‘… if memory is imagined as a real space – a place, theatre, library – then the act of remembering is imagined as a real act, that is, as a physical act: as walking.’ Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust, p. 77.

Walking Home is my metaphorical return journey to Gippsland, the place of my childhood.

The images are drawn from the intersection of two narratives of Gippsland: the myth of Lohan Tuka, the white woman reputedly held captive by the Kurnai tribes in the 1840s and the story of my settler family’s arrival at the same time.

The prints operate as imaginary maps for my journey, maps which record the places where particular events from the narratives occurred or could have occurred. The places named in the titles suggest resting points on my way.

The works evoke the tracks and traces of people walking across places, through time.

Jan Davis
September 2010

Click on images to enlarge

NO IMAGE
(1) Leaping Bluff, Metung (2009)
ink drawing
$1950.00

(2)First sighting, near Flooding Creek (2010)
in edition of 5 on Unryu paper
Sheet 82.7 x 100.0 cm Image 62.7 x 80.0 cm
$950.00

(3) In search of Lohan Tuka from the mountains to the lakes (2010)
in edition of 5 on Unryu paper
Sheet: 70.5 x 56.0 cm Image: 45.9 x 56.0 cm
$950.00

(4) Fragments of a map, Omeo (2010)
in edition of 5 on Unryu paper
Sheet:76.48 x 100.0 cm Image: 62.98 x 80.0 cm
$950.00

(5) Crossing Lake King (2010)
in edition of 5 on Unryu paper
Sheet: 77.67  x 100.0 cm Image: 62.67 x 80.0 cm
$950.00

(6) McMillan’s run, Tabberabbera (2010)
in edition of 5 on Unryu paper
Image: 77.68 x 100.0 Image: 62.68 x 80.0 cm
$950.00

(7) Herd resting, Dargo Plains (2010)
in edition of 5 on Unryu paper
Image: 51.2 x 100.0 Image: 29.7 x 80.0 cm
$575.00

(8) McMillan’s road, Iguana Creek (2010)
in edition of 5 on Unryu paper
Sheet: 80.39 x 100.0 cm Image: 61.39 x 80.0 cm
$950.00

(9) Alpine garden, Cobungra (2010)
in edition of 5 on Unryu paper
Image: 62.97 x 81.34 cm Image: 41 x 61.34
$725.00

(10) Site, Snowy River (2010)
in edition of 5 on Unryu paper
Sheet: 73.85 x 88.58 cm  Image: 51.85 x 68.58
$725.00

(11) Clearing, Tambo Crossing (2010)
in edition of 5 on Unryu paper
Sheete: 64.34 x 83.66 cm Image: 42.34 x 63.6 cm
$725.00

(12) The white woman (2010)
in edition of 10 on Unryu paper
Sheet: 43.17 x 51.83 cm Image: 21.17 x 31.83
$500.00

(13) Swifts Creek (2010)
in edition of 10 on Unryu paper
Sheet: 43.17 x 51.83 cm Image: 21.17 x 31.83 cm
$500.00

(14) Lohan Tuka comes ashore (2010)
in edition of 10 on Unryu paper
Sheet 36.14 x 32 cm Image: 21.14 x 18 cm
$450.00

a selection of Ti Park’s artist books on display in the
‘glass case space’

7 Fold (1991)

Parks has made many ‘folded’ books. 7 fold may be the seventh in a series of folded books or it may be just another book. Parks has validated that old belief that a sheet of paper can only be folded just so many times, in fact 7 times. Titled, numbered and dated. c. 2.0 x 3.0 cm. Edition of 49.
$44.00

Red cross (undated)

A small book made up of pink sheets folded to 7.5 x 5.5 cm, bound through centre, so that the book is cannot be opened. Signed and numbered 3/10.
$88.00

Crossdrawing on both sides (1991)

‘colour pencil random choice’ Book NU. 39 – the artist makes has made crosses on both sides of A4 sheets. Japanese bound. 30.0 x 21.0 cm. Signed and dated. Unique>
$660.00

a bold road a sold road (1993)

Divided into 4 chapters: 1a matter 1b fatter; 2a mopped 2b dropped; 3a bold 3b sold 4a road 4b load. It contains 21 road prints and 20 drawings, and is no. 14 in the road book series. 12.5 x 20.0 cm. Signed and dated.
$550.00

net (1994)

Twelve pieces – each piece made up of paper folded to 10.5 x 7.7 cm, hand stitched from top left corner to bottom right corner and from top right corner to bottom left corner in a X. Each piece is numbered bl and initialled TP br. Overall size of this sculpture/books is 32.5 x 31.5 cm. Edition ¼.
$660.00

notebook (1997)

Twelve A4 four sheets folded 15.0 x 10.5 cm, trimmed to 14.9 cm, so that the top and bottom are open but the foredge remains closed. On the first page of each of these twelve sections appears the work ‘notebook’. It is placed midway down the page and slightly to the right of centre. A small indentation is to the left of the text. These appear on 11 of the sections. On the last page is printed Ti Parks 1997. 14.9 x 10.5 cm. Signed and numbered AP.
$88.00 SOLD

