Masato Nakamura, QSC+mV, Imschoot, Ghent, Belgium, 2001, ed. 1000

This is the first accordion that i've come across that has been printed on clear plastic! This book accompanied Nakamura's installation in the Japanese Pavilion at the 49th Venice Bienniale (2001) in which he constructed large McDonald's golden arches that filled the exhibition space (see below). The title of the book "QSC+mV" is a play on McDonald's original corporate philosophy of 'Quality, Service and Cleanness make Value,' which Nakamura has changed to 'Quality, Sincerity and Communications and the coefficient m is multiplied by Value to mean art'.

The project came to him after a world trip in 1996, stating:

"After developing the pictures I took, I noticed yellow Ms in many of the shots. It didn't matter what country I was in-there they were....Golden arches are a symbol of heaven and passing under an arch signifies rebirth. Arches symbolize victory, and mark the entryway to sacred spaces. But as everyone knows, arches which look like this signify only one thing: a dependable burger. The wonder of the Big Mac is that it tastes the same wherever you are....I had the feeling that this living creature (earth) was transforming, with Ms appearing all over its surface, almost like blemishes."

A unique publication, and part of a larger project that I'm assuming is not only an exploration of this worldwide symbol, but an attempt to deconstruct its larger symbolic, economic and gastronomic meanings.

4 accordions, i) 2 pages, ii) 3 pages, iv) 4 pages, v) 6 pages, individual pages 8.25" (h) x 5.75" (w), total lengths variable.

Nakamura's installation in the Japanese Pavilion, 

49th Venice Bienniale, 2001, Venice, Italy.

Sol LeWitt, Lignes en Quatre Directions et Toutes Leurs Combinaisons (Lines in Four Directions and All Their Combinations), Museé D'Art Contemporain CAPC Entrepôt Laine Bordeaux, France, 1983

A cool catalogue for this installation/exhibition of a work by LeWitt (1928-2007). An early conceptual and minimalist artist who reduced his palette to some very basic shapes — spheres, quadrilaterals and triangles, and a similarly limited color palette of red, yellow, blue and black. With respect to how he got to this point in reducing art to its essentials, he said he wanted "to recreate art, to start from square one."

The title of this catalogue, and of this exhibition are typical of the titles he gave his works, and in this instance its "Lines in Four Directions and All Their Combinations."  Taking this as the conceptual framework for the piece LeWitt proceeded to explore all the many combinations possible within this recipe.  This catalogue, which includes the results of these instructions and photographs of helpers installing the works, gives a clear and fascinating introduction to the work of this important late 20th century minimalist artist.

36 pages, double-sided, individual page 8.5" (h) x 8.75" (w) and when fully opened 13ft 1.5".

note: this article was informed by Michael Kimmelamn's obituary of LeWitt titled "Sol LeWitt, Master of Conceptualism, Dies at 78," New York Times, April 9, 2007

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