Sobre los ángeles
2023
A book of 53 collages based on Rafael Alberti's poetry collection 'Sobre los ángeles'.
By Peter Duffin
These collages transform posters, postcards, and news clippings (some of which I have carried with him for decades) into the titles of the 53 poems in Rafael Alberti's seminal collection 'Sobre los ángeles'. For Alberti, his poems were not about the 'Christian, bodily angels' we are familiar with from religious iconography, but rather they were 'irresistible forces of the spirit'. They drink, get mad, mourn: they were very human angels.
The dialog between the collages' origin material and Alberti's angels became a way for me to acknowledge, thank, and converse with the angels that I've always felt were walking by my side.
—Peter Duffin
Estos collages transforman carteles, postales y recortes de prensa (algunos de los cuales he llevado con él durante décadas) en los títulos de los 53 poemas de la seminal colección de Rafael Alberti "Sobre los ángeles". Para Alberti, sus poemas no trataban de los "ángeles cristianos y corpóreos" que conocemos por la iconografía religiosa, sino que eran "fuerzas irresistibles del espíritu". Beben, enloquecen, lloran: son ángeles muy humanos.
El diálogo entre el material de origen de los collages y los ángeles de Alberti se convirtió para mí en una forma de reconocer, agradecer y conversar con los ángeles que siempre he sentido que caminaban a mi lado.
—Peter Duffin
Portfolio and poems / Carpeta y poemas
A Selection of the Collages
Madrigal Sin Remedio
The magazine Reality. The World’s Searchlight on Germany, circa 1918.
La revista Reality. The World’s Searchlight on Germany, hacia 1918.
Invitación al aire
Xerox of Geoffrey Hendricks’ sketchbook documenting Peter Duffin’s 1993 performance 1053 Roses.
Text: “Peter Duffin. 1053 Roses. Arrive around 3:20. 3:40 or so James Carl. Fran Tranor & Cynthia ? Arrive. 4: Take 2 photos. About 3:50 outside they say how he broke up with his boyfriend last week. So visit was end. But this is also beginning. Beautiful rite &...”
Una fotocopia del cuaderno de Geoffrey Hendricks que documenta el espectáculo de Peter Duffin 1053 Roses (1993).
En el poema Recuerda, Cuerpo... de C.P. Cavafy el poeta gay escribe sobre los amantes y anhelos de su juventud. En mi poema concreto, las letras de la obra original han sido reorganizadas para formar una lista de nombres de hombres que quizás él deseaba. Este poema concreto es un anagrama completo del poema original.
El ángel desengañado
Page from the book Oficio.
Página del libro Oficio.
Los ángeles sonámbulos
1962 ad for Madrid’s Teatro Circo.
Anuncio para Teatro Circo de Madrid (1962).
El ángel de los números
1864 advertisement for The Thorpe Brothers spiritualism performance.
Anuncio del espectáculo de espiritismo de The Thorpe Brothers (1864).
El alma en pena
The first and last pages of Christopher Isherwood’s 1981 book My Guru and His Disciple.
Las primeras y últimas páginas del libro de Christopher Isherwood My Guru and His Disciple (1981).
Canción Del Ángel Sin Suerte
Pages from Peter Duffin’s sketchbook, 1998.
Text: “In the distant past, 4 billion miles away, two planets collided, the iron core of one hurtled through space towards earth. Millennia later, the comet finished its journey smashing through Ms. J. Barrons [sic] car which was parked in her driveway while she watched T.V.”
Páginas del cuaderno de Peter Duffin (1998).
Specifications
Collages printed with indigo prints.
Book: 219mm x 307mm
Edition size: 19