Faye Morehouse, How to Befriend a tiger, nd

Just the title of this work is enough. The final result is beautifully understated and just right.

5 pages, individual pages 3.75"(h) x 2.25"(w), when open 11.25".

Creepy-Crawlies, Candlewick Press, 2012.

Another winner from Candlestick Press that complements their Dinosaurs accordion that I featured a little while ago on this blog. This one does not disappoint with its eye-catching graphics, its wonderful opening-up with all the animals popping out in perfect unison, and coupled with the craft and skill of the expert paper-maker and constructor — bravo!

14 double-sided pages, 4.25"(h) x 4"(w), when opened 4ft 11.5". 

Ágnes Eperjesi, Viewer - Image, b/w photographs, Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, Budapest, 2019

This piece by Ágnes Eperjesi was one of a number of works in a powerful show at the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography gallery in Budapest titled "Euforia?: Stories of a System Change From Hungary," (Dec. 17, 2019 - Feb., 23, 2020). The exhibit featured works that responded to the new environment that was created after the 'fall of the wall,' and it's a fascinating array of different ways that people experienced it.

Under the Socialist regime in Hungary, both men's pornographic and erotic magazines were banned. The artists' father often made trips to the West where he purchased erotic magazines, which his daughter inevitably found in his hiding places. Of their production and circulation the artist writes:

"My father carefully locked away his collection from prying eyes, but others straight out made reproductions of them typically in a DIY artisanal manner, and that is how these pictures entered and then circulated in the secondary market. The images were photographed individually, and then scaled down in at-home labs, and eventually glued one after the other in a folded leaflet-like fashion. The images, reduced to the size of a cigarette box, fit in a back pocket or a wallet. Their distribution, just like that of the pornographic photos back in the first decades of the 1900s, took place informally through personal channels."

Despite the sign at the beginning of the exhibition stating that no photographs were permitted, i couldn't help making snaps of this really interesting work, and in particular the way the works were displayed so that only interested people were able to the see the true contents of these 'works.'

Of the pieces in the display case the artist states that the case "contains two homemade calendar cards with photo-montage kiosk pictures that were legally trafficked back in the day, as well as three reproductions of western pornographic magazines made with photographic techniques and informally distributed around 1970."(1)

1. Artists' quotes taken from artists' statement accompanying the work.

Lillian Sizemore, Quel Amor, sticker and digital prints, 2020

On February 14th this year my partner, Lillian Sizemore, surprised me with this beautiful handmade accordion celebrating some of the moments in our love affair. Perhaps more significantly, this same date also celebrated our third year anniversary. Three years earlier on February 14th Lillian, had rather reluctantly come to an opening for the gallery that I have in my house, the show was called "Girls, Girls, Girls" and it celebrated women, as well the huge women's demonstrations that had just taken place on January 21st, 2017 against the incoming regime in the Whitehouse. We got talking, and we've never stopped!

Individual pages 2"(h) x 2.5"(w), 26 pages, and when opened 2ft 8.5".

detail from the back side

detail from the back side

detail from the back side

Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002), Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1976

There's a special place in my heart for Niki de Saint Phalle. A long time ago I became entranced with her accordion book "My Love" (1971), which takes as its subject the arc of a romantic relationship. It was this accordion book that sparked my interest in the accordion format and provided the impetus for me to start this blog, and the rest is history! 

https://accordionpublications.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-love-niki-de-saint-phalle-malmo.htm

This charming accordion catalogue, designed by Saint Phalle and accompanied by her own handwriting, describes two of her built environments for children. The first one was created in Belgium and takes the shape of a monster. The second one called "Golemn" was her first environment for children and was built in Jerusalem (1971). The book includes a catalogue essay in Dutch, and an exhibition checklist. The whole thing is a treat!

34 pages, each 5.75" (h) x 4" (w), and when fully extended 11' 4".

Dinosaurs, Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2013

This is a really fun and educational 3D accordion for kids (and some grown-ups!), with beautiful illustrations by the KJA artists illustration agency, and "paper engineering" pop-outs by Gus Clarke. I don't really know what else to say about this visual delight and expertly conceived accordion book, but its selling on Amazon for around $10, so get one for you and the kids!

13 pages, double-sided, individual pages 4.25" (h) x 4" (w), and when fully extended 5'.

 front

 back

Nicolò Degiorgis, Oasis Hotel, Bolzano-Bozen: Rorhof, Italy, 2014, 1st ed. 500

At 36.5 feet in length, this is a massive piece of photographic documentation taken along the length of China's 500km Cross-Desert Highway, that was built in the 1990's to service the transportation of oil from the region. Degiorgis hitchhiked the road and documented all the various peoples and activities he encountered. By turns fascinating, as well as typical of the communities that border such highways, this book is a thorough piece of documentation portraying Chinese roadside culture and the activities that take place in these liminal spaces.

I have posted another of Degiorgis' accordions on this blog, see: La Laguna di Venezia. For further information about Degiorgis' work and activities see: http://www.nicolodegiorgis.com/resume/

Individual pages for this one-sided accordion are 6.25" (h) x 9.5" (w) and when fully extended 36' 5".