Ian Hamilton Finlay | Two Horizons

Ian Hamilton Finlay

Two Horizons

Edinburgh, Scotland: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1998

3.5 x 11 x 3.5 cm.

Edition size unknown

One of my all-time favourite Ian Hamilton Finlay works takes an everyday household item and re-contextualizes it with the title. 

Sent by the artist as a Christmas gift to friends in 1998, the work consists of a small printed box (which also functions as the mailing container) housing two spools of thread: aircraft grey and adonis blue. Simple and elegant. 

Dick Higgins | Destroy All Kitsch!

Dick Higgins
Destroy All Kitsch!
Cologne, Germany: Galerie Schuppenhauer, 1992
6.5 x 6.5 x 2.5 cm.
Edition of 100 signed and numbered copies

Katie Paterson | Fossil Necklace Postcard Edition

Katie Paterson
Fossil Necklace Postcard Edition
Glasgow, Scotland: Self-published, 2013
342 pp., 14.3 x 19 x 9 cm., boxed
Edition of 100

Fossil Necklace consists of 170 carved, rounded fossils, spanning and representing geological time. Each fossil on the necklace, excavated from around the world, represents a major event in evolution. For a full listing of each stone, visit the artist's website, here.

The clothbound boxed postcard set features a micro lens portrait of each bead, with the relevant information printed on the verso. It is available for £250, here.

Annette Messager | Mes Badges

Annette Messager
Mes Badges
Paris, France: Editions Dilecta, 2012
16.5 x 23.5 cm (book), 3.7 cm (badges, each)
Edition of 50 signed and numbered copies

Five badges pinned to a fabric bag and an artist's book that reproduces a selection of Messager's pins from her installation “Et range ta chambre” [“And Tidy your Bedroom”], from Marian Goodman Gallery, in 2009. Each assemblage of badges is unique, with a selection from 25 different buttons. A certificate of authenticity, numbered and signed by the artist, is also included.

“There is a little bit of everything I love on my pins: photos, body parts, little porn drawings, my signature ‘A. Messager’, always, drawings which are somewhat tantric, or that shiny paper covering the little chocolates served with coffee... And these are things we put on our bodies, clothes, purses, that we bring along wherever we go; a cheap thing, of popular art. Making original drawings is in contradiction with what this object is... and I like being in contradiction!”

- Annette Messager, Le Journal des Arts, October 2, 2009

Available from the publisher, here, for 300.00 €.

Damien Hirst | Home Sweet Home

Damien Hirst
Home Sweet Home
New York City, USA: Gagosian Gallery, 1996
23 cm. diameter
Edition of 1500 numbered copies


A screenprint image of cigarette butts in an ashtray, on a porcelain dinner plate.

Swid Powell is listed on the verso as the publisher ("for Gagosian") though it is more likely that Powell was the designer/manufacturer.

Available here for $875.00.

Rasah Subtler | Feathery Pillows of Isolation

Rasah Subtler
Feathery Pillows of Isolation
Brooklyn, USA: Self-published, 2015
1.5 x 2" [closed]
Edition size unknown

A matchbook sized multiple made of card, ink, satin and feathers. For Louise Bourgeois.

Vikki Dziuma | universal distinction

Vikki Dziuma
universal distinction
Guelph, Canada: Self-published, 2012
Edition of 20

An award ribbon produced in a hue designed to match the average colour of the universe ('cosmic latte') to "distinguish one's participation in existence."

Joseph Beuys | Capri Battery

Joseph Beuys
Capri Battery
Naples, Italy: Edizione Lucio Amelio, 1985
8 x 11 x 6 cm.
Edition of 200 [+ a few a.p] signed and numbered copies

One of Beuys' final multiples, the Capri Battery (or Capri-Batteri) was conceived on the island of Capri in Italy, while the artist was staying at the villa of his dealer Lucio Amelio. It consists of a yellow light bulb, a plug socket and lemon, housed in a wooden box with a signed certificate. On the side of the box, the following instructions are printed: ‘After 1000 hours, change the battery.’

