma Wright, and features a cover graphic by Laurel Woodcock. The book is dedicated in her memory.

Visit MKG127 here.