Rutherford Chang | The Beatles – We Buy White Albums

Rutherford Chang

The Beatles – We Buy White Albums

New York City, USA: Self-published, 2013

Double 12” vinyl LP set

Edition of 800

In 2012, I was invited by C Magazine to participate in a public conversation with Rutherford Chang called "Re-Translating Popular Culture in Contemporary Art.” We had both recently made artworks using the Beatles’ White Album as our source material. At the time, he owned 500 copies of the eponymously titled double album. 

Edition Art Fair director Bill Clarke (above, bottom) brought Chang back to Toronto four years later to present the collection, which at that point contained three times the number of White Album LPs. 

Chang would eventually amass over 3,400 copies of the record, according to his New York Times obituary. He died last month at the age of 45. 

His sister posted on Instagram that Chang had died in his home on January 24th. The cause of death remains unknown. 

The Beatles – We Buy White Albums is a limited-run, self-published double disk created by layering 100 unique used copies of the White Album. The gatefold sleeve cover and disc labels are composites of the weathered and graffitied originals. A 24 x 24 inch poster insert featuring images of the individual covers.

The project sold out quickly (he only had a few remaining copies by the time of his return trip to Toronto in 2016) so I’m grateful that he gifted me one, and grateful to have briefly known him. 

Discogs lists a single copy for €500.00, from Germany, here. 

Ian Hamilton Finlay | The Boy's Alphabet Book

Ian Hamilton Finlay

The Boy's Alphabet Book

Toronto, Canada: Coach House Press, 1976

60 pp., 19.7 x 20.3 cm,, softcover

Edition of 1000 copies

According to materials in the archives at the University of Iowa, this title took over five years to produce. Ian Hamilton Finlay sent three letters in 1971, seeking help in publishing the book. He wrote to Michael Harvey, Udo Breger, and bp Nichol. 

Nichol replies in June 1973 that Coach House Press may be interested in publishing the book, and follows up a month later indicating that things are moving forward. He acknowledges receipt of the manuscript and photographs (Dave Paterson) in November 1974. It would be another two years before the slim volume was produced. 

The title was advertised as "one of the lengthiest works to date by the internationally renowned poet Ian Hamilton Finlay. The extended form of the traditional primer allows full range for the demonstration of Finlay's abilities as craftsman, toymaker and word-shaper.”

The work consists of an A-Z of pictures of Finlay's model boats, airplanes, weapons and kites, accompanied by texts by the legendary artist and poet. The texts range from the poetic to the merely descriptive. 

The book features photographs from Dave Paterson and was edited for the press by bp Nichol. This copy was initially owned by artist Greg Curnoe and is now in the collection of Bill Clarke. 

Michael Snow Tribute #11: A Survey

Michael Snow

A Survey [Special Edition]

Toronto, Canada: Art Gallery of Ontario/Isaacs Gallery, 1970

124 pp., 20.5 × 21.5 × 1 cm., hardcover

Edition of 125 signed and numbered copies

Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name, held at the Art Gallery of Ontario, February 14-March 15, 1970, this artist book/exhibition catalogue hybrid combines images of the artist's work alongside family photographs. Designed by Snow himself, the work also includes texts by Robert Fulford, Dennis Young, Richard Foreman & P. Adams Sitney.

A Survey marks the beginning of Snow's use of repurposing earlier works for new. "The whole retrospective thing," he told Joe Medjuck in 1971, "made me look back at my old work for the first time. I was interested in the idea of using the records of old work as the material for new works."

The deluxe edition is housed in a plexiglass slipcase and includes a small magnifying glass in a glassine envelope, a fresnel magnifying sheet, three Walking Women stickers, a nude photographic bookmark, and a 22 x 23" folded print of the work Manual (above, bottom). Each copy is individually annotated, signed and numbered by the artist.

The work is valued at around a $1500, depending on condition. 

"Like Warhol before him, Snow also took on the task of designing the catalogue for his first retrospective, which took place at the Art Gallery of Ontario in February and March of 1970. Unlike Warhol’s catalogue, however, there are some concessions to the traditional exhibition catalogue format, including a list of art works in the show, as well as a biography and C.V. But, that’s as far as it goes. For A Survey, Snow combines elements of the exhibition catalogue with a family scrapbook. The layout of the book reflects Snow’s interest in serial imagery and photographic experimentation. The limited edition hardcover is encased in a clear plastic shell, and includes several extras: a fresnal magnifying sheet; some Walking Woman stickers; a signed and numbered poster picturing drawings of a soft cover version of the book twisted into various shapes; and, notoriously, a laminated ‘bookmark’ picturing, on one side, a photo booth strip picturing the artist’s erect penis and, on the other, an equally intimate portrait of his wife, the artist Joyce Weiland, who, for her exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada the following year, designed her own artist book/exhibition catalogue, True Patriot Love."

