‘Artwork’ being auctioned here that seem all connected to when collaborating with Basel art gallery owner Klaus Littmann in late 80s and 90s. The collection includes some lithographic prints of Jim’s sketches, what seems like a catalogue-like ‘Report’ of his work linked to Galarie Littmann and copy of the poster by Jean Tinguely from 1988 show at the gallery posted about previously (see here).
The Phaidon book about André Heller‘s orginal Luna Luna amusement park in Hamburg from 1987 included a section dedicated to Jim and his Maschinentheater (Mechanical Theatre) installation. I have included photos of the section but similar photos are being used on the artist entry page for Jim on the relaunched Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy site here.
Continue reading “Luna Luna Book 1987”
I think this book was published by Galerie Litmann for Jim’s 1989 Unnatural Bodies show in Berlin based on the biographie in the back, although the World Cat database has 2 entries for 1988 (603554977) and 1989 (501132527). The book is credited as been authored by Jim and Jürg Bauer, and includes photo credits (fotonachweis) for Christian Bauer and Andrea Capella, as well as Enrico Luisoni (alles anderen photos). I found a copy for sale on the Ricardo.ch site, which explains that the photographs are of Jim’s installation at Galerie Klaus Littmann in Basel (1988). I have included some of the photos below and also the signed first page of my copy that includes my ‘Qualified Rambo Gunner’ certificate dated 1991, which is when I was helping Jim on his Unnatural Bodies (6) show in Ars Electronica, Linz (see more on the Rambo gun here).
Julian Spalding is an English art critic, writer, broadcaster and a former curator. He commissioned a number of installations by Jim at galleries around the UK from early 80s to early 90s. He also included Jim’s Bimbotown venue in his 2010 The Best Art You’ve Never Seen: 101 Hidden Treasures from around the World book. The following snippet is from his web gallery of modern art he admires (see here):
I was once in a taxi with Jean Tinguely when it took a wrong turning into a building site. Suddenly we found ourselves trapped inside high wire fencing, surrounded by working cranes, among piles of rubble and dust, with a colossal digger driving directly at us, its driver out of sight behind its great descending, Tyrannosaurus-toothed maw. The cab driver panicked and reversed rapidly and chaotically. Tinguely was very excited, bouncing up and down on his seat. ‘It’s Jim! It’s Jim Whiting!’ he cried.
Jim Whiting is Tinguely’s craziest successor – though his art is very different. It’s an unforgettable concatenation of his response to the madness of modern urban life combined with elements from his dysfunctional Catholic upbringing in Africa. In his nightclub Bimbo Town, the extraordinary creation of one extraordinary mind, human beings hunt and are hunted, drink and devour, fuck and get fucked, kick and get their kicks, all amid bucketfuls of laughter. Whiting is, without doubt, one of the greatest sculptors of our times.
He’s never had, nor sought a grant – he thinks they’re the death of art. How can an artist know in advance what he’s going to create? That’s why his art is so profound, and its content so radically and imaginatively exposed.
Julian Spalding’s Web Art Gallery, Archived 9 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
Jim Whiting Show 