The
production method and cost constraints limited the image content to black and
white rendition. Here is a sample page:
At
one level of interpretation, given the title, Paolozzi, tongue in cheek, was
perhaps presenting a compendium of texts and imagery which represented a neatly
distilled A-Z of the World, (all in the course just 70 pages.) In 1970 we were not yet nearing the brink of
the new world of information technology but I believe Paolozzi had considerable
foresight of this. With this he envisaged
the completely revised cultural situation in which we now live: a milieu abounding
with information, images, concepts, speculation, news, junk news, soap opera,
advertising, marketing, video, audio, virtual reality, noise, music, jingles, and
dissonance. This is a 24/7 world in
which it is increasingly more difficult to be all-knowing/expert as there is
just such a huge volume of data to be assimilated. And it is certainly impossible to ‘sum up’
fields of information neatly in the sort of reference works/encyclopaedias we
were still turning to in 1970. With the
inter-connectivity of information sources as well as the sheer volume of the
stuff, any single - or body of - representation of knowledge is likely to be
obsolete before you can re-transmit or print it.
But
what is Abba-Zaba? It’s a brand of
Californian confectionery manufacturer, Annabelle Candy Company. The bar itself is chewy – like toffee – with a
peanut flavour centre. I don’t know if
Paolozzi liked the taste, but I’m sure he was very attracted by the packaging,
especially the chequer patterned wrapper – there is an echo here of the Cox’s gelatine
packet design that he used in the As Is When series, see - http://paolozzi.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/tortured-life.html
Abba-Zaba
also enjoys plenty of Paolozzi-friendly mass-media associations – name-checked
in tv shows, movies and rock music; with the latter for example, Capt Beefheart’s
LP, Safe as Milk was originally slated to be named Abba-Zaba.
The book was published in a
limited edition of 500 and nowadays it regularly comes up for sale, recent examples
being offered for an average price of £195 – so it’s a very affordable way to
own a signed/numbered Paolozzi printed work.