BB-HH-Single Tracks (1997)

12 4A sheets of Copy Right Extrawhite 80 gsm photocopy/laser paper.
Each sheet folded twice.  Bottom edges slit. Adapted Chinese binding using waxed line thread. Cover and title page with printed title in black: BB – HH –Single Tracks – Ti Parks – 1997. Seven pages of pencil drawings. Colophon as title page, signed and numbered in pencil.
Each drawing is a vertical ruled line from the top to the bottom of the page and 20-30 mm. from the fore-edge. 2 B pencil line drawn first. Then 2H pencil line drawn over the first line. Then line smudged or rubbed using ball of thumb with enough pressure to cause some frictional heat and enough times up and down the full length to spread the pigment and to blur the line. This result is realted to a drypoint line where the metal burr produces a blurred line when printed. Edition 10/10. 15 x 10.6 .5 cm. Signed and numbered.
$88.00 SOLD

Book Rubbing Book (1998)

Fifty book rubbings initialled by the artist on light-weight paper are interleaved with heavier paper. Covers are brown packing paper, and the front cover is also a book rubbing. Japanese bound. 21.2 x 20.7 cm. Titled, signed and dated.
$660.00

Fine Furs (2000)

By signing and dating this small Phillips Auction Catalogue of Sale No 26,595 of ‘Furs by Direction of Executors; together with fine quality coats and jackets of Russian sable…’ held at Blenstock House on Thursday 16 April 1987, Parks has turned it into an artist’s book. 21.5 x 14.0 cm. Unique.
$66.00

J.R. ILLINGWORTH

Invoice pages (29.7 x 21.0) from the firm J.R. Illingworth, Transport & Warehousing co. The pages carry the firm’s name, address and invoice number at top of page, on which Park’s has superimposed images: from Marilyn Munro’s smile, Meret Oppenheim’s sculpture of a fur covered cup and saucer, women in fur coats etc. to messages such as, Your name has come up. 21.0 x 29.7 cm. Copy signed and dated inside back page. Ti Parks 2004
$660.00 Reserved

Iain Turnbull died last year from cancer aged 43. His work will be featured in two Memorial Retrospectives. Proceeds from both exhibitions are being shared equally between the Mater Hospital’s Oncology programs and a Memorial Fund for an annual bursary in Iain’s memory at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, where he graduated with First Class Honours in 2004.

An exhibition of Turnbull’s paintings, drawings and assemblages opens Sunday 29 August 6.30 pm – 8.30 pm at the Queensland College of Art Project Gallery.

At grahame galleries + editions an exhibition of forty-two etchings have been selected for the print exhibition, which opens on Sunday 29 August 3.30 pm – 5 pm.

Memorial Retrospective of Prints
29 August – 11 September
Opening Sunday 29 August 3.30 pm – 5 pm
(gallery opening hours: 11 am – 5 pm Wed-Sat during exhibition)

Click on images to enlarge.

(1) “Museum View” (1982) 26.0 x 6.8 cm
edition of 10, signed, titled, numbered and dated
$200.00 - two available (one sold)

(2) Untitled (1982) 22.2 x 15.0 cm
edition of 7, signed, dated and numbered
$50.00 – two available (both sold)

(3) “Tree” (1985) etching, 16.0 x 4.0 cm
edition of 8, signed, dated and numbered
$150.00 – two available

(4) “Pit-Head II” (1985) 10.5 x 3.0 cm
edition of 10, signed, titled, numbered and dated
edition of 10, signed, dated and nubered
$80.00 – six available (two sold four still available)

(5) Untitled (1986) 14.5 x 14.8 cm
edition of 10, signed, dated and numbered
$80.00 – seven  available (one sold six still available)

(6) Untitled (1986) 4.3 x 5.4 cm
edition of 10, signed, dated and numbered
$80.00 – seven available (one sold six still available)

(7) Untitled (1986) 5.7 x 4.5 cm
edition of 10, signed, dated and numbered
$50.00 – nine available (two sold seven still available)

(8) Untitled (1986) 11.7 x 9.5 cm
edition of 10, signed, dated and numbered
$80.00 – nine available (two sold seven still available)

(9) Untitled (1986) 13.0 x 10.5 cm
edition of 10, signed, dated and numbered
$80.00 – (one sold- seven available

(10) Untitled (1986) 8.8 x 6.0 cm
edition of 10, signed, dated and numbered
$50.00 – eight available

(11) Untitled (1986) 18.0 x 6.1 cm
edition of 10, signed, dated and numbered
$80.00 – eight available (two sold seven still available)

(12) Untitled (1986) 14.5 x 10.2 cm
edition 10, signed, dated and numbered
$50.00 – nine available

(13) Untitled (1989) 8.0 x 13.0 cm
edition of 10, signed, dated and numbered
$200.00 – five available (two sold four still available)

(14) Untitled (1989) 8.2 x 6.0 cm
edition of 10, signed dated and numbered
$80.00 – eight available

