Jonathan Monk, Sailing into San Francisco three sailors & one tattoo, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, 2000, ed. 1000

A curious accordion by this Brit artist now based in Berlin. I'm assuming that this publication was connected to an exhibition at the then San Francisco-based Jack Hanley gallery, although the publication does not indicate this. Either way the images all seem to be the typical touristic images of San Francisco and i'm sort of assuming that they are found photos, and that the reference to "one tattoo" is related to the last photo in the accordion of 3 sailors with sticks between their legs as if they are riding horses, and one of the sailors has a tattoo on his forearm (also featured on the cover of this accordion). The work seems like a typical work of this conceptual artist, but without the sly wit and humor of others I have seen. Check out the other three of Monk's accordions posted on this blog and make up your own mind!

16 single-sided pages, individual 3.75" x 5.5", and unfolded 7ft 4inches.

the three sailors & one tattoo

back cover

Cecilia Mandrile and Lina Meruane, Latitude, Bristol, UK, 2017

"Latitude is a collaborative artist book by artist Cecilia Mandrile and writer Lina Meruane published by Impact Press. This unique artist book is an accordian style folded object, with intimate, poetic text on one side and a series of photographic images on the other side. The book can be read like a traditional book or unfolded to stand as a printed art object. Latitude is a meditation on the parallel nature of two lives existing on the same plane as one another for a fleeting moment in time.

Cecilia Mandrile is an Argentinian artist focused on the rehearsal of aesthetics of displacement through print objects and installations. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at El Museo del Barrio in New York and the Victoria & ALbert Museum in London.

Lina Meruane is a Chilean writer, whose fiction work includes the short story collection Las Infantas and the novel Cercada. She has received writing grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and awards from Anna Seghers (Berlin)." [text from Printed Matter listing]

Regarding the 'latitude' of the title, Meruane's text speaks of a meeting of the artist and the writer with her noting: "We were born around the same year (you one earlier than me), around the same parallel of latitude, the Andes slicing through it. We've ended up living on the same street, almost on the same floor (me one higher than you). Mountains of brick between us under the same clouds as they waft from my latitude [40.855368] to yours [40.854869]."

8 double-sided pages, single page 5.75" (variable) x 4", when unfolded 2ft 8inches.

reverse side

back cover

 

Maud Cotter, a solution is in the room, Coracle Press, Ireland, 2017, ed. 100

Cotter is an Irish artist based in Cork and she works across media including installation art, drawing, sculpture and landscape art. During the same year that this work was published Cotter also had an exhibition of 3 of her sculptural pieces with the same title at the Wandesford Quay Gallery in Cork. Coracle press' description of this work reads as follows: "...a sculpture splayed out to a length of two metres on the floor when activated, using one letter of its title per panel 9 x 9 x 4 cm. A veritable jack-in-box." From this quote and Cotter's larger practice this work has to be seen within her broader sculptural practice and as such, a printed matter sculpture in its own right.

26 single-sided pages, individually 3" x 3", and when unfolded 6ft 6inches.

Gwénaelle Lacoste, Les Supersheros de L'Arche (The Superheros of Art), Le Dernier Cri, Marseille, France, 2022

Another wild card of an accordion from Le Dernier Cri. This silk-screened publication is comprised of a cover which holds three separate 5 page accordions printed on both sides. Lacoste's super heroes seem to be drawn from the world of comics with names such as Hulk, Superman, Spiderman, Joker, Iron Man etc...with all these names and characters filtered through Lacoste's outsider childlike comics aesthetic which gives this publication a uniquely off-kilter and weirdly original flavor.

All three accordions are the same size, with each 5 double-paged work measuring 8.5" x 6" per page, and when unfolded 2'6".

the accordions with their cover

the three accordions

front

back

front

back

front

back

back cover

Anonymous, Untitled, nd

A small blank accordion that I came across in this great store in Manhattan called Kinokuniya which carries an incredible array of Japanese related products from paper, writing instruments, books and much more, I'll let the statement on their web statement spell it out: 

"We have a  wide range of English books including literature, Art, Children's books, business books, etc. Our New York store’s main floor is dedicated to books in English. We also feature a large stationery section in basement that includes authentic Japanese products. On the 2nd floor, we have a fine selection of manga in both English and the original Japanese, graphic novels, anime goods and toys as well as a cafe.  The store also periodically hosts signing events by writers, notable artists and creators."

If you ever are in the vicinity be sure to visit this really cool store thats crammed to the ceiling with great stuff! Here's a link to their website: Kinokuniya Store Locations — Kinokuniya USA

22 pages, individual pages 6" x 4", and when fully open 7ft 4".

back cover

Nikki de Saint Phalle, Traces, Editions Acatos, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1999

This autobiographical accordion was published by Editions Acatos as both a catalogue and documentation of an exhibition of Phalle's work at the JGM Galerie in Paris which presented the original manuscripts and drawings for the book as well as a set of bronze sculptures.

The texts are broken up into sections in which Phalle (1930-2002) comments upon and describes memories from her life and art. Included at the end is a biographical listing of events, exhibitions and artistic collaborations between 1930 - 1998, with a final image of Phalle with her daughter Laura, and grand daughter & great grand daughter!

22 single-sided pages, individually 10" x 7.75" and when fully open 14ft 2.5".

back cover

Jürgen Olbrich, Nothing, Germany, 2023

A mini-accordion book from this German post-neo-fluxus-networker and busy conceptual artist who I've been corresponding with for a couple of decades. With his theme of 'nothing' we actually get something, which is a series of cancelled stamps lifted from their original contexts and strung together into this accordion and then despite, or maybe because of, their cancelled status, they now are stamped with 'nothing' — a double cancelling, or nothing, as it were. 

5 single-sided pages, individually 2.75" x 2" and fully open 10".

ps: check out this other 'erased' accordion by Olbrich on this blog: Jürgen O. Olbrich, Erased Series, Germany, 1999.

back cover

Simon Starke, ÖKOpädie, Germany, nd

 

A curious accordion by this German conceptual artist who was born in 1958. The description of him on the artland.com site reads like an AI generated text and offers nothing about the artist himself, but then maybe that's a 'piece' in itself!  Accompanying these photographs of assorted subjects is the word ÖKOpädie and I'm still trying to figure its meaning, in German it means 'ecopedia' while in Polish it translates as 'trenches', which given the cover image of a headstone reading Familie Grabe/Family Grave would seem to be a natural fit.  Either way I'm sure I'm missing the message here, so if anyone can help me that would be great!

5 double-sided pages, individually 5.75" x 4" and when fully open 1ft 8".

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