A REAL WORK OF ART

© The Artist

A REAL WORK OF ART 1993

Mark Wallinger (1959 – )

Details

Dimension
13 X 12 X 7.5 CM
Media
PAINTED DIE-CAST METAL, WOOD AND METAL PLAQUE
Accession number
P6953

Summary

I spotted a little company that made up little statuettes of horses. Some of the horses were just standing there in a classic pose, or running and jumping – either famous horses, which would be in either Duchess of Westminster’s colours, or else as an owner you could have your own custom-made in your colours. It was part of the whole project to buy a horse called ‘A Real Work of Art’. It was decided that it would be a good idea to make a multiple of fifty of these little statuettes – at this point we had bought the horse but hadn’t seen her yet, but we knew she was a chestnut with one white sock and a blaze down her face, and so I directed the company to make up fifty of these wearing my racing colours which are the Suffragette colours of emerald green, white and violet. The edition was numbered on the saddle cloth, which I thought was quite a nice touch, and then mounted on a plinth which I found at another model makers, with a silver inscribed title.

I thought they were quite charming. They’ve got no pretensions to high art… I am into the idea that they kind of democratise ownership for people who cannot afford a unique piece, and I think they can work very well if they’re the nature of the edition – if that’s taken into account. Hopefully I did that with mine, in that it was like bonding together a certain kind of fan club that would help get the project afloat. There was a certain brotherhood in owning the multiples, which hopefully they would have liked to see her on the track one day. Thought about in the right way I think multiples are interesting things.

Multiplication, The British Council 2001

 

Glossary

  • Edition

    All copies of a book, print, portfolio, sculpture, etc., issued or produced at one time or from a single set of type. Printed works can be made in an edition of between one and many thousands of copies. With most printing techniques the plate or screen will become worn if very many prints are made, so to maintain quality (and exclusivity) editions of original prints are usually kept below one hundred copies and normally average between thirty and fifty copies. Prints made up of several different plates can be extremely complicated and time-consuming to edition, so in these cases editions are kept low for practical reasons. Sculptural editions are a set of cast sculptures taken from the same mould or master. These editions are usually much lower, consisting of no more than six casts. Though each cast in an edition might have a lower value than a unique piece, it may be a more effective way of offsetting costs of an expensive process such as bronze casting.