(15) Untitled (2002) 32.5 x 45.0 cm
edition of 5, 4 signed dated and numbered
$90.00 – plus 2 unsigned proofs available (Estate Certificate Supplied) (one sold three still available)

(16) Banners #1 (2003) 25.5 x 13.6 cm
edition of 9, signed, dated and numbered
$70.00 – seven available (one sold six still available)

(17) Banners #2 (2003) 25.5 x 12.5 cm
edition of 10 signed, dated and numbered
$70.00 –  (one sold – five available

(18) Figure (2003) 22.5 x 18.0 cm
edition of 10, signed, dated and numbered
$90.00 – five available (two sold three still available)

plus

(19) Verticals (2003) 19.6 X 11.0 cm
CTP3  signed, dated and titled verso
$100 – plus CTP 1-2 and 9 variations, some signed some unsigned (Estate Certificate Supplied)

(20) Untitled (2003) 13.5 x 10.5 cm
TPI, signed and dated verso
$150.00 – one available

(21) Untitled (c. 2003) 14.3 x 12.5 cm
Proof, unsigned undated
$100.00 – two proofs available (Estate Certificate Supplied) (both sold)

22. Untitled (2003) 44.0 x 23.2 cm
CTI, signed and dated verso
$150.00 – three Colour trial proofs available

(23) Untitled (2003) 19.0 x 19.5 cm
SPI, signed and dated
$200.00 – one only available

(24) Untitled (2003) 28.0 x 44.0 cm
SPI, signed and dated verso
$250.oo – one only available (reserved)

(25) Untitled (2003) 21.5 x 22.3 cm
SPI, signed and dated verso
$200.00 – one only available (sold) (plus colour variations) (one sold)

(26) Untitled (2003) 21.8 x 23.0 cm
SPI, signed and dated verso
$200.00 – one only available

(27) Untitled (2003) 21.5 x 22.6
SPI, signed and dated
$175.00 – two state proofs available (one sold one still available)

(28) Untitled (2003) 18.5 x 27.8 cm
CTPII,  signed and dated
$150.00 – two colour proofs plus one state proof available (one sold two still available)

(29) Untitled (2004) 14.5 x 31.0 cm
TPI, signed and dated
$100.00 – one only available (sold)

(30) Untitled (2004) 8.0 x 24.0 cm
CPTI, signed  and dated
$90.00 (one sold, colour variations available)

(31) Untitled (2004) 14.5 x 10.0 cm
CTP6, signed and dated
$120.00 – one only available (sold)

( 32) Untitled (2004) 31.2 x 18.5 cm
CTP2, signed and date
$150.00 – one only available

(33) Untitled (2004) 37.8 x 19.0 cm
TPI, signed and dated
$150.00 – one only available

(34) Untitled (2004) 22.6 x 14.8 cm
CTP2, signed and dated
$150.00 – one more colour variation available

(35) Untitled (2004) 22.5 x 17.5 cm
CTP2, signed and dated
$150.00 – two more colour variations available

(36) Untitled (2004) 22.5 x 17.5 cm
CTP4, signed and dated
$150.00 – two mor colour variations available

(37) Untitled (2004) 22.5 x 18.0 cm
CTP3, signed and dated
$150.00 – two more colour variations available (one sold two still available)

(38) Untitled (2004) 28.0 x 44.0 cm
CTP3, signed and dated
$100.00 – three more colour variations available (one sold three still available)

(39) Untitled (2004) 44.0 x 28.2 cm
CTP 1, signed and dated
$150.00

(40) ‘Black Walk’ (2005) 25.0 x 35.0 cm
Signed, titled and dated verso
$150.00 – one only available (sold)

(41) Untitled (2005) 31.0 x 18.5 cm
edition of 20, signed, numbered and dated (numbered copy sold)
$100.00 – 16  unsigned copies available (Estate Certificate Supplied) (six sold 11 still available)

(42) Untitled (2005) one only 18.3 x 13.0 cm
edition of 20 – 2 Signed, numbered and dated (signed copies sold 19 unsigned prints available)
$90.00 –  19 unsigned copies available (Estate Certificate Supplied)

]]> http://www.grahamegalleries.com/exhibitions/iain-turnbull-memorial-exhibition-29-august-11-september/feed/ 0 http://www.grahamegalleries.com/exhibitions/jorg-schmiesser/ http://www.grahamegalleries.com/exhibitions/jorg-schmiesser/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:07:25 +0000 Noreen http://www.grahamegalleries.com/?p=3348 MANY PLACES

an exhibition of etchings
17 July – 14 August 2010

Most of the etchings in this selection were done on journeys, from the re-supply voyage to Mawson in Antarctica – which for a few years remained the artist’s central theme – to etchings of his six years in Japan, where he taught at the same art school at which he studied 40 years ago. Studies of crab claws and shells and observations on a journey to Venice are other parts of this selection. The etchings were done in the studio and on the road; “a record and celebration of what moved me there and then, and an attempt to keep the memories alive before their contours blur and the colours fade.”

