Drawing Restraint Volume IV

Drawing Restraint Volume IV includes drawings related to Drawing Restraint 9, a film set on a whaling vessel in the Sea of Japan that features Matthew Barney and his partner, the musician Bjork (who also scored the film). Barney s exquisite drawings are surrealistic evocations of the film s nautical settings, Japanese ceremonies, and aquatic transformations. The book also contains the first published images from Barney s latest project, Drawing Restraint 13, which he filmed at Barbara Gladstone Gallery in the spring of 2006 and publicly screened for the first time at his SF MoMA retrospective last fall. The film shows Barney s continuing interest in dramatic encounters of Westerners coming into contact with Japan. He plays General MacArthur in a performance that draws upon two historically significant moments from the late stages of WWII. The first is MacArthur s legendary landing on the beaches in the Philippines, a symbolic reclamation of territory that had earlier been conquered by Japan. The second is MacArthur s acceptance of the articles of surrender from Japanese officials on board the USS Missouri, the ceremony that ended the war. Drawing Restraint Volume IV incorporates the best traditions of fine press printing. Facsimiles of drawings and letters are printed in letterpress on Japanese paper and accompanied by lush duotone plates. The volume is case bound and issued in an edition of 1000 copies.