- Bill Clarke

 

Andy Warhol Stockholm Catalogue

Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Stockholm, Sweden: Moderna Museet, 1969
[644] pp., 27 x 21 cm., softcover
Edition size unknown

"Warhol’s first retrospective took place at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in February – March, 1968. It has been argued by Germano Celant that this publication is the first example of the artist book-as-exhibition catalogue. Warhol was handed control of the layout and image selection, and he organized the book’s contents into three sections: a collection of his now-famous quotes, followed by page after page of images of his work arranged in a serial manner, and then a collection of photographs of the goings-on at Warhol’s New York studio, the Factory. For this second printing of the catalogue, a section with photographs of the exhibition’s opening party was added. Printed only as a soft cover and on cheap newsprint-quality paper, this book has become, again in Celant’s words, a “prototype of information as artwork…because of its linguistic use of photography as opposed to using photographs as documentation.”"

- Bill Clarke

/edition Toronto: Bookclub

Above are a few images from the Powerpoint slide show that I'm currently compiling for Bookclub's  Saturday presentation at /edition Toronto. Included so far are samples from postcard sets from the collection of Michael Klein, an Endre Tót work from Micah Lexier, Bill Clarke's Dieter Roth book, and the Smallest Book, by Himaa, from Derek McCormack's collection of packaged items.

Bookclub events are typically held in the member's homes, but periodically the group ventures out to give public presentations, using the speaker fees to fund the yearly production of a Book bag (Michael Dumontier, Kay Rosen, Claude Closky, Sara Mackillop, etc.)

Details for the event are below, or at http://www.editiontoronto.com/programming/

Book Club
SAT OCT 29 at 4:00 PM
Since 2008, ten of Toronto’s most dedicated collectors and aficionados of artist’s books, editions and ephemera have been meeting as Book Club. At these meetings, the curators, collectors and artists who make up the group share their latest acquisitions with each other in what they describe as “show and tell for book-loving grown-ups.”

Members of the group have agreed to do a public “show and tell” of rare and interesting items from their collections. Book Club’s presentation will be a unique opportunity to see and learn about rare artist’s books and editions that usually remain securely under glass when exhibited in galleries and museums.

The members of Book Club include: Micah Lexier, Sarah Robayo Sheridan, Derek Sullivan, Bill Clarke, Dave Dyment, Roula Partheniou, Paul Van Kooy, Wendy Gomoll, Derek McCormack and Michael Klein. Members of Book Club have presented items from their collections in talks at The Power Plant and the London Art Book Fair (Whitechapel Gallery, U.K.)

/edition Art Book Fair: Rutherford Chang

Four years ago at Art Toronto, I hosted an informal "In conversation" presentation with Beijing/New York artist Rutherford Chang on the topic of "Re-Translating Popular Culture in Contemporary Video Art."

Chang is back this year, as part of /edition Toronto, this time in conversation with the fair's director Bill Clarke. On Saturday October 29th, at 12:30pm Clarke and Chang will discuss "the personal, art-historical and conceptual aspects of the artist’s installation We Buy White Albums and some of his recent projects, such as his participation the New Museum’s Real Live Online series."

The conversation will take place in the We Buy White Albums project at the fair: an installation resembling a record store, stocked with over 1,500 first pressings of the Beatles' eponymous double LP.  The albums are arranged in bins by the 'edition' numbers on the cover. Visitors can flip through the LPs and see how previous owners have personalized the ‘blank canvas’ of the record jacket with stickers, doodles, and even some love letters.

⁄ edition Toronto

In advance of the 1/edition fair next week,  I will try post as many books and multiples as possible in the coming days from participating artists and publishers. Send photos and information to ddyment@rogers.com of works that will be launching at the fair.

Co-founded by Division Gallery Director Gareth Brown-Jowett and Magenta Foundation President MaryAnn Camilleri, /edition Toronto is "dedicated to the promotion of art book publishing, in all forms, while building an appreciation for artworks produced in editions of more than one."

