Postcards for Perec

Postal postmodernism in Georges Perec’s Grand Tour

A brief line from Brighton. Getting a tan in the English sun.
Have met lots of friendly folk. Will phone when I get back end of August.

In 1978 Georges Perec wrote a series of postcard messages, dedicated to his fellow writer and friend Italo Calvino, Two Hundred and Forty-three Postcards in Real Colour. The messages seem a little repetitive and formulaic, but as both the men were members of OuLiPo, that is perhaps hardly surprising. The first clue to unravelling their secrets is to ask why 243?

Our aim is to respond as artists to this work by reproducing Perec’s messages, and making the postcards come to life by adding the missing images. So please contact me via this site if you would like to take part and be sent your message for a postcard. You can draw, paint, sew, collage, stencil, stamp, buy or print, it’s all up to your imagination. We will exhibit the postcards at UWE Bower Ashton library in 2021.

United in Isolation

I’m pleased to have two works in an international online exhibition organised by Animales de Lorca, Valencia, running until August 14th. Letterpress printers were asked to send their responses to the covid 19 epidemic. These pieces reflect my frustrations at not being able to use traditional letterpress during self-isolation.

*NOT ENOUGH* SimplyMpress Bonadies/Adams

*JUST THE TYPE* LetterMpress Bonadies/Adams

The Bristol Art Library

Chuffed that my little volume celebrating the life and work of Marie Curie 1867 – 1934 has gone to live in this wonderful library. I look forward to life and book fairs opening up again, so that I can wear my badge with pride.

The book was the first inter-library transfer between the Head Librarians Ms. A. Other of TBAL and Miss E. Swishes of the Experimental, Mythical, and Imaginary Library Society (EMAILS).

Offset

My book OFFSET has been accepted for the yearly curated international and experimental artists’ book online exhibition ‘Offset 2018’ by Rejectamenta / we love your books

http://rejectamenta.com/wlyb/offset-2018/#

Offset is a strange word, it can mean both irregularity and balance at the same time. This work subverts the regularity of the book form, and yet the offset design is perfectly balanced. The inner pages are also offset, and fit suspended within the covers.

Book-cloth, board, paper and thread. Edition of five.

The Tetley

The AMBruno Cover project was launched, despite adverse weather and chaotic travel, at the Leeds 21st Contemporary Artist’s Book Fair on 3rd & 4th March 2017

Twelve books had been selected by Dr Chris Taylor from anonymised submitted outlines.

MAMDP at Artbook Berlin 2017

Six of my books are travelling to Berlin this weekend; MA Multidisciplinary Printmaking students, staff and alumni are exhibiting at Artbook Berlin 2017. MAMDP is showing artists’ books and printed matter at the event in Kunstquartier Bethanien from Friday 17th – Sunday 19th November 2017. Participation in the event has been organised by MAMDP student Elena Zeppou, thank you Elena!

Artbook Berlin 2017, Kunstquartier Bethanien, Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin, Germany. More information on the event and exhibitors can be found at: https://artbookberlin2017.blogspot.com

Redesigning the Medieval Book

I am delighted to hear that my submission has now been accepted for display in the Bodleian Library, to accompany the exhibition Designing English in December 2017.

Redesigning the Medieval Book – A modern book artist’s take on the books in this exhibition.

‘Experimental shapes : Things here and gone : Words and pictures : Laid out for use’

When these earliest and precious English books were demonstrated to us, it was a reminder that books come to life when the pages are turned. When displayed, only one double page can be seen at a time, like pinned out butterfly wings.

These books are the epitome of all the reasons why a library can never be digitalised – for reasons of access perhaps, but the physicality of the book can be as important as the content.

Our modern responses are to go into the glass-fronted display cabinet on the wall of the exhibition atrium. The folded medieval books inspired me to make a modern book where several of the pages could be seen at once, maintaining a simple codex format when closed but displaying the content when open on a shelf.

My book opens into four half-cube room-like areas. I used a medieval tile pattern for the ‘floor’ of the book, visually unifying the whole when open, and applying a medieval grounding.

The content then takes inspiration from The Canterbury Tales and Geoffrey Chaucer’s imaginary travellers, and my own journey to the Bodleian and the medieval world. It is a folded pocket timetable to and from the past, keeping information to hand for travel.

The journeying companions echo this, captured in petrified passport photographs with paired seventeen word descriptions.

Voltaire, Candide, 1759

Not only are these colour column widths proportional to the frequency of use of adjectival colour, but the size of the square is also proportional to the number of times colours are used as a descriptor. Screenprinted, acrylic ink on paper 16.2 x 16.2 cm 18.v.2017