"Unmatched Eye/Dying Star" - A Celestial Artists Book by Carina Granlund (Petsmo, Finland)

[De Villo Sloan]

Cover of artists book by IUOMA member Carina Granlund (Petsmo, Finland)

December 7, 2014 - I received this spectacular boekie from Carina Granlund that showcases her recent experiments with black and white, minimal color anti-art. The title appears to be Unmatched Eye – Dying Star, and it utilizes writing and text to the point where I see this work as incorporating vispo and asemics.

Unmatched Eye – Dying Star has a total of 14 pages (panels) and is approximately 2.5 X 6 inches.

In keeping with work she is currently releasing, Carina Granlund uses a childlike scrawl in this book to generate automatic, associative writings and drawings. This is uncharacteristic of her formerly well-defined calligraphy and must, therefore, be a conscious experiment in creating anti-art and dissonance. Central to this piece are the connect-the-dot glyphs (which can be read as asemics) that invoke constellations: Canis Major (the big dog) and Sirius for instance. Animal forms also appear and disintegrate in Unmatched Eye – Dying Star.

The book pages are made of elegantly textured, torn, sometimes transparent paper that create layers of complexity. Ghostly printed text is clearly visible in the scan above.

The constellation theme creates a narrative cohesiveness in Unmatched Eye – Dying Star. The animal drawings might represent the constellations, but Carina Granlund is drawing from various iconic popcult images as well to play with the concept of the genesis of myth.

This page, posing a self-referential question, has all the qualities of contemporary vispo and frames all the book’s images and symbols.

A FAB drawing highlighting the dog imagery!

Constellations are connected to maps and charts. Unmatched Eye – Dying Star also invokes a journey or quest.

The book’s pages are separated by loose, transparent tissue sheets. I have removed these for documentation, but some of them do have small pieces taped to them. I am not sure why and wonder if they are meant to be part of the viewing experience. I think things look much better without them, but (above) is a shot of a page with transparent cover intact.

The book certainly seems to offer commentary on itself.

I would like to know how to fit the Earl of Derby into all this, other than viewing it as a radical disjunction or change of course. Maybe horses or horse races are the key; maybe Carina is just horsing around (or horsing a hound).

More self-reflective commentary on the text itself?

As Unmatched Eye – Dying Star progresses, the structural elements that hold it together emerge.

Back cover of Unmatched Eye – Dying Star by Carina Granlund.

The book came in this altered, folded page of sturdy paper:

The reverse:

The outer packaging:

Many thanks to Carina Granlund for Unmatched Eye – Dying Star.

[FinnBadger]

Looking forward to seeing your misadventure, Carina.

And the Finnish stamps, too.

[Carina]

Hi everyone, thank you so much for your nice comments! The book is a result of great friends at IUOMA and with DVS's attention anything grows. FinnBadger, I will send you some Finnish stamps along with a misadventure! Nancy as well :)

[De Villo Sloan]

I have a nice collection of postcards from Finland, thanks to Carina. Here are a few. I should put them all together.

[FinnBadger]

Hi, DVS. I agree that what we all see could be different (indeed, we cannot have the same experience as you, since you have the original work to feel and page through). The main reason I appreciated your comments on the work is because it made me stop and think, instead of just reading the blogpost and thinking 'cool' or 'weird' or 'great' or 'beautiful' then moving on without going back and really considering things.

Nancy - I like your statement 'leaving a wondrous amount to the imagination'. Captivating is right!

And nothing to do with the work itself - those Finnish flag stamps are excellent. Haven't seen those before. What is it about the Finnish post office that they always have such creative stamp ideas?

[De Villo Sloan]

Thanks, NBS. OCarina's calligraphy resembles yours a bit here. She left me a message on FB. Not sure when she'll visit Ning:

Carina Granlund Thanks DVS! Earl of Derby is a character I saved for a special occasion, not sure why he is in this book. I'm trying to save on words and sentences to put them together later by chance or how I feel. All the scrawls are mirror writing from the beginning.

So I eagerly held the book to a mirror but didn't really discover anything new.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Carina's experiments are leaving a wondrous amount to the imagination. They never seem slick or glib, and always captivate me.  

[De Villo Sloan]

Thanks, FinnBadger, I was perplexed by the current batch of work by our Careena that is b&w & not at all pretty the way so much of her previous work is (but not all). I did come to like this book especially after having spent a good deal of time with it. I do very much believe in the validity of multiple interpretations. So this is just what I see. Other views are always welcome. Forgot to include this card Careena enclosed as well:

[FinnBadger]

Fascinating piece, with a beautiful, haunting title. 

I appreciate your thoughtful commentary - really helped me to grasp (just a little) the work.