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Barney, Matthew : Drawing Restraint Volume Iv: "drawing Restraint 9" & "drawing Restraint 13"

John McWhinnie@Glenn Horowitz Book Editions, New York City, NY, 2007

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. Unpaginated. Artist Book. The fourth volume in Matthew Barney's continuing "Drawing Restraint" Series. Limited Slipcased Edition of 50 numbered and signed copies. Should not be confused with the Limited Edition of 1000 copies. There is no ISBN. The Limited Edition is now rare. An exquisite production by Matthew Barney and Jerry Kelly: Regular-sized volume format. Japanese raw silk cloth boards with metallic-silver titles embossed on spine, as issued. Art and text by Matthew Barney. Black hardboard slipcase. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Matthew Barney's "Drawing Restraint Volume IV". New work that is part of "Drawing Restraint 9". "There are two chief aspects to Barney's work: One is his creation of sculptural objects and physical ordeals. The other is his performances, which incorporate the objects and ordeals. The performances are complex rituals that symbolically enact processes of artistic creation and personal transformation. Since its inception, the Drawing Restraint Series has united these two aspects of Barney's work. Barney's exquisite drawings are surrealistic evocations of the film's nautical setting, Japanese ceremonies, and aquatic transformations. The book also contains the first published images from Barney's latest project, Drawing Restraint 13, which he filmed at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in the Spring of 2006, and publicly screened for the first time at his San Francisco retrospective in the Fall. The film shows Barney's continuing interest in dramatic encounters involving Westerners coming into contact with Japan. He plays General MacArthur in a performance that draws upon two historically significant moments from the late stages of World War II. The first is the landing on the beaches of the Philippines, a moment that established MacArthur's legend as he reclaimed territory for the United States earlier conquered by Japan. The second is MacArthur's acceptance of the articles of surrender from Japanese officials on board the USS Missouri, the ceremony that ended the war. Drawing Restraint Volume IV incorporates the best traditions of fine press printing. Facsimiles of drawings and letters are printed in LetterPress on Japanese paper and accompanied by lush duotone plates" (Publisher's blurb). Barney-become-MacArthur recalls the artist's interest in the fluidity of gender role-playing, which is pronounced in his early work and central to "Cremaster". If there is a symbol of masculinity at its most self-conscious, imperious, and flamboyant, it has to be General Douglas MacArthur. It is precisely because of these qualities that MacArthur is, willy-nilly, evoking femininity at the same time. MacArthur was a beautiful man, and so is Barney, whose transformation as MacArthur is utterly convincing. An absolute "must-have" title for Matthew Barney collectors. This copy is one of the Limited Slipcased Edition, indicated/numbered as such in black pen on the title page itself, and is very prominently and beautifully signed in pencil by Matthew Barney. This title is a contemporary art classic. This is one of few copies of the Limited Slipcased Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant American artists of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MATTHEW BARNEY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).

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