LIDS
The LIDs project culminated in the publication of 80 LIDs in 2019 – a very dishy catalogue ocumenting some of the several hundred LIDs made – nd with showings of the work at the BookArtBookShop in London and the Freehome Gallery in Berlin.
The catalogue – size 16.5 x 23.5, full colour and glossiness, is available here and at all good artist’s book bookshops:
As George Johnson Gardener writes:
“Malcolm Green’s Lids were done from summer 2017 to summer 2018. Beginning as disposable tops to takeaway trays, the plastic surfaces received a second life as paint palettes; thence followed a third life when they were texted and turned into pocket masterpieces. … The Lids are exceptional because by bringing the chance element in the painted background (the paint was applied solely to mix colours), together with uncensored, spontaneous texts (which crossed the artist’s mind while doing menial tasks, and were committed to plastic regardless of quality, originality, logic, or plausibility), they constitute the marriage of two divergent avant-garde currents that rarely meet: the paint splashes echo the pure chance enlisted by the Dadaist/constructivist wing (from Tristan Tzara and Hans Arp to De Stijl and later John Cage), while the texts with their graceful passion, oneiric insistence, and sometimes clairvoyant impress, recall the automatism of Surrealist writing (André Breton, et al.). …The Lids are speculative, and remind us of how Einstein changed the way we think of gravity as not a force but a play of geometry: Green’s work with Lids can similarly be viewed not as artistic expression (in a billiard ball universe) but as articulation that leads to new discoveries.” — George Johnson Gardener
Nuff said, here a few samples:
CAPS
The CAPS project began at a slightly earlier date, and essentially reflects the same process as for the LIDs – with the exception that wine consumption provided at least the basic material (the capsules around the bottle neck, which were then written on with a uni-ball pen), if not the inspiration. While the LIDs can also be categorised loosely according to topics (possession, gravity, etc.), the CAPs have been framed behind glass in groups with very clear thematic thrusts (John Cage, Silence, etc.) It is no coincidence then that several of the framed collections were shown at the wonderful Rumpsti-Pumsti art space in Berlin (sadly now no longer in operation), run by musician and experimental music impressario Daniel Löwenbruck.
New is a slim volume titled 57 Meditations by an Ornamental Conceptualist on Contemplating Henry Moore’s Pelvis…. which is dedicated to the cap concept:
The booklet should be ready in time for the Small ublishers Fair at the Conway Hall on the last Friday and Saturday of October, 2022. Price probably around 4 to 5 quid o.n.o.