Kim Jones: Rat Piece [SIGNED copy]

Very Good minus small 4to softcover, 28 x 22 cm, 123 pages , some rubbing to covers especially along spine and two abrasions to same showing white & somewhat crimping front cover — see detail — which doesn’t affect binding nor contents. No internal flaws. Signed and dated 1990 by the artist in ink on the title page. A minor masterpiece. “Rat Piece is a compendium of documents regarding Kim Jones’ infamous piece of performance art on February 17, 1976; in which he lit three live rats on fire in a cage, causing their torture and consequent death. The piece, performed in front of 30 students on the California State University Campus in Los Angeles, caused an enormous public backfire, initiating the dismissal of the University’s gallery director, gallery space, and a general state of ambivalence about the ethical limitations of action done in the name of “conceptual art”. — On the last page of the book Jones dedicates thr book to Chris Burden and Miles Forst, the latter being this bookseller’s namesake.