It is a well known phenomenon that in the art world of the Eighties artistic productions became inherently linked to promotional and marketing activities aiming at breaking the sterile environment of conceptual art.  Media, publicity, life-style objects and big events- all being the driving forces in everyday life in this period- are welcomed into the artistic process.  Galleries and curators are constantly being exposed to this in train stations, on the street, in kitchens and bathrooms.

Artists incorporate market-related elements in their work, giving way to a juxtaposition of the mere artistic and aesthetic with tolls used to communicate and market.  The huge billboards of Jenny Holzer, the T-shirts and baseball caps of Richard Prince, photos in Vogue of Cindy Sherman are a few examples of how virtuously cultural elements are used as supportive structure for the work.

“These artists have redirected the strategies of Conceptual Art, and of the business of art, to the making of art.” M.J. Jacob, Art in the Crisis of Representation

The production of works in editions has proved to be an excellent means to get access to techniques and to a language that is directly extracted from the everyday cultural and economic reality.  The artist’s environment of tabloids, Star Trek, shopping malls, Bill Cosby, Irangate, Black Death, cigarettes, et al…. is reflected in his activities in a very comparable iconology.

The “supermarket of art” idea requires more than the normal interaction of artist-gallery; a god edition is a perfect collaboration between artist, editor, craftsmen, printers, publisher, and client.  This and the relatively low prices are some aspects that make editions so attractive.

The works presented in this exhibition reflect this specific development in artistic production in the Eighties as well as a particular and successful use of the concept of multiplying art.  Additionally some more recent artists (Barney, Streuli) are indicating how the place of editions in the art world is considered.

In Richard Prince’s edition “Good Revolution” we find major elements of his works from the Eighties: reprofography, collage, the “skull bunny” and especially kitsch references.  It is a perfect example of how the artist assimilates television images, high-consumer articles and the linked status (a golden record!) in a conceptual way.  It highlights specific techniques and materials that are impossible to apply to an original artwork.  Mike Kelley’s “Untitled” is a baseball bat for children- a truly All-American pop-culture basis for art.  By printing the preamble of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights on the wood, he brings together two omnipresent aspects of a child’s education, questioning cynically the relative importance of them.  Is this a toy or the foundation of American beliefs to hit with?  Kelley sacrileges the popular game and meanwhile ironically criticizes moralizing laws.  Being one of the most elaborate multiples of Kelley’s, these works refer also to the hypocritical dependence of the ordinary American on his codes and regulations; the religiosity of sports, small-town craftsmanship, iconography, etc…  Louise Lawler’s “Writers should be well paid…,” her investigation towards the true meaning of a work of art if placed in various contexts is again expressed.  In this edition the “original” work (of Cy Twombly) is completely left out, and merely represented by its card at a Sotheby’s auction.  The ironic statement “Writers should be well paid.” Reinforces this highly critical work.

One of the nicest elaborated collective editions is Contemporary Archaeology Part III (Protect Me From What I Want); a box containing objects, photographs, text, prints… of ten artists.  The archeological experience comes with lifting the works out with silk ribbons; layers of different material become visible, as an ancient ruin gradually reveals itself to an archeologist.  As soil layers differ in elements, density and color; all layers that appear out of the box differ in their specific approach to the “edition” as a work of art.  All are splendid collaborations between the artists, publisher and various craftsmen who realized the pieces within the artists.  The last element in this collaboration is the collector who let the pieces reveal themselves to him, and who needs to assemble, present and combine the works together even further.