#simon cutts

Staff Pick of the Week

It’s summertime in the Northern Hemisphere, which means it’s gardening season for many people. This week we are featuring Instruments for Outdoor Use by Martin Rogers, published in London by the  Coracle Press in 1979. It was printed in an edition of 150 copies, signed and numbered by the artist. The book highlights all sorts of great tools to be used outside, such as wooden markers, a canvas sheet, and garden string. The images are based on sculptures made by Martin Rogers, who was interested in combining sculpture with printmaking. As an avid gardener myself, I chose this book as my staff pick because it combined two of my great loves: horticulture and books!

Martin Rogers founded the Small Publishers Fair in London in 2001, which he ran until 2012. He died from cancer in 2013 at the age of 61. In 2015, Coracle launched a book at the Small Publishers Fair, titled Construction Storage Despatch, that celebrated the life of Martin Rogers. Coracle Director, Simon Cutts, wrote:

“Martin Rogers, printer, sculptor and publisher, was the exemplar of a condition that had become prevalent after the nineteen sixties. He had moved the physical materials of his work to the production of multiple objects in printed form, to books and publication, eventually embracing the idea of publishing as the platform for the work. At the same time, in the way he avoided the side-track, even the cul-de-sac, of the so-called artists book, he becomes emblematic of that repositioning.”

View other Staff Picks.

Display case for the week of December 11th, 2017

Larry Clark, Larry Clark: [exhibition] March 21 to June 6, 1999 (Groningen: Groninger Museum, 1999).

Carole Conde, It's Still Privileged Art (Toronto: Art Gallery of Toronto, 1976).

Simon Cutts, Inkwell & Paperweight (England: Coracle Press, 1992).