accordion publications: 05/01/2024

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Stephen Perkins, Six Small Accordions: #14-19, spray paint, 2024

These six accordions have been created from the spray paint residue that was on the brown paper that I covered the table with while working on the larger accordions featured in some of my recent posts. In this sense these works are 'found accordions' produced from the residue of a separate artistic activity.

All works are single-sided with individual pages between 3.5" - 4", and total widths varying between from 14" - 24". Click on images for enlargements.

#14, 2024

#15, 2024

#16, 2024

#17, 2024

#18, 2024

#19, 2024

Monday, May 20, 2024

Stephen Perkins, For Palestine, stencils and spray paint, 2024

14 single-sided pages, individually 8.75" x 5" and when unfolded and including covers 6' 10"

Lillian Sizemore, War Bride, stencil and spray paint, 2024

"The panels on the left-hand side of this accordion depict my mother's urban European heritage and the right-hand panels reflect my American father's rural Southern background. The center, symbolizes their post-WWII marriage in Milan in 1947".

Lillian Sizemore is a Madison based writer, consultant and mosaic artist.

23 single-sided pages, individually 7" x 4.75", when unfolded 9' 1.25"

Mother #1

Mother #2

Mother #3

Center 'marriage' panel

Father #1

Father #2

Father #3

Thursday, May 16, 2024

Stephen Perkins, #1-7, #9-12, #20-117, spray paint and stencils, 2024

After having run this blog since 2010 people occasionally ask me if I make accordions myself, and I reply that I've done some small things but never spent any serious amount of time making them.

However, I recently came across some really interesting stencil works by the Egyptian/Armenian artist Chant Avedissian (1951-2018), and the Mexican artist Felipe Ehrenberg (1943-2017) as well as passionate conversations with a friend about Sonia Delaunay's artwork accompanying Blaise Cendrars poem in "La Prose du Transsiberian et de la Petite Jehanne de France," Paris, 1913. All of this inspired me to experiment with stencils, spray paint and the accordion format. That was three weeks a go and I'm still going strong! It's been a really exciting and unexpected journey working with the play of color across the panoramic features of the accordion format. I've just ordered a whole bunch of new blank accordions, so it looks like I'll be continuing this experiment for some time to come...

Work sizes: #1-3: 10 single-sided pages, individual 6" x 4", and when unfolded 3' 4". All others: 18 single-sided pages, individual 7' 5" x 5", and when unfolded plus the 2 covers 8' 4". Note: #7, 14 pages, #113,10 pages, #117, 6 pages only.

note: click on images to enlarge them...