BEACH AND BUSH

(1) JS 512 Banksia (1996)
plate 12.2 x 12.5 cm, edition of 80
$220.00 (unframed)

(2) JS 513 Bluebback shell (1996)
plate 12.2 x 12.5 cm, edition of 80
$220.00 (unframed)

(3) JS 517 Shell, Black and white pattern (1996)
plate 12.2 x 12.5 cm, AP
$220.00 (unframed)

(4) JS 518 Found (1996)
plate 11.7 x 11.7 cm edition of 100
$220.00 (unframed)

(5) JS 522 open shell (1996)
plate 21.0 x 18.7 cm edition of 100
$440.00 (unframed)

(6) JS 523 shell, back (199)
plate 21.5 x 18.8 cm, edition of 100
$440.00 (unframed)

(7) JS 524 shell, lying (1997)
plate 20.8 x 20.8 cm, edition of XX State 1
$440.00 (unframed)

(8) JS 525 The lips of a shell (1997)
plate 25.0 x 21.0 cm, edition of 30
$330.00 (unframed)

(9) JS 574 Spiral Shell (2000)
plate 12.0 x 11.5 cm, edition of 100
$220.00 (unframed)

(10) JS 575 Odd bit on dark ground (2000)
plate 12.0 x 11.5 cm edition of 60
$220.00 (unframed)

(11) JS 576 Three Banksia Parts (2000)
plate 11.5 x 11.0 cm, edition of 60
$220.00 (unframed)

(12) JS 578 Soft Shell (2000)
plate 12.0 x 120 cm, edition of 80
$220.00 (unframed)

(13) JS 586 Rosedale Beach (2002)
plate 16.5 x 20.0cm, edition of 100
$485.00 (unframed)

(14) JS 619 Grey Box Leaves (2003)
plate 25.0 x 20.8 cm, AP
$440.00 (unframed)

(15) JS 648 From the Edge (2007)
plate 13.0 x 17.8 cm, edition of 60
$250.00 (unframed)

(16)JS 652 Blue Mud Bay Crab (2010)
plate 24.8 x 18.8 cm, edition of 50
$440.00 (unframed)

(17) JS 561 Diary and Beach Bits (2010)
plate 47.0 x 59.5 cm, edition of 40
$1,100.00 (unframed)

(18) JS 650 Acorn and Gumnut (2009)
plate 11.5 x 11.0 cm, edition of 60
$220.00 (unframed)

JAPAN

(19) JS 589 Todaiji, a Lion (2002)
plate 25.0 x 19.8 cm, edition of 50
$330.00 (unframed)

(20) JS 590 Todaiji, a Butterfly (2002)
plate 25.0 x 19.5 cm, edition of 50
$440.00 (unframed)

(21) JS 591 Todaiji, a Dragon’s Head (2002)
plate 20.5 x 20.5 cm, edition of 50
$440.00 (unframed)

(22) JS 649 Little Horseman (2008)
plate 12.0 x 14.7 cm, edition of 100
$275.00 (unframed)

(23) JS 638 Kurokawa Landscape (2006)
bleed print, plate 58.0 x 78.0 cm edition of 30
$1,100.00 (unframed)

(24) JS 641 Kurokawa Lantern, (2010)
bleed print, plate  58.0 x 78.0 cm edition of 30
$1,100.00 (unframed)

(25) JS 639 Kurokawa Shide (2010)
plate  58.0 x 78.0 cm edition of 30
$1,100.00 (unframed)

image unavailable
(26) JS 640 Kurokawa Noh (2006)
bleed print, plate  58.0 x 78.0 cm edition of 30
$1,100.00 (unframed)

ANTARTICA

(27) JS 597 Diary and Icebergs (1998)
plate 49.5 x 61.3, edition of 80
$990.00 (unframed)

(28) JS 611a Big Changes I/III (2002)
plate 48.8 x 62.0, edition of 10
$990.00 (unframed)

(29) JS 600 Near Davis Station II (2000)
plate 48.0 x 60.4 edition of 80
$660.00 (unframed)

(30) JS 611b Big Changes V (2002)
plate 48.00 x 78.0 edition of 20
$990.00 (unframed)

Image unavailable
(31) 603 Iceberg Alley, diptych (2002)
plates 61.5 x 99.0 cm edition of 60
$1,320.00 (unframed)

(32) JS 593 Twister (2004)
plate 20.5 x 25.0 cm, edition of 60
$385.00 (unframed)

(33) JS 606 Berg I (2002)
plate 20.7 x 25.0, edition of 60
$385.00 (unframed)

(34) JS 607 Berg II (2002)
plate 21.0 x 25.0 cm, edition of 60
$385.00 (unframed)

(35) JS 608 Berg III (2002)
plate 28.0 x 25.0 cm, edition of 60
$385.00 (unframed)

VENICE

(36) JS 625 A view across, (2006/10)
plate 15.0 x 20.0 cm, edition of 60
$350.00 (unframed)

