Artificial Sun, 1st sheet from the As Is When series

Eduardo Paolozzi (known above all as a sculptor) was a founding member of the London Independent Group that was intent on endowing popular culture with a status on a par with High Art. Even though still as late as 1964 he presented himself as a graphic artist in the series As Is When, Paolozzi had already experimented with the serigraphy technique in the 1950s when he was one of the first artists to use this printmaking method for artistic purposes. The series of twelve silk-screen prints entitled As Is When alludes to the life and oeuvre of the Viennese philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. The sheet Artificial Sun bears the first thesis of his book Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus stating: „The world is determined by the facts, and by their being all the facts.“ Wittgenstein’s study of linguistic systems blends here with Paolozzi’s interest in play and influenced the artist’s approach to a repetitive, collage-like arrangement of the composition. This layout then became distinctive of the series’ other sheets.