Olivia Vander Tuig(New York)
Artist
CONTRIBUTION ‘Various Small Fires’
Olivia Vander Tuig is a New York based artist behind ‘Various Small Fires‘, which was published by ll’Editions in the Winter of 2020.
Olivia Vander Tuig (b. 1991) is an artist and a conceptual producer living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Vander Tuig makes work about the midwest, human cognition, and success.
Vander Tuig’s project ‘Olivia’s Custom Lighters’ is an ongoing work started in 2014. The project began as a humble cart on the streets of New York, making unique lighters for passers-by and tourists. In the past years, hundreds of lighters have been made for Alberto Mugrabi, Mary-Kate Olsen, Tom Sachs, Mickey Cartin, Virgil Abloh, and many others of pomp.
In 2020, LL’Editions released the functional multiple Various Small Fires with Olivia Vander Tuig. The Zippo™ is the archetypical form of a lighter. It is an object which has obtained pop cultural status, appearing in many films, books and works of art. One such example is Ed Ruscha’s artist’s book Various Small Fires and Milk (self-published, 1964). The book is Ruscha’s second photographically illustrated artist’s book, cataloguing a range of flames and a glass of milk. One of these small fires happens to be (you guessed it) a Zippo lighter.
In equal parts, the multiple pays homage to Ed Ruscha, with the title of his seminal artist book engraved to the lighter, mimicking its cover, and to the tradition of artist’s books in general. The hand engraved zippo lighter came in an hand painted Zippo box, titled and numbered by the artist. Each lighter was hand engraved in Vander Tuig’s characteristic style with ‘VARIOUS SMALL FIRES’ on the rector and ‘AND MILK’ on the the verso. The sides of the lighter are engraved with ‘LL’EDITIONS’ along with its number in the edition on one side, and the artist’s signature and year on the other.
The multiple quickly sold out upon its release, and is now a highly coveted collector’s item.
