About the work

The eighteenth-century reverend Laurence Sterne wrote one of the most famous novels in the history of Western literature, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-67) a book described by Italo Calvino as “postmodern before there was even a modernism to be post about”. Amongst the printerly tricks in Tristram Shandy is an almost entirely missing chapter, which is only signified by a jump of nine pages in the page count, a third of blank paper on the page, and a sentence opening the next chapter that tells us readers that all we missed was “the visitations at ****".

Nick Thurston’s fine prints are laid out as an uncut bookmaker’s imposition spread. They imagine what Sterne’s four asterisks might refer us or defer us to. Every print in Thurston’s set is uniquely marbled following either the colour scheme or Turkish Spot pattern of Sterne’s first edition.

This work has been produced in association with the Laurence Sterne Trust, Coxwold, N. Yorks.
Marbling by Kate Brett of Payhembury Marbled Papers, Cambridge in a series of new styles derived from eighteenth-century Turkish patterns; screenprinting by Joshua Robertson of White Duck Studio, Bath.

About the artist

Nick Thurston is the author or co-author of four books plus some twenty journal articles and artists’ pages, and is an academic in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds. His bookworks are collected by institutions internationally, including the Tate (London) and MoMA (New York); and his printed and sculptural works are held in public and private collections around Europe, including the Van Abbe Museum (Eindhoven) and The Biblioteque Nationale (Paris). From 2011-2012 Nick was the Writer in Residence at the Whitechapel Gallery with his fellow editors of the York-based publishing imprint Information as Material.

Selected Exhibitions

Recent exhibitions and editions include Imago, unlimited print edition, Forms of Criticism (London), June 2016; The Economy is Spinning, group show, cur. Kris Dittel, Onomatopee (Eindhoven), June-July 2016; Magritte for Cheerleaders, unlimited print edition, Information as Material (York), September 2015; Do or DIY (Expanded Second Edition), solo show (as Information as Material), curs. Ariana Ciula and Naomi Segal, Peltz gallery (London), April 2015; Les artistes face aux livres, group show, cur. Barbara Denis-Morel, The Scriptorium of Avranches at the Museum of Manuscripts (Mont Saint Michel), February – May 2015; Plastic Words, performance and public lecture, curs. John Douglas Millar, David Musgrave, Luke Skrebowski, Natasha Soobramanien and Luke Williams, Raven Row (London), December 2014 – February 2015; Nothing: A User’s Manual, free-to-download PDF booklet, compiled by Information As Material, published by Eclipse Archive (Utah), 2015; Unseen Presence, group show, cur. Janice Hough, Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), July-August 2014; The Fourth Class, group show, cur. Jerome Dupeyrat, Florence Loewy Gallery (Paris), November-December 2013; Learn to Read Differently, solo show (as Information as Material), cur. Circa Projects, Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art (Sunderland), August-September 2013; Pretty Brutal Library, solo show, cur. Derek Horton, & Model Gallery (Leeds, +touring), July-August 2013; Notes for a Pretty Brutal Library, limited edition, cur. Andrew Wilson, Hannah Festival (Hannah Mitchell Foundation), June 2013.