Injury to Insult to Injury to insult and beyond

Murray GM April 2, 2016

Got may hands on this fantastic postcard set from Jake and Dinos Chapman's - Injury to Insult to Injury. It's a lovely boxed reproduction their now infamous (a label that applies to almost everything they do) 2004 piece of the same name (see here). What I love most about this is how by reproducing it in postcard form, as well as in wallpaper it continues the 'insult' upon the art world. The Chapman brothers have a long standing history with Goya but when they decided to buy a mint collection of his Disasters of War and then set about 'improving' them they went straight for the Art world's most sacred taboo - "don't fuck with the art".

Goya's etchings are incredible, harrowing images of war. The 'improvements' are rather great, but the act of this, the 'insult' is even better. Here's a piece from The Guardian about it from 2003. Interestingly there's a dark history of artists as vandals and saboteurs. From Pissarro and his 'burn down the Louvre' to those who sneak into galleries and their own additions to the masters, ultimately reclaiming the works as their own. As Picasso said:

“Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction."

Anyway here's a few more close ups. And check out the Jake and Dinos Chapman online shop for more goodies. http://shop.jakeanddinoschapman.com/

The wonderfully poetic Science of the Secondary

Murray GM January 17, 2016

Recently I was given this bumper bundle of the amazing Science of the Secondary, an atlas of things not yet discovered from Atelier HOKO and I've just spent a very rainy Sunday in SF devouring each of them. I have the first six issues and each one tackles a single object. They are beautifully indulgent and poetic design exercises. From the stock to the print quality, they have a wonderful tonality that perfectly balances the way each topic is handled.

The six issues are: Apple, Cup, Clock, Window, Door, Pipe.

Here are a few shots of the spreads. But it's more than the wonderful design, it's the tone of the content and the depth at which each idea is explored that makes them so exceptional. Truly wonderful, much thanks to Donald Farmer for sharing them with me.

Included along with the last three issues was Another Mad Afternoon at Home. This is a pack of 20 postcards or "instructions" for things to do and then send back to Atelier HOKO. My 20 (a random selection from 60 created) include the gems (an adults rainy day playbook):

#06 Open a window and let this card fall out of it. Describe its flight
#22 Without permission, touch a stranger's door for an extended period of time
#50 Press your ear against an exposed pipe. Listen. Imitate sound.

Should make for a loverly mail art piece when they collate the returned postcards.

2018 Update - here’s issue 9; The plate

Another beautiful book from the Princeton Architectural Press

Murray GM June 25, 2011

Picked up a copy of The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects by John Tingey (http://www.papress.com/html/book.details.page.tpl?isbn=9781568988726). Yet another beautifully designed book from Princeton Architectural Press. Hats off to the designer Deb Wood for the great typography and managing to capture that essential 'englishness' in the design.

This is a wonderful book about an eccentric man's obsession with the postal system and increasingly creative ways to collect. The Englishman is Willie Reginald Bray and he was a mail artist extraordinaire. He constantly probed and challenged the postal system and invented elaborate ways to gather postmarks from far off places, such as dropping postcards in bottles over the sides of ships and out of hot air balloons. It's a great story full of art, humour and inspiration.

Mark Pawson's little books

Murray GM November 9, 2010

Mark's "little books" are lovely snapshots of his various obsessions. I picked these up a very long time ago (hence the slightly battered quality) and I'm really happy to see he's still going strong. His mix of ephemera, collected/found items, printing/production techniques and disposable culture makes the books and prints wonderful tactile objects.

For more wonderful craziness, check out his brilliantly retro website (even has a .demon domain - also no more 2020!): http://www.markpawson.uk/

More mail art from the early 90's

Murray GM September 11, 2010

In 1992 there was an event called "year of the networker", which was about international collaboration between individuals and small groups. People were using bulletin boards, news groups and email but most of the creative work was still being done through the postal system. BW photocopies, rubber stamps, stickers and hand colouring were a huge part of all this as the cost of colour repro was still really high. There was a huge buzz around the idea of DIY culture and a lot of that energy naturally shifted online were it could.