Adam Pendleton - Anthology - 2018

Large folio with 200 compositions and a unique cover. Isolated photographs and fragments photocopied from the pages of books are layered with marks, dashes, patterns, shapes, and handwriting that frequently verges on abstraction. Each composition is unique, but many elements iterate and recombine throughout the series: masks, ceramics, phrases (“WHAT A DAY WAS THIS”; “IF THE FUNCTION”), and historical images related to modernism and decolonization in Africa. The book, which collates the works in chronological sequence, encourages readers to track these recurring components as they phase in and out across the book’s 200 pages.

The compositions are directly related to Pendleton’s collages on mylar and the book translates and indexes these source collages which are usually printed on transparent film whereas in Anthology they have been silkscreened onto Shoji paper. Reflecting on the combinatorial nature of the compositions, each book has a unique cover: a patterned black-and-white canvas fabric, screen printed with one of four handwritten texts.

Publisher: Zucker Art Books

18 1/2 x 14 1/4 x 2 inches
47 x 36.2 x 5.1 cm