(37) JS 626 Ca d’Oro, (2006/10)
plate 15.0 x 20.0 cm, edition of 60
$350.00 (unframed)

(38) JS 627 Face of an Angel (2006/10)
plate 15.0 x 20.0 cm, edition of 60
$350.00 (unframed)

(39) JS 628 Palazzo Dario (2006)
plate 15.0 x 20.0 cm, edition of 60
$300.00 (unframed)

(40) JS 632 Bricole (2006)
plate 15.0 x 20.0 cm, edition of 60
$300.00 (unframed)

(41) JS 636a Shapes and Textures (2010)
plate 15.0 x 20.0 cm, edition of 60
$350.00 (unframed)

]]> http://www.grahamegalleries.com/exhibitions/jorg-schmiesser/feed/ 0 http://www.grahamegalleries.com/here-artists-books-works-on-paper-you-can-buy/what-is-an-artists-book/ http://www.grahamegalleries.com/here-artists-books-works-on-paper-you-can-buy/what-is-an-artists-book/#comments Sat, 08 May 2010 02:48:56 +0000 Noreen http://www.grahamegalleries.com/?p=3169 This article appeared in State of the Art, Issue 4, November 1992-February 1993. Author: Noreen Grahame

An exhibition from Germany of book objects and artists’ books, entitled Das Buch: Art in Book Form, is on view at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 10 December to 17 January, 1993, following a successful tour in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. The exhibition has been brought to Australia by the Goethe Institute on behalf of the Institute für Auslandsbeziehungen.

Das Buch, as a major exhibition of book art, sparked the perennial question: what is an artist’s book?

Artists’ books and artists’ books exhibitions have all but been ignored by art reviewers and are not generally understood by the art public. This may be due partly to the difficulty of defining this genre of art. Even the experts are reluctant to do so.

Artists’ books can be described simply as books which have been made by artists. In fact, Marcel Duchamp once said just that. They are, however, not books about art, but artworks in themselves; artworks contained within the formal covers of the book form, but not bound by accepted conventions of book publishing.

During the changing social and political climate of the 1960s and the early 1970s, artists rediscovered the book. Pavel Büchler wrote, ‘…The Gutenberg revolution marked the beginning of the mechanical era, in which art has moved into galleries and museums, and books have come out of scriptoria and monasteries into the bookshop (on their way to the railway bookstall and the supermarket). Until some twenty years ago the relationship (between visual art and the book) was quite clear.’[i]

The book became the most appropriate vehicle for artists to record and disseminate their ideas and artworks. A kind of declaration of independence – an exhibition without a space. The advent of the Xerox made it possible for artists to self-publish; also, the popularity of paperbacks made book printing less expensive and artists could produce repeatable art (misprinted as ‘respectable’ in the article causing many to question me about what I meant by respectable art) to reach a wider audience in exactly the manner they wanted. Thus, they hoped the public would be able to experience art in a form in which it was conceived.

More and more artists turned to making books. They began experimenting with the boundaries of visual art and literature. They also began experimenting with the book format, with the shape and the size of the book.

In Europe and the USA, artists such as Dieter Roth, Edward Ruscha, Lawrence Weiner and Marcel Broodthaers were making books.

In 1957 Dieter Roth founded his own press, forlag ed, in Iceland and began publishing books. He experimented with offset printing and collaborated with his publisher to design books with slits cut through the pages, holes, shapes, printed colours, comic-book images and drawings, and he solved the problem of printing, binding and boxing. The majority of Roth’s books have been self-published, with small and numbered editions.

Some of his experiments with the book form led him towards making book objects. In 1961 he produced a book object, Literaturewurst, a sausage skin filled with shredded newspaper mixed with water and gelatin, 40 x 9 cm and published in an edition of 50. It was an artist’s book in the shape of a sausage – the staple diet in Germany and Switzerland. Most of Roth’s books have been re-published in standard format in editions of 1,000.

Another artist who published artists’ books in numbered editions and then re-published them is Edward Ruscha. In 1962 he published his first book, Twenty-six Gasoline Stations, in an edition of 400 numbered copies. Five years later he reprinted it in an edition of 500 copies, which were not numbered; in 1969, a third edition of 3000 came out. His decision to reprint was an acknowledgement of the irrelevance of the limited edition book.

Exhibition catalogues also became artists’ books – or catalogues-as-artwork. Amongst Marcel Broodthaers’ many artist’s books is Moule Oeufs Frites Pot Charbon, created for his 1966 exhibition at the Wide White Space Gallery in Amsterdam. Another of his books, A Voyage on the North Sea is full of mystery and, through a sequence of details of a 19th century Romantic painting of a ship at sea, forces the viewer to read the clues given in the imagery.

