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Stephen Prina a Post Conceptual artist (1954)

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Stephen Prina is an American artist whose work has been categorized as post-conceptualism. Prina is a professor at the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University.

He was born in 1954 in Galesburg, Illinois.

This is probably one of the shortest introductions i found on an artist on the internet. I like Prina’s art very much. Crates, monochrome paintings , ladders and the decoration of an entire space/ room are the elements that Piet Dirkx uses too. Both are from my generation and perhaps that is also one of the reasons i understand their art and like it so much. Where i have followed Dirkx for over 3 decades now, Prina is a discovery from the last 10 years. His exhibitions are true events but rare to be found in Europe. Still there was one held at the Boymans van Beuningen Museum in 1992 and to accompany that exhibition an artist book was published . The only color used for all pages is a bright yellow. A scarce book and now available at www.ftn-books.com

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a very special “Libro d’Artista” from 1983 by Hervé di Rosa

It is a rare find to have found this 2 months ago. This is a book which was published during the best years of the “Figuration Libre”. This special artist book was published in an edition of only 1000 copies . I doubt that it was an authorized edition which was published by Fernando Pellegrino and Saverio Perozzi, but there is no doubt about the artistic quality that oozes from the pages. Quick sketching and written text in print, making a complete story on 92 pages.

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On the cover an auto portrait of Di Rosa and page after page filled with typical Di Rosa art. My guess is that not too many copies will have survived the 36 years of its existence, which makes this one of the most collectable Di Rosa publications and an absolute MUST for the avid “Figuration Libre” collector/ enthousiast.

 

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Diederick van Kleef (1954)

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It was over 30 years ago….i did not know the artist, but one publication by van Kleef intrigued me and i bought 2 copies to sell in the museumstore of the Gemeentemuseum. It must have been one of the first artist books i had ever bought. I lost track of van Kleef, but last month i bought an artistbook by van Kleef again. An edition of only 83 copies and numbered 52. “The Handboek 2 van & over Diederick van Kleef” is now available at http://www.ftn-books.com and because of this blog i searched for van Kleef on the internet and found that he has always been making art and now has its own bookstore in Amsterdam. It is fascinating that an artist like van Kleef stays true to his calling his entire life. One must admire such dedication.

diederick van Kleef

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Hamish Fulton – the man with one of the most beautiful signatures in Modern Art

The year is 1991. The occasion is the opening of the exhibition on Hamish Fulton. Curated by Rudi Fuchs and Franz Kaiser. The Haags Gemeentemuseum organized this excellent exhibition which was accompanied by a publication ONE HUNDRED WALKS ,which still is one of my personal favorites and certainly is one of the most beautiful books in my collection. The book was designed by Hamish Fulton himself and Gracia Lebbink was asked to do the graphic layout and production. The result….. an artist book which is one of the best ever published.

The book was delivered ( as almost always) just a few hours before the opening of the exhibition and sold during this opening. The next day i encountered Fulton in the corridor of the museum and complimented him on the book and asked if he could sign my personal copy.  No problem….. the book was signed and i had another souvenir for my collection, but then it occurred to me that the idea of signing some of these could be profitable for the museum and i asked him if he could sign and number a series of 20 copies to be sold in our museum bookstore.

The friendly and sympathetic person he is , he did not even think about it and asked for the 20 copies to sign them. Later that afternoon he came to the library , set himself at a desk and signed the 20 copies , which were numbered  1 to 20. The signature he placed in the books is still one of my most admired signatures in Modern Art. The way it is placed on the page and dated, plus the story behind it makes this still very special to me. The books ( signed and unsigned version) are still available at :

www.ftn-books.com

and

https://ftn-books.com/products/hamish-fulton-one-hundred-walks-1991-signed-numbered-mint

both highly collectable items and real artist books.

 

wilfried