Chuck Close, Scribble Book: Self Portrait, Steidl & Little Steidl, Gottingham, Germany, 2013

Slipcase for the two accordions and pamphlet about the printing process

A really interesting set of three publications from Chuck Close in which he uses the panoramic feature of the accordion to illustrate the process of making a print. Of this work he remarked, "The idea for my scribble self-portrait goes back to an exquisite corpse drawing I made for a show at the Drawing Center in 1993. I wanted to find a way to make a full-color image that was built out of pieces, or in stages, as a print would be made. So I scribbled in colored pencils one color at a time, layering the colors on top of each other, and made a little self-portrait head for the top part of this drawing. I did the process colors first: magenta, then cyan, then yellow and then I would see what else it needed. This is like most of what I do: it's a question of always getting it closer and closer. I sneak up on what I want." [volume 3]

The publishers statement for the trade edition summarizes well the particulars of this publishing project, "Scribble Book is a self-portrait that emerges step-by-step out of the printing process, one plate and one color at a time. The viewer follows a series of nine individual plate proofs (volume 1) along with a corresponding series of nine progressive proofs (volume 2). By comparing the plate proofs against the progressives, the viewer may ascertain not only the effect as one color is added to create the final nine-color-portrait, but also the compositional decisions and careful modifications made by the artist at each stage of the project."

Both accordions: 8 single-sided pages, individually 13.25" x 11", and when extended 7' 4".

the final print is on the right

In volume three Chuck Close describes the printing process

Duncan Tonatiuh, Undocumented: A Worker's Fight, Abrams Books, 2018

front cover and slipcase

A beautifully drawn accordion done in Tonatiuh's unique Neo-Pre-Columbian style, this book tells the story of a group of undocumented workers and their, ultimately successful, organizing efforts at their place of work. This book was inspired by a Mixtec friend that Tonatiuh met at college in New York and it illustrates his journey from a small village in Mexico to his life as a busboy in New York City. This accordion is also a tribute to the long history of pre-Columbian codices that were all but destroyed by the Spanish invaders, and thus this book carries an undercurrent of resistance and, of a contemporary revival. 

Inspired by his research into Mixtec codices and artwork from the 15th century, Tonatiuh recounts that "I decided I was going to make a modern day codex of my friend's story. I've been drawing in a Pre-Columbian like style since."

Born in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, Tonatiuh has also spent time in the USA having studied at the Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College in New York City. He has also established an award winning career and has illustrated numerous books with a particular emphasis on books for children.

11 double-sided pages, individually 10.75" x 6.5" and when fully open 5' 11.5"

reverse side

back cover and slipcase

Karlsson Rixon (photographs) & Mara Lee (text), Nakenakt (Nude), Art and Theory Publishing, Stockholm, Sweden, 2018

One side of this accordion book is a compelling series of photographs that feature the photographer standing nude, with another nude woman draped in various positions around her body. Rixon remains impassive throughout the series, while her partner assumes a variety of uncomfortable looking poses as she clings onto the artists' body. The reverse side of the accordion is taken up with a text by Mara Lee, and since it's all in Swedish, its meaning is unavailable to me.

In a publisher's note about this quietly understated artists' book they write: "The photographs depicts a series of interactions between two bodies. They are portraits of the artist captured in a particular phase in life a phase of intense questioning and reflecting on the body in relation to queerness, trans identity and aging. We are confronted with performative moments of playfulness, intimacy, and deadly seriousness in which one body carries, balances, handles or is invaded by another. Perhaps the two together form a single organism in constant change, a body that doesn't adhere to prevailing notions of what a body should look like and how it should act..."

13 double-sided pages, individually 5.5" x 7.75" and when fully open 8' 4.75".

below is the cover of reverse side of book with Mara Lee's text