Blue Scatter Drawing. (Originally titled ‘Spiral Drawing’)

New York : Robert Jacks, 1977 [remade in Harcourt, Victoria, 2007]. Folio, blue card hand-stamped wrappers, staple bound with cloth tape, ten leaves of blue card, each punched with a hole at a different point. Upon flicking through, the series of holes forms a spiral, one of Jacks’ emblems. Printed an edition of 5 copies, signed, numbered and titled by the artist on the upper wrapper.

Originally created in New York with the title Spiral Drawing in an anticipated edition of 50 copies, in fact only 10 copies were made. Spiral Drawing was one of a series of three ‘punched’ books, Circular Drawing, Spiral Drawing and Top – Bottom which were also issued bound as a set of the three volumes with the title in manuscript ‘who’s afraid of red, yellow and blue’. This set was issued in an edition of 6 copies. In 2007, Jacks recreated his original 1977 publication at his studio in Harcourt, in an edition of 5 copies. Rare.

References:

ANDERSON, Peter. The artist’s books of Robert Jacks. Bendigo : Bendigo Art Gallery, 2009.: p. 31

Collections (the 1977 edition):

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kunstbibliothek, Berlin