Aberdeen,A Day Down a Goldmine began as an installation consisting of “humorous sculpture with a deeply serious vein running through it” exhibited in 1982 at Glasgow’s Third Eye Centre. Taking a leaf out of Joseph Beuys’ book, and building on his own passion for performing, George had the idea of augmenting the exhibition with a theatrical experience.

First accompanied by Russell Hunter in 1982, it was performed again in 1984 with Bill Paterson at Watermans Art Centre, London and then went on to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1985 where it won a Fringe First Award. A Day Down a Goldmine then toured venues across Scotland. The last performance was with John Bett at Tramway during Glasgow’s reign as City of Culture in 1990.

 A surreal satire of the world’s banking systems, A Day Down a Goldmine’s theme was mankind’s never-ending pursuit of power through the accumulation of wealth, and it was George’s first real attempt to counteract what he saw as an absurdity with another absurdity. “An incorrect assumption leads to a false conclusion” was the play’s refrain. In other words, if we fool ourselves with minor absurdities, what happens when there are really major issues to deal with.

To accompany the performances, George produced a narrator’s book featuring illustrations based on the sculptures and the lyrics to the accompanying songs and proclamations. The pages for the book were created as a series of exquisite prints, produced at Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen in collaboration with master printmaker Author Watson, between 1987 and 1989. Now, after more than three decades, these original prints are offered for sale.