Much is made of the work's ecological stance and the healing power of warm yellow light, but I'm inclined to believe Beuys' interest was primarily formal. The work is also regularly described as functional, though I've never seen it illuminated. Those are fresh lemons above and not even a dim light is visible. While the acid in lemons is able to produce a mild current, it's doubtful that it could function simply by inserting a standard plug. Additionally, the single milliamp a lemon might produce would be insufficient to illuminate the bulb.

I've also read, in countless listings, that the bulb has been painted yellow. The top photograph (in which the bulb's logo and consumer information is visible) indicates that this is false.

One of the two-hundred copies of Capri Battery recently sold at auction (Phillips, June 2015) for 17,222€.



Update: Apparently several lemons would not be enough: though the voltage might be high enough (1.5 volts with two lemons), the current would be too weak. Roman Keller, in Zurich, went to considerable lengths to make the piece function. See here for details.

Roy Lichtenstein | Ceramic Plate II

Roy Lichtenstein
Ceramic Plate II
Selb, Germany: Rosenthal, 1990
31 cm. [diameter]
Edition of 3000 signed and numbered copies

Erik Dietmann | Quelques mètres et centimètres de sparadrap : a short story

Erik Dietmann
Quelques mètres et centimètres de sparadrap : a short story
Sweden, Self-published, 1963
17 x 11 x 2 cm.
Edition of 200 signed, numbered and dated copies

A series of 200 books (each unique) completely wrapped with sparadrap/plaster.

Lil Picard | Burned Bow Tie

Lil Picard
Burned Bow Tie
New York City, USA: The Letter Edged in Black Press, 1968
14.5 x 5.5 cm
Edition of 2000

A cloth bow tie, each individually burned by hand, in a plastic bag. Produced for SMS #4.

Paul Steiner | Johns in Art Galleries

Paul Steiner
Johns in Art Galleries 
New York City, USA: The Letter Edged in Black Press, 1968
[24] pp., 8.5 x 12.7 cm., loose leaves
Edition of 2000

A set of 24 coloured file cards, arranged alphabetically, each containing a brief review of public restrooms in New York City's art galleries and museums. Sample cards:

"Morgan Library: absolutely breathtaking and splendiferous, especially the ladies."

"American Academy of Arts and Letters: Ladies behind small drawing room with Childe Hassam oils. Gents' too complicated, better forget it."

Steiner, a writer, was asked to contribute a work to William Copley & Dmitri Petrov's SMS Portfolio. It was featured in the 6th and final issue of the project, alongside works by John Giorno, Bernar Venet, Claes Oldenburg, Richard Artschwager (the folder's cover) and others.

Johns in Art Galleries is available from The New Museum, here, for $50.00

Eric Anderson | In Case of Emergency

Eric Anderson
In Case of Emergency
Köln, Germany: Edition Hundertmark, 1986
8 x 2.5 x 1 cm
Edition of 100

A white lighter that reads "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY: PUSH RED BUTTON/EMPTY LIGTHER [sic] IN APPROXIMATELY 33 MIN. 14 SEC."

Sold individually, or in some versions* of the Edition Hundertmark Box #100, 1986, a white cardboard box featuring original works by 44 artists affiliated with Fluxus, Actionism: Claus Bohmler, Gunter Brus, Henri Chopin, Philip Corner, Robert Filliou, Jochen Gerz, Al Hansen, Joe Jones, Milan Knizak, Alison Knowles, Maria Lassnig, George Maciunas, Mario Merz, Hermann Nitsch, Paul Sharits, Takako Saito, Endre Tot, Ben Vautier and many others.

* Armin Hundertmark's site lists the box without the item, but this Ebay auction includes the work.

From the Fluxus Digital Collection at the University of Iowa, here.