A Contemporary and Historical Collision with Commemorative Stampage by the CNPD.
Thursday 19th October - Sunday 5th November 2006 At the aquarium’s Atrocious Design Centre, 10 Woburn Walk off Upper Woburn Place London WC1H OJL
"Armchair Destructivist art is marked by a commitment to total destruction and a wholehearted un-acceptance of modernity and/or critical thought.” Jevski - The AD handbook 1922
Current day Armchair Destructivists shirk such total nihilism in favour of more pointed statements. Reformed sculptures carefully wrought from destroyed soft furnishings only to offer the promise of more destruction sit along side stamp designs that document and archive a doomed history of an un-accepted art form in the language of an un-accepted art form. Links are made to an apathetic society that accepts the comfort, the misguidance, and the fear it is fed, and as always, war and a suffering planet are on the agenda.
“Nothing is safe - even objects traditionally associated with comfort and security can become lethal domestic bombs when that is the intention. We threw an armchair from the top of a hundred foot cliff on the afternoon of 9/11 in order to observe on film the moments in time when the chair became that lethal weapon.” Miss Pokeno (destructivist) 2006 - on the latest AD action.
ARMCHAIR DESTRUCTIVISM was a particularly destructive branch of abstract art founded in 1921 by the Russian artist known as Jevski. Branded at the time as “Art Hooliganism”, Armchair Destructivism subsequently won little favour within the emerging Avant-Garde, and despite a huge popularist following that spread across Europe and America for decades, little was ever recorded and even less scholarly attention was paid to this remarkable underground art movement.
This timely exhibition will focus on a collection of such recent work within the context of the movement’s history. From the early days of revolutionary fervour to armchairs plummeting from tower blocks in the 1960s; groups of youths attacking sofas in the 1970s to splinter groups and militant factions in the 1980s; from the personal and decadent destructé of the 1990s and back to the more politically charged work of recent years.
Due to the patchy nature of this history and the incompletion of the recent work we currently know little else. All we can say is expect stampage, expect mutilated soft furnishings, expect film, expect destruction.
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AD T-Shirt
Small, medium, large and extra large
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The Immolation of Jevski's House
112cm x 28.5cm pigment print on 310gsm satin art paper. Edition of 13 signed and numbered by James Cauty
Framed exhibition AP 119.6cm x 30.5cm the first proof to be printed - contains minor errors corrected for the numbered edition
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Ground Zero - Jevski's Last Stand Together
61cm x 30.5cm pigment print on 310gsm satin art paper. Edition of 10 signed and numbered by James Cauty
Framed exhibition AP 119.6cm x 30.5cm the first proof to be printed
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The CNPD Investigate Composite
52.5cm x 30.5cm pigment print on 315gsm matt art paper. Composite Edition of 35 numbered and franked
Framed exhibition AP 119.6cm x 30.5cm the first proof to be printed with typo as shown. Signed by the artist
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The CNPD Illuminate
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (52cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (103cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (190cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP the first proof to be printed with typo as shown. Signed by the artist (pop edition size SIGNED)
Framed exhibition AP the first proof to be printed with typo as shown. Signed by the artist (Signed Edition size)
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The CNPD Investigate
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (52cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (103cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (190cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP the first proof to be printed with typo as shown. Signed by the artist (pop edition size SIGNED)
Framed exhibition AP the first proof to be printed with typo as shown. Signed by the artist (Signed Edition size)
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The CNPD ..............
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (52cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (103cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (190cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP the first proof to be printed with typo as shown. Signed by the artist (pop edition size SIGNED)
Framed exhibition AP the first proof to be printed with typo as shown. Signed by the artist (Signed Edition size)
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AD 9-11-2006 £2 Stampage
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (33cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (66.5cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (125cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP (pop edition size SIGNED)
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AD 9-11-2006 68p Stampage
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (33cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (66.5cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (125cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP (pop edition size SIGNED)
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AD 9-11-2006 22p Stampage
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (33cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (66.5cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (125cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP (pop edition size SIGNED)
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AD 9-11-2006 22p, 68p and £2 Composite
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Signed Edition of 3 (79cm x 61cm)
Framed exhibition AP - first proof print Signed by the artist
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AD 1968a Stampage
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (33cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (66.5cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (125cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP (pop edition size SIGNED)
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AD 1968b Stampage
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (33cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (66.5cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (125cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP (pop edition size SIGNED
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Ground Zero Blue - Jevski's Last Stand
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (33cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (66.5cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (125cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP (pop edition size SIGNED)
Framed exhibition AP (Signed Edition size)
Framed exhibition AP (Signature Edition size)
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AD 1968 Evidence Edition
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Signed Edition of 3 (79cm x 61cm)
Framed exhibition AP - first proof print Signed by the artist
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Ground Zero Blue - Jevski's Last Stand
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (33cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (66.5cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (125cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP (pop edition size SIGNED)
Framed exhibition AP (Signed Edition size)
Framed exhibition AP (Signature Edition size)
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Ground Zero Orange - Jevski's Last Stand
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (33cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (66.5cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (125cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP (pop edition size SIGNED)
Framed exhibition AP (Signed Edition size)
Framed exhibition AP (Signature Edition size)
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Photo-Evidence A
The Armchair Destructivists at the Degenerate Art Exhibition, Munich 1937 21cm x 14.75cm glossy photo. Edition of 100 numbered and franked
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Photo-Evidence B
The Armchair Destructivists at the Degenerate Art Exhibition, Munich 1937 21cm x 14.75cm glossy photo. Edition of 100 numbered and franked
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Photo-Evidence C
The Armchair Destructivists at the Degenerate Art Exhibition, Munich 1937, 21cm x 14.75cm glossy photo. Edition of 100 numbered and franked
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Photo-Evidence D
The Armchair Destructivist May Riots, Paris 196821cm x 14.75cm glossy photo. Edition of 100 numbered and franked
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Photo-Evidence E
The Armchair Destructivist Paris Riots, Paris 2005 21cm x 14.75cm glossy photo. Edition of 100 numbered and franked
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The Dear Leader
Pigment print on 315 gsm matt art paper
Pop Edition of 20 (87.6cm x 30.5cm)
Signed Edition of 3 (175cm x 61cm)
Signature Edition of 1 (321.5cm x 112cm)
Framed exhibition AP the first proof to be printed with errors corrected for the edition. Signed by the artist (pop edition size SIGNED)
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ad The Armchair |
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AD 1968 Stampage
Mint Sheet
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AD 9-11-2006 Stampage
Mint Sheet
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AD 1921- 1969 Commemorative Stampage
Mint Sheet
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THE ARMCHAIR DESTRUCTIVISTS HANDBOOK: 1922
Facsimile copy of the original edition. Editions of 50 numbered and stamped
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THE ARMCHAIR DESTRUCTIVISTS HANDBOOK: 1968
Facsimile copy of the original edition. Editions of 50 numbered and stamped
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THE ARMCHAIR DESTRUCTIVISTS HANDBOOK: 2006
First edition published by the aquarium 2006. Editions of 50 numbered and stamped
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MASS EXTINCTION
