Izumi Kato, Visible, Perrotin, New York, 2023

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There's a weird kind of off-kilter feeling, but yet somehow right, about these pages of almost diaristic collages by the Tokyo & Honk Kong-based painter Izumi Kato (b. 1969). The eerie solitary extraterrestrial heads and figures that are a feature of his painting & sculpture practice, emerge here in the pages of this accordion. Visible, invisible, unseen, seen, and unseen — a map for a different future.

14 double-sided pages, individually 7" x  4.5", and when unfolded 5' 3".

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Rhea Karam, Somewhere/Elsewhere, Small Editions, New York City, 2023, ed. 500

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With its spray painted covers this really fun accordion opens up gatefold style with two accordions that peal out from the center with page widths that increase incrementally in size. What I find so wonderful about this accordion, aside from its visuality and playfulness, is that Karam's series of abstract photographs makes it almost impossible to see where the individual pages start and end, and as a result the accordion seems to disappear in your hands. 

Here's a statement from Small Editions about this work:

"Somewhere/Elsewhere is a continuation of the artist book Parallel Planes (2022) It further explores the notion of lines and borders within the urban landscape. The unique structure of this book leads the viewer into a journey where they can navigate city streets through a series of photographs of textured architectural planes that coexist side by side. Each page acts like a layer that can be peeled back or overlapped, allowing the viewer to interact and construct their own visual landscape within an infinite amount of possible compositions. (There is no specific direction or order in which the book should be viewed, drawing a parallel with the abstract notion of constructed identity and displacement.)"

For more info about Rhea Karam: ARTIST BOOKS — RHEA KARAM

28 double-sided pages, varying sizes (4.75" - 8")

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