M HKA Ensembles

Artist Novel, 15,24 x 22,86 cm, English, 234 pages, publisher: Owl Canyon Press, ISBN: 978-0998507385.

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2030/316).

Literary synopsis

Artists Ray Lawson and Victor Florian search for NoLab, a collaborative of artist provocateurs that has gone missing. Their search becomes a romp through the art and ideas of a progressive, conceptually oriented subculture of the art world. They investigate Carter Wilkinson, creator of The Institute (a shadowy, futuristic cultural institution with an unusual collection). Though seemingly inept as detectives, Ray and Victor eventually succeed in finding the members of NoLab. Murder intervenes. Ray, Victor, and NoLab are harassed and threatened by various individuals attempting to dissuade NoLab from implementing its ill-advised plan. From the presumed safety of home, Ray and his newly acquired family watch the gory ramifications of NoLab’s self-destructive act unfold in the media.

Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice

NoLab is not part of a wider project. However, NoLab  does relate to Richard Roth's art practice in many ways. The narrator and Roth are both abstract, reductive painters, both have done conceptual projects in their past, both have taught in university art programs. Additionally, in NoLab Roth created a number of artworks that could only exist as texts—couldn’t exist in real life.

Novel's website