Richard Greaves: Anarchitecte / Anarchitect

Milan: 5 Continents, 2005. Softcover. NF contents; light shelf wear to covers; covers sealed in protective Mylar. Art school ex-lib. with usual marks.. Bw photographic wraps with white lettering. [99] pp. with bw photographs throughout. Catalog published to accompany exhibition held at Fonderie Darling, Montréal, Canada, 6 October-20 November 2005 ; Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, United States, 19 January-11 March 2006 ; Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne, Switzerland, 5 October 2006-28 January 2007 ; Pulperie de Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Canada, 19 May-14 October 2007. Richard Greaves left Montreal in 1984, completely turning his back on his former life and work, and moved to the Beauce region of Quebec. There, he took up residence on a piece of land that he and some friends had bought eight years prior, near a small rural community. Only in 1989 did he begin to work on this immense (250 metres x 1.6 kilometres) site, placing on the ground and attaching to trees installations composed of objects made from garbage; computer key-boards and screens, typewriters, clothes, toys, shoes, household appliances, sports equipment, television sets, umbrellas, and more. Between 1990 and 1995, Greaves worked with the artist and poet Berthier Guay, who lived nearby. Guay was often commissioned by clients to dismantle old buidings, piece by piece, and reconstruct them elsewhere. The architectural procedures used by Greaves result in a reversal of the conceptual rules of construction. His work arises from 'counter-architecture', or what Michel Ragon calls 'anarchitecture'.