Selma Gültoprak

sign signed signed, 2017

Work attire, embroidery, coat hanger, 116.5 x 55 cm / AWARE OF ANOTHER

The work sign signed signed is a blue coat from the 1970s with an embroidered signature from Andrew Bolton. It is a reprise of the cover photo of the solo exhibition AWARE OF ANOTHER (*1), being a photo of the photo of the photo. The cover photo shows a Chinese and a Belgian pigeon breeder in the 70s. This time was intensively influenced by Anthony Bolton’s (*2) work, which made him famous in that era. His work can be found in numerous magazines, private homes, and in the memories of the breeders, experts, and aficionados of that time.

Keith Mott pays tribute to Anthony Bolton –the ‘Master’: „It was very sad hearing about the passing of Anthony Bolton on 26th February 2011. It is my opinion that the great Anthony Bol-ton was the pioneer of good quality pigeon photography and was the greatest pigeon photographer ever! Tony was a perfectionist and it came through in his wonderful pigeon portraits, which now hang on many thousands of pigeon fanciers‘ living room walls throug-hout Europe.(...) He inspired me to take up pigeon pho-tography, but compared the ‘Master’s’ work, mine were rubbish and never came close to his perfection!I could not begin to imagine how many times his perspex pigeon photography box, with the turn table floor, has been copied by would be photographers through the years and the patience he must have had to produce those wonderful stances on his subjects. I had been into photographing pigeons for many years, mostly to enhance my own articles in the fancy press, but in the 1980s when I wanted a colour portrait of my thirteen times winner Champi-on ‘Kenny’, I took him over to Barnes for Tony to photograph. Tony was so pleased with the finished photo of the old grizzle cock, he featu-red it on his stand at the BHW Blackpool Show the following January.(...) In Tony’s day he never had the luxury of the use of a computer to do his pictures; he used film and touched up his wonderful work by hand!( ...) There are many excellent pigeon photographers in the sport today, but Anthony Bolton was the ‘Master’ of them all.”