Pavel Büchler writes in Turning Over the Pages, ‘The employment of new mediums, materials and processes meant it became increasingly difficult to find a definition for a work of art among the classical art historical categories of painting, sculpture and architecture…New categories had to be defined for the new mediums including the ‘new’ book. Used in the context of art it could no longer remain just a book.’[ii]

Noreen Grahame

grahame galleries and editions, Brisbane. October 1992

[ii] ibid

This article appeared in Artlink Volume 1, 2007. Author: Noreen Grahame

As a container of information in text form, the book is designed in a linear fashion to move the reader along line by line, paragraph by paragraph, page by page in an orderly fashion. It is a design that has served us well, and has governed our reading since the middle ages, when movable type first gave us linear reading. Then along came poets and artists using text as art in the book form to break this convention.

Stéphane Mallarmé’s Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’abolira Le Hasard (A throw of the dice will never abolish chance) provided the breakthrough. Mallarmé had long regarded traditional book design as a failure and wanted to do away with the back and forth motion of the eyes as they followed the text across the page only to have to track back and recommence the process. His solution was the typographic poem along with the concept of visual text.

In 1995 the visual artist, Jan Davis, produced a seven-volume artist book simply titled SOLOMON. It developed out of Davis’ concern with the operation of space in visual imagery and her interest in writing, ‘which exhibits a distinctly visual component’, and draws on the heritage of the experiments started by Mallarmé. ‘My decision to use books has been influenced by the relationship that existed initially between the visual poet and the typographer, and later between the poet and the typewriter.’ Both relationships could be regarded as flawed; the poet was reliant on the typographer’s interpretation and restricted by the typewriter’s limited typefaces. For the artist/printmaker, Davis, no such limitation existed. She replaced the typewriter with a Mac and became her own typographer.

The visual images in SOLOMON were derived from photographs taken during a residency in the Melanesian islands in 1994, ‘I saw the islands from the air – stretched like a concrete poem across a watery expanse …. space in the Solomons had significance in a similar way to space in the ruptured syntax of the concrete poets.’ In the post-colonial culture of the Solomons Davis derived her text from various sources including: the pidgin language, a Spanish explorer, an early adventurer, missionaries, ethno-anthropologists, poetry and even from a transcribed sermon. As with most books the title is printed across the spine, but here a single letter in capitals is isolated on the spine of each of the seven volumes

(S – O – L – O – M – O – N). Isolated, each letter carries more power than the whole. This is the first signpost that our reading engagement with SOLOMON will be active.

The second signpost, a single word subtitle in lowercase – ‘name’, ‘see’, ‘write’, ‘corpus’, ‘tell’, ‘eat’, ‘name’ – is placed just beyond the first fold of each volume and belies its importance.

In ‘S’ the subtitle (‘name’) establishes ‘naming’ space – ‘space’ as in creating an expanse for language to operate and ‘space’ as in naming of a space in order to possess it. On the second and third pages the letters – s c a tt er ed –

float across a brilliant blue “watery expanse”. Word and image become the page, become the space. Together they speak not only of the physical scattering of the islands but of a scattered culture, scattered languages.

The three ‘O’ books are interchangeable yet linked. ‘O’ (‘corpus’) is about head hunting, singing, indigenous spirituality and the absorption of Christianity. In the middle of a page a large ‘O’ outlined in red and across it in black is ‘head’. On the opposite page the word Eats (underneath with the Es aligned) spEaks.

Across the next two pages the words (speak babble mutter giggle scream banquet, amongst others) set up a haphazard almost dance like movement. Toward the back of the book another two page spread the absorption of Christianity is evident in a similar pattern of words such as

(celebrates prayers exalts obeys) here the pattern’s progression is orderly, and reminds us of staircases or processions. It is not only word selection that underlines cultural differences but also word placement.

‘O’ (‘eat’) draws on the coconut. It underlines the importance of the coconut and the palm tree in a pre-colonial, pre-diesel society. At the edge of the sea, stacked on their sides, rusted oil drums contrast with the blue of the water and sky. In bright yellow the letters C O C O appear on four of the lids and symbolise both ‘domination’ and ‘loss’; dominate/lost (culture), dominate/lost (language).

Toward the middle of the book large white Os are layered over a sepia image of coconut palms in a deceivingly linear pattern. Image and word are one.

Davis employed the manipulative quality offered by digital technology to realise SOLOMON in which both images and languages burst with the colour of these Melanesian islands. Michael Schlitz’s 2005 artist book the nature of things, on the other hand, is reticent both in colour and in language. The only colour being provided by the lightly screenprinted text accompanying each of the ten black and white images.

His tool of choice was the wood engraver’s tool used to gouge images into the small blocks of wood. The blocks were then inked up and printed on off-white Japanese Kozo paper folded at the fore-edge with the text printed on the folded back page facing the next image. The blind embossed title the nature of things almost disappears into the black cover of the Japanese style binding.

In the beginning almost everything about this book is enigmatic. We only discover the title on the cover after a couple of goes. Inside the text is delicate, almost ephemeral, and we must either bend page or book this way and that to catch each word. It is the quirky black images we grasp on to first. Small (c. 7.5 x 7 cm), they are placed in the middle but slightly to the right, and sit proud on an expanse of paper. They are tactile and they lead us in.

