Archived

9 Multiples

1978 – 1986

A complete set of the 9 editioned works along with supporting material (copper plates, proofs, catalogues) now held at The Bodleian Library, Oxford with Egyptian Cards and Egyptian Hours in The Robert Bolick Collection.

Egyptian Cards.  1978

Pack of magic playing cards. Offset litho, silkscreen, die cut. In silkscreened box. 110 x 62.5 x 22.5 mm.  Edition of 10
The Robert Bolick Collection.

Nefertiti becomes a mummy; day dawns on the Pyramids; an unexpected card makes an appearance.
Made in my last year at art college.

Egyptian Hours.  1979

Set of 7 embossed etchings variously hand coloured / collaged / cut.  Plus title page.  Letterpress arabic numerals.  Leather wrap case. 160 x 160 x 40 mm. 
39 numbered copies extant.   
The Robert Bolick Collection.  

I received a travel scholarship on graduation from art school enabling a 4 months sojourn in Egypt – taking the boat from Venice and arriving in Alexandria, thence travelling up the Nile to Cairo, Luxor and Aswan.
Egyptian Hours was the portofolio I made on my return based on drawings and impressions collected on the visit. 
The sequence starts in the more contemporary Islamic world – the mushrabiya, the tiles; then heading  up river to Luxor, to the Valley of the Kings, arriving at a tomb, a sealed chamber, a shrouded mummy, and a garland now brittle and shrivelled.
Taking the idea of a Book of Hours, with only 7 of the day's 24, there is the suggestion that the story doesn’t finish there.

Also in the following Public Collections:
V&A.  Arts Council of GB.  Houghton Library, Harvard.  Yale Centre for British Arts.  Library of Congress, Washington DC.  University of Alberta.  University of Texas.  Stanford University.  Dept. of Prints & Drawings, British Museum.

Four Details from a Suit of Armour.  1978

Boxed set of 4 etchings printed on silver leaf variously layered and collaged. Etched title page.  530 x 150 x 40 mm.  8 copies extant.

These images elaborate the medium of print / etching – indeed etching plays an important part in the history of the decoration of armour. The pattern I used here is from a 16th century German breast plate in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Also in the following Public Collections:
Yale Center for British Arts.  Dept. of Prints & Drawings, British Museum.

Life of Plankton.  1979

Book object in slip case: Analysis sheet with hand written specimen list, to correspond with set of microscope slides (metal leaf, luminous paint, etc.),
set of dyed embossed etchings, and annotated silkscreened map.  315 x 187 x 32mm.  Edition of 10

A slightly playful look at these organisms which appear to lead a carefree life drifting around the oceans.  Specimens include: Aging in the Aegean, Ablutions in the Aleutians.

Also in the following Public Collections:
V & A.  The Science Museum, London.  Yale Center for British Arts.  Stanford University.  University of Alberta.

The Collector.  1981

Book object: Embossed leather cover, rokusho gilt edges. Paper backed with board: intaglio title page, embossed etching contents. 370 x 100 x 20 mm. Edition of 10

Approaching this gorgeous book – the cardinal red lizard skin leather, the edges in the irridescent blue of butterfly wing, you would be forgiven for thinking that this might be a jewellery case containing some marvellous necklace . . . and then on opening one finds nothing there except the impressions of the butterfly that has passed through its successive mutations.

Cras Amet.  1981

Box: bird's eye maple veneer with kid leather lining. Etched brass rule and blocks.  350 x 135 x 50 mm.  Edition of 5

Unlock the code of how the etched symbols on the blocks line up with those on the rule and from block to block to spell out the solution. The title provides a clue.

Tales of the Floating World.  1981

Boxed portofolio of 5 images: colour aquatints printed borderless over 9 sheets. Slip case and moire silk end boards.  260 x 260 x 22 mm. 19 copies extant

A sequence of images where the viewer floats away from the Earth and travels to the far reaches of the universe.
Commencing with a view of the pyramids at Kareima, Sudan (from drawings I'd done from high up on the Gebel Berkal), thence to a low Earth orbit view of cloud formations over the ocean, and so on passing the moon to be amongst the exploding galaxies. 
The images increase in size as we travel: from the single squares at the start to the doubles for space walk and passing the moon to the final image where the view opens out across 3 side-by-side sheets.

Also in the following Public Collections:
New York Public Library.  Library of Congress, Washington DC.  Yale Center for British Arts.  The Science Museum, London.
Dept. of Prints & Drawings, British Museum.

More Tales of the Floating World.  1984

Box: distressed, limed and waxed birch ply with lining and spacers in grey kid leather. 4 (removeable) panels: cast plaster coloured with egg tempera.
600 x 260 x 70 mm.   4 copies extant.

We float in a closer Earth orbit, our gaze crops to four locations – two on land: a return to the pyramid field at Kareima and the sekitei garden at Ryoan-ji; two over water: a pair of submarines lying in wait outside some muddy river delta and a volcanic island at night.
The Globe's surface is interrupted by activity – both human and mother nature's – on land: questing immortality, questing spiritual calm; but at sea there's the more sinister potentiality of destruction.