Pest of Scotland
The Pest of Scotland series is a multi-pronged project, still ongoing, that focuses on the short life of the Scottish radical, Thomas Muir, a political reformer turned revolutionist and terrorist who lived at the end of the eighteenth century. The project takes many forms – from small portrait paintings to chapbooks – all based on archival materials spiced with invention. One goal is to explore issues pertaining to representation and truth, using as a point of origin one of the signal debates on representative democracy that swept Europe and North America in the late 18th century.
To date, there are three titles in the series:
2007
An Escape Towards Liberty, Nothing Moments Press, LA.
2006
Paranoia on the High Seas, White Wine Press, Santa Monica and distritocu4r to Madrid.
2001
The Pest of Scotland, chapbook published by The Centre, Glasgow.
Some responses to the series:
"It is both comical and serious, and I thought it done the way Joyce might have written a courtroom scene." Arthur Danto, art critic for The Nation.
"...a sweet, sly book, like a tragedy in a teapot." Jim Krusoe, novelist, and founding editor of the Santa Monica Review.
"I wonder what it means that artists are now making books, not artists books in the limited sense. I think the book is great." Alec Finlay, book artist and publisher, Morning Star Press.
Exhibitions