The New Alexandrian Library Boekie Collection - Additions - Theresa Williams (USA) - The Ragpicker and Torma Cauli (Hungary)

[cheryl penn]

Theresa wrote a note which accompanied her beautiful book - which I really appreciate.  I know post modernism allows us free reign interpretation, but sometimes I think manners disappear in that wake. I always remain intensely curious about the first voice - the voice of the author/artist.

Theresa writes that she was excited to see I was interested in the idea of the flaneur (as is she) and this book takes from that theme.  "So the book starts out with Baudelaire.  The image is taken from a paper doll of Baudelaire... (he) wrote a poem about the "rag picker"... the person who collects rags and trash to use or sell"

The inside images are of Theresa and her husband taken on a two month float down the Ohio River in 2005.  

Poems are printed on tissue paper - poems which came out of that journey - the flimsy surface a reminder "of how fragile and fleeting the imagination is". The transparent words also jog our impressions of transience - that our stroll through this life will be ephemeral.  Others will see through us to what has gone before. May they see well.

Theresa writes that "a lot of writers are looking for immortality through their writing" - artists too I think. But the band plays on and new dancers take the stage where we once moved.

"The back image represents a sort of tapestry that is life, the strings escaping and merging with eternity.  So it isn't the art or writing that is eternal. Its just the ego."

A poem from this book:

pomeroy, the venice of ohio

there are no crossroads in popery, just

one long street winding beside the ohio

river like a ribbon.  evening bells chime

just as i am.  brick buildings teeter on

cracked foundations, exhale the collected

heat of the day.  here people walk on but

a sliver of land.  at the laundromat, a

woman folds baby clothes and an old man sneaks

about, feeling inside the machines for lost

coins.  she glances up.

a smile

hands flying up

to hide her teeth

Theresa - a beautiful addition - many many thanks :-).

From Torma Cauli (Hungary)

An interesting layered double fold. It is difficult to tell from the photographs, but the tactile nature of this palimpsest is a delight.

Using double imaging, the thinnest of collage fragments and then reprinting/overwriting, Torma has built up a document that is - and is not the sum total of its ancestry. 

Final saturated page:

MANY thanks XX

From Nadine, well known to most of us here at IUOMA comes a perfectly delightful book on key-hole people - those distorted eyeball views of the unwanteds who INSIST on ringing your apartment doorbell at the most inopportune times  - the PERFECT reasons to get your doorbell disconnected - as I confess I've done :-) - even Nadine's envelope is beautifully drawn in her irrepressible, gorgeous style.

The note inside the book informs the reader that these are ink-blow drawings. I cant believe the control Nadine has over the ink - and this little horror - o, I know one of them too...  he also came with a stick and lopped the top off EVERY ONE of of the aggapanthas (sp?) lining the driveway - the little boy who pinches your cat...

Then the creep you may have dated YEARS ago - who has found you, and wants to continue his creepy prior relationship arrangement with you - wwwhhhhaaaatttt??? Doesn't he know you grew brains (hopefully!) - how ssmmmoooth does this guy look :-)))! 

And your cousin - now 45 "still loyal to goth and always needs rent money" - Nadine captures the facial essence of these characters in such a skilled manner - its all in the eyes the more I look.

There's the two strangers, covered in blood asking to use a phone, the 3am doorbell ring that wakes you out of REM with a SKRIK! "3am.  Isn't it a bit late for a delivery"? And o - the best one... your drunk, soon to be ex-best girlfriend who has boyfriend troubles. She's come to bleed her permanent mascara all over your new silk cushions and keep you awake in the realization you need to get a new flat... where best friends don't know your apartment doorbell number.

Nadine - this is SUCH a beautiful little book - MANY thanks - I'm taking your warnings seriously, installing camera's and being even MORE careful about who I open up to!!!

From Janine Weiss - I'm calling this assembly of fragments Out on a Limb - taking the title from the cover page.

Collaged and sewn fragments are re-presented on some really old book paper, and Janine has taken care to ensure that the imposed collage is appropriately selected to enhance this medium. Old Masters peep out of  torn and splintered text. 

Women and children seem to be the main subject matter focus - this is definitely a very feminine book with images, color and fabric selections echoing the words of one of her pages - A woman must stay at home - emphasizing that although this is a feminine book, Janine stresses that she is not friend of feminism - but, is she joking? Yes - there was clarification in the comments :-) - thank you Janine X

Plant a victory garden - it will stand you in good stead.  After careful 'reading' I can see there was careful selection of all the visual elements that went into Janine's book.  Even thought the rabbit (is it Alice's?) is green, Janine's is pink. 

Janine - MANY thanks - I know this was ALOT of hard work and careful thought - I hope you like what I have made for you - its going in the mail this week :-) X

And  finally:

This is a quick visual inclusion of 1/2 edition of a book made by Svetalana of FLUXRUS  (Russia).  It is a documentation of artists books which were exhibited at the  ARTBOOK exhibition held 15 - 18 March this year.

Svetlana - I know the WORK involved in setting up exhibitions, so to get this gift done in the aftermath - THANK YOU!

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I've been waiting for this one. Mostly patiently because, well, as ANY of you know who have received Nancy's work, it exceeds expectations. 

Tucked away, inside an almost glass pocket lie these words:

Enharmony – Expressing sounds having the same pitch but written (text fades…) but Found Sound NEVER fades. Notes lengthen and brighten, taking on surrounding color as the sun gleams on pages building crescendo's. You know what found sound looks like. 

I heard,

Even as I saw,

The beauty of the notes.

You KNOW the sound of beautifully crafted pages turning. The sound of paint sighing with gentle contentment  to be living where it exists in harmony with materials entangled in its color. ? This is that book. Where music lives visually. 

