Burnt Book Artist (1960)

M, S of artist John Latham in his studio in Holland Park, London. His beard and cream Aran jumper make him look a bit of a beatnik. There are some old books and tools on a table in the middle of the room. C, U as he picks up a book with a red cover and examines it, then clears a space on the table. With a large spatula and some plaster he attaches a different book to a canvas and then cuts the first book in half with some cutters. C, Us as he pumps a blowlamp and uses it to burn the edges of the cut book, then dusts away any loose ash with a brush. C, Us of him applying plaster to a piece of wire gauze and attaching the burnt book section to the gauze, then sticking the whole thing to the canvas we saw earlier. He now paints some of the burnt pages a dark pink colour. M, Ss of the threedimensional canvas on a wall with various books attached, all with pink painted pages, then with dark blue pages, then pale blue and yellow pages. The commentator tells us that what remains of the pages are painted