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New City Editions

Mike Kelley: Plato's Cave, Rothko's Chapel, Lincoln's Profile, New City Editions / Artists Space, 1986

Mike Kelley: Plato's Cave, Rothko's Chapel, Lincoln's Profile, New City Editions / Artists Space, 1986

Publisher
New City Editions
Place & year
Venice, California, 1986
Type
Artist Book
Format
Illustrated softcover, 98 pp., 32 black-and-white illustrations; first edition
Size
14 × 20 cm
With
Designed with Patti Podesta
Condition
Good; rubbing, scratching and handling wear to covers, edge and corner wear, small surface losses and creasing along the spine; original gold “From the Strand Rare Book Room” label retained on the front cover.
Register
TNR-2026-0458 · 27 July 2026
Regular price £295
Regular price Sale price £295
Sale Placed
Register No. TNR-2026-0458
Registered 27 July 2026
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Quantity

Shipping: UK £7, free over £50 · Europe £18 · US & Canada £25 · Rest of world £30.
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Notes

Artist’s book, first edition, New City Editions, Venice, California, in association with Artists Space, New York, 1986.

Published in connection with Kelley’s wider Plato’s Cave, Rothko’s Chapel, Lincoln’s Profile project, which moved between writing, drawing, installation, music and performance. The book develops the work through an extended text and photographic material rather than functioning as a conventional exhibition catalogue. Kelley performed the work at Artists Space with Molly Cleator and music by Sonic Youth and Adam Rudolph; the project became an important early statement of his collision of philosophical reference, popular culture, comedy and bodily regression.

The Strand label is particularly effective here. A publication originally issued through an artist-run and alternative-space network was later identified, priced and circulated through a rare-book department. The label records that change in status directly on the object: artist’s book, second-hand book, rare book.

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