Past Golden - David Blamey
Hand signed
Artist's book consisting of text (in English and Hindi) and drawings inspired by a visit to India - In an aluminium slip-case.
1st Edition
Edition number 280/300
1990
Height 12cm
Width 16cm
Published by David Blamey’s own imprint ‘Open Editions’, Printed by Billionth Press
46 pages
This small, visually unassuming and intriguing book is the result of several months spent in India. Blamey was drawn there by the hand-made quality and variation produced by printing techniques, which he wanted to celebrate but not mimic in this book. The hammered aluminium slipcase with a screen-printed label is immediately suggestive of Indian handcraft and use of recycled materials. The deep yellow of the page edges and title lettering refer to the colour of the spice turmeric. The text, in English with Hindi transliteration, conveys the reader on a tour marked out by phrases from local street advertising. Juxtaposed, the single phrases propose their own darkly humorous meanings. Framed on each page is a facsimile of a leaf from Blamey's notebooks, the unevenness of their perforations making them unfamiliar to a Western eye. The simple drawings have a quality of the commonplace found object, just beyond recognition. The areas of textured shading might be rubbings taken from unexceptional surfaces along the way. 'Past Golden' is a material product, a literal record and an intimately personal impression of a particular place. Yet the fragmentary, abstracted nature of its content allows the viewer to make their own journeys.
The above description is from the V&A website - a copy, with a blue label rather than a red one, resides in their National Art Library Collection.
Internally like new. The aluminium slipcase shows what may be shelf wear, but these were hand-made in India and each copy bears small differentials. This is copy 280 of a signed, numbered limited edition of 300.
Hand signed
Artist's book consisting of text (in English and Hindi) and drawings inspired by a visit to India - In an aluminium slip-case.
1st Edition
Edition number 280/300
1990
Height 12cm
Width 16cm
Published by David Blamey’s own imprint ‘Open Editions’, Printed by Billionth Press
46 pages
This small, visually unassuming and intriguing book is the result of several months spent in India. Blamey was drawn there by the hand-made quality and variation produced by printing techniques, which he wanted to celebrate but not mimic in this book. The hammered aluminium slipcase with a screen-printed label is immediately suggestive of Indian handcraft and use of recycled materials. The deep yellow of the page edges and title lettering refer to the colour of the spice turmeric. The text, in English with Hindi transliteration, conveys the reader on a tour marked out by phrases from local street advertising. Juxtaposed, the single phrases propose their own darkly humorous meanings. Framed on each page is a facsimile of a leaf from Blamey's notebooks, the unevenness of their perforations making them unfamiliar to a Western eye. The simple drawings have a quality of the commonplace found object, just beyond recognition. The areas of textured shading might be rubbings taken from unexceptional surfaces along the way. 'Past Golden' is a material product, a literal record and an intimately personal impression of a particular place. Yet the fragmentary, abstracted nature of its content allows the viewer to make their own journeys.
The above description is from the V&A website - a copy, with a blue label rather than a red one, resides in their National Art Library Collection.
Internally like new. The aluminium slipcase shows what may be shelf wear, but these were hand-made in India and each copy bears small differentials. This is copy 280 of a signed, numbered limited edition of 300.
Hand signed
Artist's book consisting of text (in English and Hindi) and drawings inspired by a visit to India - In an aluminium slip-case.
1st Edition
Edition number 280/300
1990
Height 12cm
Width 16cm
Published by David Blamey’s own imprint ‘Open Editions’, Printed by Billionth Press
46 pages
This small, visually unassuming and intriguing book is the result of several months spent in India. Blamey was drawn there by the hand-made quality and variation produced by printing techniques, which he wanted to celebrate but not mimic in this book. The hammered aluminium slipcase with a screen-printed label is immediately suggestive of Indian handcraft and use of recycled materials. The deep yellow of the page edges and title lettering refer to the colour of the spice turmeric. The text, in English with Hindi transliteration, conveys the reader on a tour marked out by phrases from local street advertising. Juxtaposed, the single phrases propose their own darkly humorous meanings. Framed on each page is a facsimile of a leaf from Blamey's notebooks, the unevenness of their perforations making them unfamiliar to a Western eye. The simple drawings have a quality of the commonplace found object, just beyond recognition. The areas of textured shading might be rubbings taken from unexceptional surfaces along the way. 'Past Golden' is a material product, a literal record and an intimately personal impression of a particular place. Yet the fragmentary, abstracted nature of its content allows the viewer to make their own journeys.
The above description is from the V&A website - a copy, with a blue label rather than a red one, resides in their National Art Library Collection.
Internally like new. The aluminium slipcase shows what may be shelf wear, but these were hand-made in India and each copy bears small differentials. This is copy 280 of a signed, numbered limited edition of 300.
David Blamey (1961) is a British multidisciplinary artist.