This is a work of poco p. (Somewhat soft), juxtaposed with Fortissimo (loud). Not clanging, just perfectly visual.

And close up? Its no different. It just gets deeper. And deeper. The tones collide.

All accessible  art is easy to enjoy, whether it be music, literature or visual. When all three are contained in on volume, the whole world  takes up its tune. Semi-tones may apply in Music, but this book?  it holds perfect time. 

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Another beautiful book enters the library. This time from Carina Granlund from Finland. 

That’s SO FAR AWAY – and there, Three Whales Flew.  Well, it began like that Carina says, but it ended up sort of a personal ‘nonsense book – a book of trash’. Trash?? I have instructions also, which came with this volume:

“You are free to cut/rip out and recycle material from here to make your own artwork” – MAYBE!! I’ll see. It heading towards the more maybe not. And each time I page through, more certainty is added to my view. These pages belong together - exactly like this.

 There is a quirky array of STUFF in this book – tags and rags,  and slips and bits and ugly fish.   Its always interesting to see the WAY different artists arrange their work. I use quirky in the best possible sense as Carina’s work has a sense of humor, is completely eclectic and boasts a gallimaufry of collection points. 

Carina references MANY things including Magritte-ish type elements into her work. Its sort of a workbook - on this open-out page I am instructed to cut out my own favorite - I think it may have to be a kuuluva (WOT???) because it looks a bit like a minx-thing-ishy. 

I mentioned the ugly fish? There's also a fortune-telling fish in this volume, but the ugly fish sits next to a fine point copy of a drawing by Carina's mother, done in 1952 which features the Lux Soap Girl.  

And one of my favorite pages - although I confess the more I look the more I like :-)

If any of you ever come visit, and you wash your hands, you can look at my books. They are such a joy all these gifts.  Carina even told me about some metallic paint she bought- always thinking they were not her style. But now? "But now I have bought bronze, silver and gold. I love them. But what shall I do with them? Don't know."

Carina, there are MANY wonderful pages in this book. A HUGE thank you - OF COURSE I'm SWOPPING MORE BOOKS WITH YOU!!! :-)))))! XX

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Toccata and Fugue for Book by TICTAC.  I think Bach’s (challenged) Toccata and Fugue in D Minor must be one of the most well known pieces of organ music.  It has been played in MANY movies, including Fantasia and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

But this is no organ performance piece. This is a book work.   ‘Toccata’ from the Italian – to touch is an apposite word for this beautiful book created from cardboard.  Toccata also intimates fast moving, lightly fingered passages.  This is TICTAC’s EXACT treatment of the filigreed card.

Fugue – a technique which indicates two or more voices. I’m likening TICTAC’s material usage to  this word. Cardboard and acetate are the main mediums of this work. 

PLUS, without getting too technical, fugues also consist of connecting passages (episodes) and a  coda.  Conceptually, how much closer can one combine music terms and books than this?

And from Alicia Starr? Another treasure. A Tribute to the Life and Work of Ana Mendieta (1948 – 1985). 

Ana Medieta said "My art is the way I reestablish the bonds that unite me to the universe."  I best know of her work from theSilueta Series which she did in the 70’s, but Alicia actually met Ana Mendieta in 1975.  Alicia writes “ Ana had an uncanny and powerful passion.  Her work sang of feminism, humanity, culture, personal identity and nature”.

Made from beautifully crafted organic ‘paper’ (banana/palm leaves Alicia?) Alicia Remembers Ana in a book work which materially evokes all the sentiments she expresses by her words. The hand of the artist as a print.

The cover of Alicia’s book carries a quote by Joy Harjo “No story or song will translate the full impact of falling,, or the inverse power of rising up”.  How fully I understand that.

 To all the artists who have – and continue to contribute to this collection of books – I appreciate the generosity and spirit of bigheartedness that accompanies your gifts. Its quite overwhelming actually.

 

 

 

[cheryl penn]

Thanks for stopping by De Villo.  These are two great pieces - an interesting question about the structure and form of the actual book is raised too in both these pieces - how many pages constitute a 'book', and Theresa's book is unbound. Always exciting to see how artists define these artifacts :-) X

[De Villo Sloan]

Nice acquisitions for your library, Cheryl.

"Rag picker" is a great poem & excellent choice to build a text around. Indeed, it might be the original Trashpo. Rimbaud wrote a similar work: "Lice pickers" or "Pickers of Lice."

Torma's work is fantastic with all those overlays. An incredible, complex work.

Thanks for sharing.

[cheryl penn]

And just to throw in another 5 cents - in any of these discussions I immediately think of the tragedy that was Saartije Baartman. 

[cheryl penn]

Erni - thats the feminist paper Deceptive Beauty by Nancy Evans right?  I'm also holding an opinion on the matter ... Marie - nice to see you - Dvs, why not???? :-) XX

[Marie Wintzer]

Janine il faut qu'on parle :-))) génial ton livre!!!

[De Villo Sloan]

I'm not going to add my opinion, but I must say this is an interesting discussion.

[cheryl penn]

Janine - that is SUCH a good saying - your humor stayed in bed - I know EXACTLY what you mean :-)!! De Villo - yes, it was great to hear from Svetlana again after all this time - I know they are hectic there.  Suus - yip - I'm a VERY lucky collector!!! :-) X

[Suus in Mokum]

Amazing work! Fan-tas-tic.

[De Villo Sloan]

More tremendous acquisitions for the Alexandrian Library, and very diverse approaches in these three excellent pieces. Very nice that FluxRus sent documentation in such a thoughtful way.

[cheryl penn]

P.S. I wonder if its FACT that Renoir said  -  true women were not intellectually aware???