Drawing Restraint Volume IV

$75.00

JMc & GHB editions is pleased to announce its latest publication: Drawing Restraint Volume IV by Matthew Barney. This is the fourth volume in a series of books that documents Barney’s ongoing Drawing Restraint progression.

There are the 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.

Drawing Restraint Volume IV includes drawings related to Drawing Restraint 9, a film set on a whaling vessel in the Sea of Japan that features Matthew Barney and his partner, the musician Bjork (who also scored the film). 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 Barbara Gladstone Gallery in the spring of 2006 and publicly screened for the first time at his SF MoMA retrospective last 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 WWII. 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 that had earlier been 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. The volume is case bound and issued in an edition of 1000 copies. Of these, there is a limited edition of 50 signed and numbered copies which come in a boards slipcase. Additionally a deluxe edition of 15 has been specially designed, laid into a polyurethane box the artist has made to house the book and an accompanying photograph of Barney as General MacArthur.