About this Item
Zürich: Galerie & Edition Stähli, 1982, First edition. Fine grey linen covered thin boards in a near fine printed and photographically illustrated dust jacket (6 7/8 x 4 3/4 in, 17.5 x 12 cm), np. Approximately 190 pages illustrated with photographs of clay sculptures and captions (German and English) throughout. Limited to 2000 copies. A scarce first edition of this early artists' book. Essentially the catalogue to "Suddenly This Overview", the influential Fischli & Weiss exhibition which represented the first major collaboration between the artists and demonstrated the scope of subject matter they would investigate throughout their long and fruitful collaboration. In this small volume, the small, very hand-made-looking clay sculptures are reproduced in low-tech black-and-white and accompanied by the amusing descriptive captions with which they were originally exhibited. As Weiss has explained, The intention was to accumulate various important and unimportant events in the history of mankind, and of the planet moments in the fields of technology, fairy tales, civilization, film, sports, commerce, education, sex, biblical history, nature and entertainment. The scenes they selected include Herr and Frau Einstein shortly after the conception of their son, the genius Albert, and Dr. Albert Hoffman heading home on a bike in Basel after testing the LSD that he just synthesized. Other works in the series include everyday items such as a loaf of bread, a tea set and a pot an early example of the artists fascination with the ordinary. A third category portrays what the artists refer to as Popular Opposites , such as work and play, theory and practice, high and low. According to Fischli, the viewer cannot simultaneously take all the sculptures or all the stories into account…The title describes the opposite of what is actually the case: the confusion and the swamp and the simultaneity of these things . Reference: Röder, "Sand in der Vaseline: Künstlerbücher II 1980-2002" (3.46). Previous owner name in blue ink on the FFEP, else very fine. Dust jacket spine mildly sunned, otherwise very near fine (please see images). A remarkably well-preserved copy. Seller Inventory # 2010625
Contact seller
Report this item
