The Marque of the Third Stripe
2008
Artist Novel, 19.7 x 14 cm, 1079 p., language: English, publisher: Preromanbritain and Monitor Gallery, ISBN: 9780982139509.
Materials: ink, paper
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2024/816).
Literary synopsis
New York-based artist Alexandre Singh's Faustian novella reimagines the life of Adi Dassler, founder of Adidas, in a world of reversed time and geography in which America is the Old World, and Europe a new frontier populated by geometry-worshipping primitives. This limited and signed edition includes Singh's 1080-page Dictionary of a Synæsthetic Language, nine Wikipedia-style essays, the original story and 18 hand-tipped color photographs.
Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice
Writing is certainly at the heart of all the projects Alexandre Singh is involved with. A good story can hold a lot of weight. And by weight we refer to all those extraneous embellishments that it is an artist’s pleasure to invent and attach onto his project. Of course, once laden with these burdens we then need to take out our shears and begin to prune away. For a good story should also be elegant and trim.
Book Design: Emily Lessard
Authorship: Artist Author.
Creative Strategy: Artworks Cite Novel.
Genre: Gothic.
Publishing: Self-Publishing.
Theme: Mysticism, Science-Fiction, Sports.