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Pre-Spanish codices were made from one long accordion folded strip of amatl paper. "The Codex is a colonial legal document dating to some 30 years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The text first establishes the pre-conquest founding of the town and its proud lineage of indigenous rulers. It then denounces the excessive tribute demands made by a series of Spanish encomenderos." [From exhibit label]
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| An exhibition of accordion publications that I curated for the Lawton Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. It was as a result of doing this show that I realized that very little had been written about this wonderful medium and that somehow it had been neglected in the histories of artists' book and artists' multiples. Thus, this blog is my attempt to correct this situation. Catalogue available at: PrintedMatter.org For documentation of show: DSC09198 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! |
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An awesomely beautiful two-sided accordion by Micah Lidberg, screenprinted onto untreated paper that gives the work a rich color and luster. The work depicts a utopian/dystopian prehistoric landscape in which assorted real and imagined animals frolic. 9.25"(h) x 50.5"(l) Available from Nobrow for $16. Nobrow also publishes a very cool artists' periodical with the same name, as well as a range of very sharp artists' books and other printed matter. In the summer of 2010 they moved to their new studio/gallery space in London's east end. Check them out: http://www.nobrow.net/  |
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Lucio (The Slasher) Fontana, applies his distinctive cut technique by punching holes through the gold paper pages of this artists' book. Both images MoMA, New York. 5.75" (h) x 70.75" (l) |
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There is a genre of artists' books that mimic and parody the style of Edward Ruscha's seminal accordion publication, Every Building on Sunset Strip (1966), and one of the more recent is Persistent Huts (2008) by the Canadian artist Derek Sullivan. Appropriating the size and accordion format of Every Building...it features sixteen black and white photographs of improvised huts or shelters, constructed by using six copies of the artist Martin Kippenberger's 1988 book Psychobuildings. Kippenberger's book featured photographs that he had taken of odd and eccentric architecture, and thus Sullivan's book is a an amusing homage to Ruscha's book and a play of contrasts between the traditional commercial architecture of Sunset Strip and the psycho-huts that Sullivan has constructed from Kippenbeger's book. Available for $15 from Printed Matter (http://printedmatter.org/) |
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A brochure announcing the availability of a set of ten serigraphs by Robert Indiana. Reproduced in greatly reduced scale, the accordion format creates a compelling printed matter gallery and mini-survey of some important works by Indiana from 1960-69. 5.5" (h) x 4'6" (l)
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This smart record of Buzz Spector's exhibition, Unpacking My Library: An Installation by Buzz Spector, (1995) at the San Diego State University Art Gallery, October 1-31, 1994, documents this artwork that was constructed from "all the books in the artist's library arranged in order of the height of the spine, from the tallest to the shortest." Measures 4" (h) and 11.5' (l).
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| Announcing the presentation of work created by Jun Kaneko at the Mission Clay Products in Pittsburg, Kansas between 2004 and 2007, on November 11th, from 10am - 2pm, at 714 South 20th Street, Omaha, Nebraska. Double-sided accordion with documentation of Kuneko's large ceramic works being installed in giant kiln. 6" (h) x 2' (l). |
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| Limo Zine is published in Stockholm, Sweden by Joakim Ojannen. At 5.5" inches high and 8 feet long its a real visual treat, with silkscreened cover and one long line-drawing with humans and animals transmorgifying all over the place in some extra-terrestial family tale. Comes with Plus One, which is more of the same in book form, but Limo Zine is fine by itself, and then some. Published in an edition of 100 and $12 from Printed Matter (PrintedMatter.org) |
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"I carry the past inside me like an accordion, like a book of picture postcards that people bring home as souvenirs from foreign cities, small and neat," she wrote in her memoir. "But all it takes is to lift one corner of the top card for an endless snake to escape, zigzag joined to zigzag, the sign of the viper, and instantly all the pictures line up before my eyes." New York Times obituary, "Heda Kovaly Dies at 91; Wrote of Life Under Totalitarianism," Dec. 9, 2010.
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The front and back covers are photographs of an accordion with the hands of the player, and the 'bellows' is made from a long folded color photograph of green grasses in a field. The book is named after the famous brand of Scottish accordions, the same kind as in the photographs. This publication is a witty play on the idea and structure of the accordion book. [11" (h) x 66" (l)/27.9 cm (h) x 167.6 cm (l)] Available from Printed Matter (Printed Matter) for $24.
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