In 1969 Roth began planning Collected Works, a self-published twenty-volume catalogue raisonné that would contain, collect, classify, organize, and document much of the work he had made to date. A testament to his ongoing impulse toward accumulation, Collected Works shows the duality of his approach, both chaotic and organized. The books were not issued sequentially (Volume 15 was published first), nor did they present the artist’s work chronologically, but all were the same trim size, allowing for the economical reuse of material at the printer. He took the opportunity to review, and in some cases, amend the original artworks, and also issued deluxe editions of each volume, creating special covers that pertained to their contents—including a croissant-encrusted cover for Volume 6.
Gallery label from Wait, Later This Will Be Nothing: Editions by Dieter Roth, February 17–June 24, 2013.
