Arcana:

(GRIEGER, SCOTT). Grieger, Scott. NP (Los Angeles): Self-Published, 1970. First Edition. Oblong Small 4to. Loose Plates in a Portfolio. Artist's Book. Very Good +.. Fifteen individual 7 ½ x 10 ¼" plates printed offset recto only, 15 b&w illustrations. Self-published in 1970, "Impersonations" is Los Angeles-based artist Scott Grieger's wildly hilarious, photographically illustrated artist's book of send-ups of iconic works by many of the then-prevailing luminaries of Pop, Conceptual and Minimal Art. Using the photographic studio and some darkroom magic, the hirsute Grieger clad in jeans, desert boots, and a white t-shirt substitutes himself for artworks ranging from a Barnett Newman "zip" to one of Robert Irwin's illuminated disc paintings. The fifteen artists receiving these wry homages are Ronald Bladen, Tony DeLap, Robert Grosvenor, Irwin, Les Levine, Sol LeWitt, John McCracken, Robert Morris, Newman, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, George Rickey, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, and Ernest Trova. The "Impersonations" photographs were subsequently shown in MoMA's landmark 1970 Conceptual Art exhibition "Information", the 1972 Whitney Annual, "Los Angeles '72" at New York's Sidney Janis Gallery, and were the subject of a 2007 retrospective with catalogue at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University. The work fits in nicely with parallel body-centric photographic excursions by the likes of Bruce Nauman, Chris Burden and Vito Acconci - albeit with a more overt tongue in cheek approach. A bright, handsome example of this exceedingly uncommon - only five copies are currently cited in OCLC WorldCat - and underappreciated gem whose glossy white printed paper portfolio shows some typical creasing along the edges along with a slight stain at the upper right corner of the rear panel. Inventory Number: 022630