accordion publications: 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...