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Announcing the Specific Object 2009 Publication of the Year Award Given to R.H Quaytman for the publication "Orchard Spreadsheet"

image from Announcing the Specific Object 2009 Publication of the Year Award Given to R.H Quaytman for the publication
Detail : R.H. Quaytman, Orchard Spreadsheet, 2009


Announcing the Specific Object 2009 Publication of the Year Award
Given to R.H. Quaytman for Orchard Spreadsheet


Specific Object is pleased to announce that our judges have named Orchard Spreadsheet, by R.H. Quaytman, the Specific Object 2009 Publication of the Year.

According to the artist, the Orchard Spreadsheet is a conceptual drawing based on the idea of a financial spreadsheet. In it Quaytman shows a complete list of Orchard's three years of programming from 2005 to 2008. Orchard was a collectively organized for profit exhibition and event space on New York's Lower East Side run by twelve partners - The spreadsheet outlines every exhibition, artist, artwork exhibited, title, date, media and price, followed by whether or not the individual work sold and if so, to who and finally, what percentage of the sale went towards Orchard’s operating expenses and how much commission was earned for the seller and the artist.

The reading orientation is right to left, referencing Hebrew as is the Circumcision font used for the word Orchard. The Jewish roots of Orchard’s neighborhood and previous tenants of the Orchard space in Lower Manhattan is referenced by this layout and design. R.H. Quaytman worked closely with graphic designer Geoff Kaplan who also designed her book Allegorical Decoys. The work reflects both conceptual art histories and the artist own detail oriented job as director of Orchard. Additionally it includes how much monies in dues each of the founding members contributed. It is an historic documentation of a moment, the boom times in the art industry, a record of Orchard’s program, and the huge swings in market value from one artist to another, from conceptual art to painting, from film to photography and other mediums. In the end Orchard's sales just barely covered the rent.

Specific Object's judges responded strongly on two primary levels to the publication: the blunt honesty of the the project, which exposes the definitive artistic and fiscal history of Orchard; and the project's emblematic graphic design.

R.H. Quaytman, is a New York City based artist whose work is included within in the Whitney Biennale 2010 exhibition on view through May 30, 2010.

In October 2010 Quaytman will present a commissioned project for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and in November 2010 will be the subject of a survey exhibition at the Neuberger Museum of Art, in Purchase, New York. Quaytman is represented by Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York.

Orchard Spreadsheet is a one-color inkjet print on 208 GRS Photorag Hahnemühle Acid Free Paper, measuring 82 x 51 inches [208 x 130 cm.]. It was published by MER. Paper Kunsthalle, Gent, in an edition of 10 signed and numbered copies, priced at $4,500 (plus shipping and sales tax), may be ordered directly from Specific Object at:

www.specificobject.com/Orchard_Spreadsheet

A full-scale PDF of Orchard Spreadsheet may be downloaded at:

www.specificobject.com/projects/2009_Award/Orchard-Spreadsheet.pdf

In addition to Orchard Spreadsheet, the judges also wish to acknowledge three additional outstanding publications for 2009 from the over 900 submitted titles:

Kay Rosen : AKAK published by Regency Arts Press Ltd.

In Numbers : Serial Publications by Artists Since 1955 , by Andrew Roth, Philip Aarons, Victor Brand, Clive Phillpot, Neville Wakefield, Nancy Princenthal, and William S. Wilson, published by PPP Editions and JRP / Ringier.

Unconcealed : The International Network of Conceptual Artists 1967 - 77; Dealers, Exhibitions and Public Collections , by Sophie Richard, edited by Lynda Morris, published by Ridinghouse.


About the Specific Object Publication of the Year Award

Since 2004 Specific Object has selected a Specific Object Publication of the Year. The winner of the 2004 Specific Object Publication of the Year Award was Jonathan Monk for his book Cover Version, published by Book Works U.K.; the winner for 2005 was Philippe Parreno's Fade to Black, published by mfc-Michäle Didier; 2006's award was presented to 0 TO 9 : Limited Facsimile Edition by Vito Acconci & Bernadette Mayer as part of the Ugly Duckling Presse / Lost Literature Series; 2007's award was presented to Esopus magazine; and the 2009 award winner was The Mug by Sarah Lucas and Olivier Garbay, published by Other Criteria.

Winners of the award receive a cash prize and the title of Publication of the Year. Rules for consideration for the Specific Object 2010 Publication of the Year award can be found at:

www.specificobject.com/projects/Publication_Call


About Specific Object

Specific Object is a gallery, bookstore and website based in New York City.

Specifically, Specific Object is an attempt to isolate distinct works of value - historically, monetarily and / or personally valuable - and show them in an isolated context without the artifice of visual confusion or clutter in hopes of allowing these works, or objects, their own place, space and time. The materials shown range from artists' publications, ephemera, prints, multiples and other editions to literature, music / audio works and unique artworks of the contemporary world.

From 1998 through 2004 Platzker was the Executive Director of the non-profit institution Printed Matter, Inc. He is also the co-author, and co-curator - with Elizabeth Wyckoff - of Hard Pressed: 600 Years of Prints and Process (International Print Center New York & Hudson Hills Press, 2000); and - with Richard H. Asxom - the book and exhibition entitled Printed Stuff: Prints, Posters, and Ephemera by Claes Oldenburg: A Catalogue Raisonné 1958-1996 (Madison Art Center & Hudson Hills Press, 1997), which was awarded the George Wittenborn Award for Best Art Publication of 1997 by the Art Libraries Society of North America. Platzker has also curated exhibitions of the works of John Baldessari, Marcel Duchamp, Donald Judd, Bruce Nauman, Oldenburg, Dieter Roth, and Edward Ruscha in addition to commissioning or curating exhibitions at Printed Matter of Angelblood, Larry Clark, Erin Cosgrove, Meg Cranston, General Idea, Jenny Holzer, Reverend Jen, Allan Kaprow, Yoko Ono, Ryan McGinness, Sonic Youth, Tom Sachs, David Tremlett, Richard Tuttle and the Guerrilla Girls.

In November 2004 Specific Object acquired the inventory of Bound & Unbound from Barbara Moore.

Specific Object is located at 601 West 26th Street / Floor 2M / Room M285, New York, NY 10001. Telephone (212) 242-6253.

For more information regarding Specific Object please visit its website: www.specificobject.com or email david@specificobject.com

This press release is archived at:

www.specificobject.com/projects/2009_Award