Lynne Yun, Korean Folklore Creatures A-Z, Space Type, New York, 2023, ed. 100

front cover

Lynne Yun is a NYC-based type designer, educator and technologist and founder of Space Type, a studio practice operating at the intersection of type and technology. She also recently co-founded Type Electives, an online design school shaping the future of type. 

Of this ABC book of Korean Folkloric creatures she says: "The Korean Folklore Creatures A-Z zine showcases 26 mythical creatures that appear in Korean folklore with names that correspond to the Latin alphabet. Each page has a creature that is shaped like the alphabet, with their names and short descriptions below. The zine is risographed in four colors. The interior of the zine is printed on French Paper Smartwhite 100lb text, with cover stock being French Paper Speckletone True White 80lb cover."

For more info about Yun's activities: Lynne Yun Design

24 single-sided pages, individually 3" x 3", and when unfolded 

back cover

Shinro Ohtake, I Love Yu, Seigensha Art Publishing, Kyoto, Japan, 2010

front cover

Naoshima Bath “I♥︎湯"

This is an art facility created by artist Shinro Ohtake where visitors are actually able to take a bath. "I♥︎湯" was created to provide both a place for Naoshima residents to rejuvenate and as a venue for exchanges between Japanese and international visitors and locals to take place. The exterior and fittings of the bathhouse, from the bath itself to the pictures decorating the walls, the mosaics, and even the toilet fittings, all reflect the universe of the artist.

The bathhouse is operated by the Town-Naoshima Tourism Association.

Come visit and soak in the tub, and experience art with your entire body. 

Hours & Admission

                Hours: 1:00pm - 9:00pm

                 Closed: Mondays

*Open on Mondays for national holidays but closed the next day.

*Closed temporarily for maintenance, as needed

                Admission:

JPY660

*15 and under: JPY310 (free for children 2 and under)\                                                   *Naoshima residents: JPY320

Naoshima Bath "I♥︎湯" | Art | Benesse Art Site Naoshima

40 double-sided pages, individually 4" x 2.75", and when fully open 9ft 2"

back cover

Enzo Mari, See-Saw, Marizio Corraini, Mantova, Italy, 1961/2011

front cover

Enzo Mari (1932-2020) was an Italian designer, artist and theorist, as well as being the author of fifteen educational and political books. The following text from the Silvana publishing house for a 2023 book of his drawings writes about him: 

"Enzo Mari was an inventor of languages, a constructor of grammars – intended as methods or sets of rules -, deeming these instruments necessary to “communicate knowledge with improved quality and efficiency”. It is impossible to define his discipline or his profession: he is an artist, an industrial designer, a graphic designer, an architect, but also a theorist, a pedagogue, an intellectual, possibly a philosopher, certainly a utopian who knew how to programme quiet revolutions which are, even today, often misunderstood when not totally unknown; these are some of the many facets of a complex and revolutionary personality". 

In the same manner that its hard to pin down the man Enzo Mari, it's the same with how to define this book, with his publisher writing the following about this book: 

"The See-saw (L'altalena) can be either a book, a game or an entertaining strip to hang up. The concertina-fold pages are full of black and brown stylised animals that chase one another, overlap, leap with their “heavy bodies” onto the ends of the simplest of swings trying to keep their balance. A brightly coloured red and green cover envelops cumbersome elephants, sinuous snakes and statuesque kangaroos. The book does not have words and speaks conceptually to children of quantity, shapes, weight and balance. The first ideas for this book (the limited edition) date from 1961". 

An intriguing accordion with these animal shapes with their wooden patina, balancing on each other and fitting together like pieces of a puzzle which they all finally do in the last and perfectly balanced piece!"

26 single-sided pages, individually 9.5" x 6.5", when unfolded 14ft 1".

back cover

Izumi Kato, Visible, Perrotin, New York, 2023

front cover

There's a weird kind of off-kilter feeling, but yet somehow right, about these pages of almost diaristic collages by the Tokyo & Hong 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".

reverse side

back cover

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

front cover

'

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, standard height of 10.75" and widths varying from 4.75" - 8", and when unfolded 14' 2.5".

back cover