Megan de Vos, Cradle to Cradle, L'Appât, Bruxelles, 2017, ed. 200

front cover with label

A really beautiful leporello that depics the life cycle from birth, childhood, adolescence, marriage and birth all over again, with the skeletal figure of death overlooking the whole panorama. Megan de Vos is an accomplished freelance illustrator living and working in Groningen, Netherlands with an impressive array of commercial clients.

8 double-sided pages, individual pages 8.25" x 8.25", and when unfolded 5ft 6"

image source: knetterijs.com/Megan-de-Vos

reverse side

back cover

Beat Zoderer, Beat Zoderer, Museum Liner Appenzell, Switzerland, 2002, ed. 300

A really great catalogue that reproduces in life-size dimensions a long multi-colored sculptural work of Zoderer's titled Massstab No. 2/01, 2001. The play of scale between the real and its representation gives this accordion a really interesting perceptual and conceptual twist. Created by gluing together small wooden blocks and then painting them the work is 4.7" inches high and 9' 5" inches long. [Note: massstab is German for scale]

On the reverse side is a short statement by the editor of the catalogue accompanied by a quote by the well known Italian writer Oswald Egger that is printed in one continuous line along the back. The quote is from Egger's book The Hearth of Speech (1999) and is a stream of consciousness text ending with "...The second of seeing is over, I dream that I dream and - wake up."

16 double-sided pages, individually 8" x 11.25", and unfolded 15ft, with image of sculpture measuring 9ft long and 5.5" high.

Mike Wilson, Bunshin Horitoshi, Mike Wilson, The Dragon Series, Tribal Books, 2023

Three beautifully presented accordions on the theme of dragons that form part of Tribal Books' Dragon Series featuring the work of 12 accomplished male tattoo artists. Others in this series include, Matt Arriola, Steve Byrne, Andreas Coenen, Chris Garver, Grez, Timothy Hoyer, Tim Lehi, Chris O'Donnell and Mick Tattoo.

My only quibble about these accordions is that at $80 a pop, I expected a much more superior printing method than what's been used here and if that had been the case it would have paired nicely with the smart technical presentation to create a cool final product.

Each book is 6 single-sided pages, individually 8" x 6" and unfolded 3ft.

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Mike Wilson's Site

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BunshinHoritoshi 文身 彫とし (@bunshinhoritoshi) • Instagram photos and videos

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Chad koeplinger (@chadkoeplingertattoo) • Instagram photos and videos

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The Dragon Series, edition of 500

Stefano Faravelli, Delhi, Confluencias, Granada, Spain, 2012

                

A pocket-sized carnet de voyage (travel notebook) by this Italian artist from a series featuring different cities across the globe with this one dedicated to Delhi. The book comes with a biographical introduction coupled with the story of Faravelli's fascination with India, and more importantly Faravelli's own comments about the subjects in each of the pages of this notebook.

The introductory texts at the beginning of this book are translated into four languages - Italian, Castilian, French, English and other books depict Tokyo, Istanbul, Cairo, Rome, Jenne, Jerusalem, Pekin, Toledo and Kashgar. 

See here for Faravelli's treatment of the Malian city of Jenne: accordion publications: Mar 27, 2018

32 pages single-sided, individual pages 5.5" (h) x 3.5" (w), when open 9ft 4". 

                             

                                  

                                 

                               

                                

                                

                                                  

                                                            back cover

Olga Shtonda, El Palo Más Alto (The Tallest Tree Trunk In The Woods), 6dreams, Ukraine, 2023

front cover

A wonderful accordion (#46) by Olga Shtonda in the 6dreams accordion series initiated by Roger Omar in 2002 in which he collects dreams from children around the world and then commissions artists to illustrate six dreams per accordion. In this example the dreams are all from children in Mexico with one side displaying the artists' interpretations of the dreams and on the reverse are transcriptions in both Spanish and English of each individual dream. This is a totally unique project and has been going for more than 20 years! More info available about Omar's project here: accordion publications: 6dreams, editor Roger Omar, Valencia, Spain

When I received this work I noticed that Olga's address was from a city in the northeastern part of Ukraine that has seen serious fighting during the war. In the credits for this accordion Olga has written, "Illustrated with hope before and during the full scale war in Ukraine, my homeland, in February 2022 and January-February 2023 in Tlaxcala, Mexico...". I wish her well and hope that she is in a place of safety. 

update: i have just been in communication with Olga and she writes, "Huge thanks for mentioning Ukraine...the war still goes on here, so it's very important for us not to be forgotten."

5 double-sided pages, individual pages 8.25" x 7.75", and fully open at 3ft 2.75". 

reverse side with transcriptions of the children's dreams

back cover

Erik Ruin, Hard Rain: A Letter From Cassiodorous, silkscreen, 2024, ed. 20

front and back of the work's envelope

                                            

This is a powerful work in which one side illustrates the text of a letter sent in 538 AD by the Roman statesman Cassiodourous. In the letter he vividly describes his experience of an eclipse and then comments upon the changing climate of the period, "The seasons seem to be all jumbled together....we have had a winter without storms, a spring without mildness and a summer without heat." All of this seems very familiar to us in the present moment, and coupled with the reference to Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" (1963), both serve to reinforce our own concerns and alarm at our rapidly changing environment, and the urgency to do something about it. This work eloquently translates into visual form these existential threats that the global community currently faces.

Erik Ruin describes himself on his website as "...a Michigan-raised, Philadelphia-based printmaker, shadow puppeteer, paper-cut artist, etc., who has been lauded by the New York Times for his "spell-binding cut-paper animations." His work oscillates between the poles of apocalyptic anxieties and utopian yearnings, with an emphasis on empathy, transcendence and obsessive detail. He frequently works collaboratively with musicians, theater performers, other artists and activist campaigns. He is a founding member of the international Justseeds Artists' Cooperative".

8 double-sided pages, individually 8.5" x 5", unfolded 3ft 4".

on the reverse side is the text of the letter which is written back to front but can be read through the paper from the front side of the accordion