Ami Moore, Don't cry onion girl!, risoprint, Toronto, Canada, nd.

A fun mini-accordion by this illustrator and bookmaker from Toronto in which we get the two stories of Onion Girl and Garlic Boy!  For more info about Moore's activities: Ami Moore Illustration

4 pages double-sided, individual pages 5.25" (h) x 4" (w), and when fully open 16".

back cover

Fly Orr, 3 accordions, New York, circa 2016-2019

Fly and I met many moons ago deep in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin and since then we've kept in contact by mail, sending each other occasional updates. A couple of months ago I received a packet from Fly with a number of these small accordion booklets. I want to feature three of them because I think they hit the mark.  

For other work by Fly check out her wonderfulI "Peops" project which is an ongoing portrait project in which she draws a portrait of a friend and also writes about that person around the edges of their portrait, its powerful and sensitive stuff at the same time:  Fly Intro | PEOPs

Fly is an illustrator, comics artist, painter, teacher, writer, musician and, since 1985 a Lower East side squatter, activist and squat historian. In 2013 Fly was the recipient of an Acker Award for "Excellence within the Avant-Garde," for her PEOPs project.

Each booklet: 4 pages double-sided, individual pages 4" (h) x 2.75" (w), when fully open 10.5".

My City, My Home, nd

Monarch Metamorphosis, 2019

Bad Hair Days, 2016

Sophie Guerrive, Batailles (Battles), ION Edition, France, 2017

pouch cover

This is a really wild 18 foot panoramic accordion that serves as a frieze for mankind's lust for war, killing, exterminating each other, and the nonstop BATTLES through which war is waged. And men is the operative word here, as there are almost no women depicted in this bloodthirsty narrative that takes us from ancient times up to the modern period. But despite this horrific history, Guerrive manages to inject a strong dose of humor, and indeed charm into the way she's drawn the people and events in this horrific history. Personally, I loved the little scenario in the bottom corner of one page in which a naked couple wake up and recoil at the terrific battle taking place outside their boudoir in the valley below, and you see them trying to work out what to do next!

Guerrive was born in  Marseille in 1983 and studied at the University of Aix en Provence and then at the School of Arts Decoratifs in Strasbourg. A lover of comics from an early age she has published a number of other books that feature her illustrations and stories: ION EDITION » Médiévales

The accordion comes in a pochette (pouch) which is also depicted here.

22 pages, single-sided, individual pages 10" (t) x 10" (w), and when fully open 18' 4".

back of pouch cover

Kris Ruhs, Untitled Theatre, Richard Green Gallery, New York, 1986, ed. 300

An accordion catalogue with hand-painted elements that echoes and mimics the form of an accordion that Ruhs published in connection with his installation at the Richard Green Gallery. 

After turning the gallery into a theatre for his Performing Characters, Ruhs describes the scene, "...there was a little stage where the audience could act out their own plays with members of the cast like the Accordion Player, the Saxophonist, the Performing Dog, the Tumbling Characters, the Magician and more. These wooden toys were joined at shoulders, waist and knees so that they could perform their intended act when manipulated." [krisruhs.com]

8 pages one-sided, individual pages 10" (t) x 7" (w), when fully open 4' 8".

back cover

Takashi Nemoto, Honeymoon, 2020, ed. 150 and Pakito Bolino, Bolturi, 2011, ed. 200

Two very  sharp silkscreen books by the incomparable Le Dernier Cri based in Marseille. Aside from publishing a number of accordion books (some in this blog) I've found that quite often they're incorporating fold-out pages into their other books, and the two publications featured here personify this technique. And, while I'm not claiming these are accordion books, there is a surprisingly accordion-like effect that happens when you fold out the pages of these books. Just saying!

                                 ________________________

                           Takashi Nemoto, Honeymoon, 2010

    19 pages, double-sided, individual pages 11.75"(t) x 8.75"(w)

front cover

back cover

                                      _________________________

    Pakito Bolino, Bolturi, 2011

21 pages, double-sided, individual pages 8"(t) x 8"(w)

front cover

back cover

Andrea Zhang, A Mere Gesture, 2020

I received this powerful little accordion in the mail recently and below are the contents of the note that accompanied it.

My name is Andrea Zhang and I am an undergraduate senior from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I heard about your accordion publications from my professor, Robert Clarke-Davis. Taken from his advice, I have made an accordion book for you. 

This book is from a project I have been working on called A Mere Gesture. In traditional Chinese medicine, hair is made from the surplus of blood and essence. Therefore, touching and joining hair suggest intimacy and union. I use hair as a symbol to describe the limits and possibilities of human connection across space and time. I've been collecting hair from people around me and scanning them on a flatbed scanner to make photographs.

14 pages, single-sided, individual pages 5" (h) x 2.5" (w), and when fully open 2' 11".