Section 55

[77] leaves. 8vo, printed white softcover, title on spine, perfect-bound. New York: Self-published & The Greenwich Collection Ltd., 1990.<br /> <P> One of Ian Wilson's rarest artist's books; WorldCat records no copies in North America.<br /> <P> "Wilson has also produced a number of artist books, each simply titled Section followed by a number. The word 'section' reminds me of how nations organize their constitutions according to 'acts' and 'sections.' [...] Linguistically, a section also always implies a pre-existing whole. A section can only be derived from a whole. Chapters have a different connotation in that they are like building blocks toward a whole. After all, a chapter can be incomplete while a section is always complete to the extent that it is a section. As such, naming his artist's books Section followed by a number is homologically related to Buddhist or Hindu sutras, collections of canonical texts that were then assembled into a book of teachings."-Ken Lum, "Ian Wilson: From Chalk Circle to Full Circle" in Everything is Relevant, Writings on Art and Life, 1991-2018 (2020), p. 241.<br /> <P> Section 55: "Absolute Knowledge."<br /> <P> Near fine copy; lower cover a bit scuffed. From an edition of 500. We locate one copy in Germany and another at the Stichting Stedelijk Museum.<br /> <P> ❧ Ian Wilson: The Discussions (2008), p. 173.