Synopses & Reviews
In 2001, as part of their ongoing obsession with Francisco Goya's work, Jake and Dinos Chapman purchased one of the few remaining sets of the Disasters of War prints, made from the artist's original plates by the Goya Foundation in 1937. Produced by Goya between 1810 and 1820 as an attack on the horrors of war, and its supposed romance and idealism, this group of 80 images has since become emblematic of art's moral voice, as well as a powerful template for the representation of the gross insanity of conflict. Disasters of War has been idolised by generations of artists, notably Picasso and DalAA-, who were both directly inspired by Goya's anti-war polemic.
The Chapmans meticulously rectified their Goya prints, drawing on top of what must be the most revered set of prints in existence. The artists superimposed cartoon faces, either those of clowns or puppies, onto figures Goya had intended as allegories of human suffering. Entitled Insult to Injury, this reworked series has been seen variously as an evil and meaningless desecration by vandals, and as the ultimate homage to Goya's masterpiece, a fitting extension of his despair.
In making the book that records this new work, the reproductions were made directly from the embellished Goya prints themselves. This means an unprecedented print quality for the images, which are reproduced at actual size, and in four colours. The 80 plates are complemented by a previously unpublished text by Jake Chapman.
Synopsis
Inter esse is a Berlin tale in which recent German history finds expression. From 1985 to 1987, Maria Sewcz created a series of radical photographs of Berlin's east side. Collected here, these bold images capture a cold and irreconcilable rage with the status quo during a period of historic transition.
Synopsis
As a young photographer Maria Sewcz created a series of radical photographs of Berlin's east side. The Reichstag, Rathaus, Alexanderplatz, Thälmann Memorial and the border with the west marked the limits of her urban topography. Made from 1985 to 1987, these bold images capture a cold and irreconcilable rage with the status quo at this period of transition. Inter esse is a Berlin tale in which recent German history finds expression. Expressed in dynamic movements through constant changes of perspective, the story has no interest in subordinating one individual's perception to so-called "historical necessities".
About the Author
Maria Sewcz, born in 1960 and raised in Northern Germany, submitted the portfolio inter esse as her thesis at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig in 1987.