Accompanying text throughout is printed lower case facing images, titles in light yellow, body in white. Schlitz has placed the text on the fold back page so that it sits atop the black show-through of the preceding image. He has put to advantage the transparency of the Kozo paper to ‘highlight’ the delicate words, so that they appear to float out of a dark background. Each of the ten images and text are organised like chapters.

In the first image a human figure dominates the foreground and stands in uneasy relationship with its surroundings. With oversize head, large booted feet and many gesticulating arms, the figure, facing left, is looking at something outside, something we cannot see. Is it reaching for or waving at this ‘something’? Immediately behind our figure is what appears to be a wasteland, or perhaps a foreshore at low tide, while way in the background is a range of mountains or hills. This image takes its title from the book:

the nature of things

every thing existing

fluctuates

an exchange

some things take more

some things give more

A few pages on an image of a face lies, in what could be a pool of water, staring up at a black sky. This face has no body only many arms and hands, which emanate from behind the face. They are reaching down, moving, trolling through the water. What are they looking for?

collector

jellyfish are a delicacy

in some parts of the world

In another image, titled forester, the large booted figure again makes an appearance and again dominates. This time it has no arms but tree branches sprout from its head, and head and body have turned into a tree trunk. It walks confidently through a landscape with mountains in the background. Is this the same figure and the same landscape as our first image?

forester

the forester is

of different quantities

and relationships

to the stuff he works

We are starting to get a feel for this and turn the page ladderhead the next image depicts a three-rung ladder, its right stile a little decrepit, grounded on a bed of hair.

ladderhead

ladders are for going up

sometimes its hard

to see where to go

when the subject is so close

Two figures, one larger, face one another. The larger with black visage has an arm under the chin and around the neck of the smaller. On the surface it would seem it is controlling the smaller white-faced figure, but both show equal strength.

ventriloquist

take a deep breath

our master is air

there are too many masters

to mention

Tone, both of image and text, has been dark, but relief comes with the second last chapter antipodeans atlas. Even though the image is black, it is the movement of the figure that lightens our feelings. What looks like a boy standing on his hands or doing a cartwheel, is our rescuer holding up our world upside down.

antipodeans atlas

gravity is a heavy condition

ideas can be heavy

the world is heavy

but can be lifted

quite easily

On the surface the nature of things deals with our relationship with the environment. In reality, however, it deals with relationships both personal and universal, and this is reflected in the relationship of the almost ‘loud’ black and white images vis-à-vis a subtle almost ‘invisible’ text. A text set out in a linear fashion but which is unreadable using this skill. If the images invite us in, it is the words that make us welcome.

Mallarmé believed all earthly experiences would end up in a book. This book ‘The Book’ was to be, for precious moments, a spiritual experience for the reader. Un Coup de Dés was his attempt as poet to make ‘The Book’ a reality. The artists, Jan Davis and Michael Schlitz, picked up the challenge.

Noreen Grahame

November 2006

Jan Davis
Solomon, 1995
Seven volumes each 13.7 x 13.7 x 1.2 cm in slipcase 14.7 x 14 x 9.5 cm in an edition of 10

Michael Schlitz
the nature of things, 2005
24.7 x 27.2 cm in an edition of 10

3rd artists’ books + multiples fair brisbane

Madonna Staunton, Untitled, 1996, recycled wood and Chinese woodcut, worked with crayon, paint and letraset, unique, 14.5 x 11.5 x 6.0 cm. Collection: Centre for the Artist Book, Brisbane.

The changing social and political climate of the 1960s and the early 1970s provoked the birth of the modern artists’ books movement. Many current commentators writing of this period maintain that artists wished to bypass the gallery system, to democratise art, and that the book became the most appropriate vehicle. But the former librarian at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Clive Phillpot, writes, “What seems to have escaped the notice of such (uncritical commentators) was that many of the pamphlets of the sixties and early seventies were published by galleries.” He asks, “Were the galleries trying to circumvent themselves?” And adds, “John Baldessari’s observation that artists’ books were a kind of cheap line from the dealers was only too true of many of these publications. But if they were relatively cheap to purchase, they were not so cheap to publish.”[i] Nevertheless, technological advances in printing and the advent of the photocopier made it possible for artists to self publish, and whether it was being published by the artists themselves or by their galleries, we now had a ‘new’ book.

This new book was not a painting nor was it a sculpture, but it was no longer just a book. The book had become a new art form, and new definitions had to be found to describe it. The term ‘artists’ books’ derives from the French livres d’ artistes, those deluxe limited edition books usually illustrated by renowned painters in collaboration with writers. It is not clear when the term ‘artists’ books’ was first use to include those cheap, unlimited editions, but Clive Phillpot dates its first usage in this context to the 1973 exhibition titled ‘Artists’ Books’ at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia. This exhibition included deluxe limited edition livres d’artistes as well as the cheaper unlimited editions, and the exhibition title came to denote the modest artists’ publications and was employed in this context, again according to Clive Phillpot, for some fifteen years.

