The Masterpiece, Issue 2 - Birth of a Genius

2004
Plender, Olivia
This work is part of a five part comic book series entitled 'The Masterpiece' (2001 - 2006). It was originally made for an exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London in 2004, and was produced as an unlimited edition comic book – sold inexpensively as part of the exhibition. The original inspiration for the series was Oyvind Fahlstrom's plan to create an alternative distribution network for art works, in order to make them available to a wider public to purchase as cheap multiples in the same way as a record or comic. All five comic books are set in the past, in a fictional avantgarde London, and seem to question popular myths and cliches surrounding Bohemianism and the Romantic notion of 'genius'. Within this particular issue, the main character Nick exists as a struggling painter within the context of the swinging 1960s. The form the work takes, of a mass produced comic, is in deliberate contrast to the unique one off masterpiece that the central character is obsessed with making, especially since all the drawings are based on secondary sources from advertising, horror films and pulp book covers. Helen Loughlan
  • Artwork Details: 40 parts, each, 29.7 x 21cm
  • Edition:
  • Material description: pencil on paper
  • Credit line: © the artist
  • Theme:
  • Medium: Drawing
  • Accession number: ACC9/2008

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The Arts Council Collection is the UK's most widely seen collection of modern and contemporary art.

With more than 8,000 works by over 2,000 artists, it can be seen in exhibitions and public displays across the country and beyond. This website offers unprecedented access to the Collection, and information about each work can be found on this site.