The inaugural fair runs from October 28th to the 31st, concurrent to Art Toronto, Canada’s international art fair at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

 ⁄ edition is directed by Magenta Magazine editor and collector Bill Clarke. The advisory board consists of myself, Art Metropole curator Nasrin Himada, and the artists Paul Butler, Charles Stankievech and Danielle St. Amour. Co-presenters include Art Metropole and Art Toronto. Vendors include:

8/11 (Toronto, Canada)
Afterall (London, United Kingdom)
Akin Projects (Toronto, Canada)
Alicia’s Klassic Kool Shoppe (Toronto, Canada)
Archive of Modern Conflict (Toronto, Canada)
Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Canada)
Art Gallery of York University (Toronto, Canada)
Art Metropole (Toronto, Canada)
Art Works Consulting (Toronto, Canada)
BALZERI BALZERI (Toronto, Canada)
Blank Cheque (Vancouver / Toronto, Canada)
Brown & Dickson (London, Canada)
Bywater Bros (Toronto, Canada)
C Magazine (Toronto, Canada)
Colour Code (Toronto, Canada)
CRIT Paper (Toronto, Canada)
Critical Distance Centre for Curators (Toronto, Canada)
Dashwood Books (New York, United States)
Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina, Canada)
Ediciones Daga (Santiago, Chile)
ELLEPHANT (Montréal, Canada)
GuyGuyGuy (Toronto, Canada)
Hex Editions (Toronto, Canada)
Holiday Arts Mail-Order School (Toronto, Canada)
HOMOCATS (Brooklyn, United States)
HOTAM (Vancouver, Canada)
IMPULSE [b:] (Toronto, Canada)
Issue Press (Grand Rapids, United States)
JMS Press (Toronto, Canada)
K. Verlag (Toronto, Canada / Berlin, Germany)
Kunstverein Toronto (Toronto, Canada)
Magenta Foundation / Division Gallery (Toronto, Canada)
McIntosh Gallery (London, Canada)
Mercer Union (Toronto, Canada)
Middle Path Prints (Toronto, Canada)
Mondo Books (Tromsø, Norway)
Nicolas Fleming (Toronto, Canada)
Nothing Else Press (Toronto, Canada)
OKAY Collective (Toronto, Canada)
Open Studio (Toronto, Canada)
Other Forms (Chicago, United States)
Parasitic Ventures Press (Toronto, Canada)
Paul + Wendy Projects (Toronto, Canada)
Perish Publishing (Toronto, Canada)
Prefix Photo (Toronto, Canada)
Presentation House (Vancouver, Canada)
Project Gallery Toronto (Toronto, Canada)
Rare Photo Gallery (Toronto, Canada)
Ray-Ray (Toronto, Canada)
Robert Tombs / L’Arène (Ottawa, Canada)
Sagan Editions (Toronto, Canada)
Scrap Books (Toronto, Canada)
Seth Fluker (Toronto, Canada)
Stephen Bulger Gallery (Toronto, Canada)
Steven Beckly (Toronto, Canada)
Swimmers Group (Toronto, Canada)
The Canadian Academy in Rome (Toronto, Canada)
The Power Plant (Toronto, Canada)
Troy Gronsdahl (Saskatoon, Canada)
Wil Aballe Art Projects | WAAP (Vancouver, Canada)
YYZ Artists’ Outlet (Toronto, Canada)
Zach Clark (Oakland, United States)

A curated selection from Bill Clarke's collection

Some images from collector Bill Clarke's artists' books, multiples and record collection, that he has selected for the Independent Collectors website, here:

https://independent-collectors.com/exhibitions/bill-clarke-art-book-art-record

Art Metropole at Art Basel

Bill Clarke's photographs of setting up the Art Metropole booth at the Basel Art Fair, and meeting up with Jonathan Monk.

Every Building on the Sunset Strip article in Modern Painters

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ed Ruscha's Every Building on the Sunset Strip, critic Bill Clarke interviewed Clive Phillpot (the founder of NY MoMA's artist book collection and one of the world's leading authorities on artists' publications), and three artists who've made work based on Ruscha's classic: myself, Jonathan Monk and painter Amy Park. The article features in the May issue of Blouin's Modern Painters, on newsstands now.

Monk photographs the sun setting on Sunset, and rather than the inclusive approach of Ruscha, excludes all of the buildings - photographing only the intersections in None of the Buildings on the Sunset Strip.

My bookwork replaces the images with text, including information about every property featured in Ruscha's title. The book is sold with a print, each of which couples an image from the original with the same scene captured in a film or television production.

For Ed Ruscha's Every Building in the Sunset Strip, New York painter Amy Park has painted the photographs from the book as a 97-foot long work that's currently on display at the Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles.

Below are examples of the same buildings as they appear in the two projects, and two images from Monk's 2002 title.