Until this time the relationship between visual art and the book was clear.  The book was a receptacle for art history. Ulises Carrión who established an artists’ books space in Amsterdam in the early 1970s wrote, ‘In order to read the old art, knowing the alphabet is enough. In order to read the new art, one must apprehend the book as a structure, identifying its elements and understanding their function.’[ii] Artists began experimenting with the book format, with the shape and the size of the book.  The artist’s book itself was becoming many things. It was a book but could also be an object.  In ‘Six Years: The dematerialization of the art object from 1966 to 1972′[iii] there is a report on Clement Greenberg’s  Art & Culture, published in America in the early 1960s. It had found its way into the library of the St. Martins School of Art, London, and in August, 1966, John Latham, a part-time lecturer at St. Martins, taking exception to its influence on students and to its title, borrowed it from the library. He invited artists, students and critics to an event called ‘STILL & CHEW’.

On arrival they were asked to take a page from ‘Art & Culture’ chew it and spit the product into a flask. With some selective choosing around a third of the book ended up in the flask to which was added sulphuric acid, a neutralizer and yeast.  ‘Art & Culture’ bubbled away for almost a year until Latham received a postcard marked VERY URGENT, requesting the return of the book as it was wanted urgently by a student.

‘Art & Culture’ was distilled, bottled, labelled and returned in its new guise. It took some time to convince the librarian that this was indeed Greenberg’s ‘Art & Culture’, and the next day the principal of St. Martins wrote to Latham saying he was unable to invite him to do any more teaching.

How does one classify Latham’s ‘Art & Culture’? Is it an altered book, a book object, an anti-book, a project book, or just a book?

Noreen Grahame

grahame galleries + editions, Brisbane
March 1998

Madonna Staunton, Untitled, 1996, recycled wood and Chinese woodcut, worked with crayon, paint and letraset, unique, 14.5 x 11.5 x 6.0 cm. Collection: Centre for the Artist Book, Brisbane.

[ii] Carrión, Ulises 1975, The New Art of Making Books in Plural no 41, Mexico.

[iii] Lppard, Lucy R ed. 1973, Six Years: The dematerialization of the art object, Studio Vista, London.

Seven volumes exploring language and space in the context of the Solomon Islands. It combines certain aspects of concrete poetry with historical and contemporary images and texts. SOLOMON was produced from photographs taken in the Solomon Islands, which have been digitally manipulated and printed on a bubble jet printer. Seven volumes housed in slipcase. Edition of 10. Signed and numbered. 13.5 x 13.5  x 10.4 cm in box 14.6 x 13.8 x 9.5 cm.

Grahame, N 2007, the book the poet, the artist and the breakthrough, Artlink, Adelaide, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 68-71

Price $3,300 (last one available edition 4/10)

GOGO GIRL (2007)

Could be viewed as the sad life story of a busy woman or an invitation to take time to reflect. Hand-stamped. 12 x 13 cm. Published by numero uno publications in an edition of 5.

Price $165

the case of the extremely glad gallerist (2001) (with Noreen Grahame)

A flip book for galleries, artists and others who are red blind. From ‘The Comments Series’. 24 pp, 9 x 12 cm. Published by numero uno publications in a edition of 200. Signed and numbered

Price $38.50

the case of the extremely sad gallerist (2001) (with Noreen Grahame)

A flip book for galleries, artists and others who remain ever hopeful. From ‘The Comments Series’. 24 pp, 9 x 12 cm. Published by numero uno publications in a edition of 200. Signed and numbered.

Price $38.50

This little book (for both children and adults) was inspired by a summer holiday at Raumati Beach near Wellington. It is seen through the eyes of a small cat “Elmo” and replicates the 1950s tenor of this seaside place where homes and lifestyle are often very simple and the Southerly wind an almost constant force. It is a story of  based on fond memories of this part of the world by the author as well as having as its theme, friendship and reconciliation. 26 pages, two colours (black and red), Laser printed on 100 gsm acid free photo paper; 21.5 x 28.5 x 1 cm, ring bound in an edition of 10.

Price: $330

Ten woodengravings on Japanese Kozo paper accompanied by the artist’s text screenprinted opposite the black images in light ink. the nature of things relates tales about the human condition from a personal perspective. Japanese binding by Fred Pohlmann. 20 pp, 24.7 x 27.2 cm. Signed and numbered. Published by numero uno publications in an edition of 10.

Price $1,100 (one available)

les sons of history (2007)

We follow Schlitz’s ‘sons’ of history in these tightly cut woodblocks. We follow their history making from the first image ‘every mothers son’. On we go with ‘swampman of the desert’, ‘explorers dream’ and ‘man on horizon’. All are searching and all are hopeful. Then comes ‘fear of an edge’ and ‘within the heart of another mans past’ and others on to ‘momento mori’. les sons of history reflects all the hope and angst of those who make and those who wish to make history. 28 x 50 cm. Bound by Fred Pohlmann. Published on the occasion of Lessons in History Vol. 1 exhibition by numero uno publications in an edition of 10 + 2 ap.

Price $1650