Artists' Books in Crossett: U-Z

Using the instructions from the book “Woven and interlocking Book Structures” Audrey Holden, assistant to Claire Van Vliet at Janus Press, created models of the books. This boxed set included the book and all the models.

In poetry printed on richly colored, variously shaped and layered pages reminiscent of a quilt pattern, a Southern quilter looks backward, bittersweetly, on her life and past loves. A 1993 edition by Chronicle Books based on the original 1988 limited edition by Janus Press.

"This sketchbook was begun in Munich in 1999, when I was 29 years old. Like most sketchbooks it served as a portal between the real world and the realm of her imagination. Although it was never intended to be shared, nevertheless quite a bit of “work” came out of this particular book, including the installation ‘Insurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On)’, which is in the collection of the Guggenheim Museum. That, however, is an exception to the rule. For the most part the pages in this sketchbook reflect uneasy, unrefined, unfinished thoughts and anxieties, written and drawn with no objectives, no ulterior motives, and no filters." - Kara Walker.
[212] p. 23 x 15 cm. Sewn Binding.

Inkjet print on Rives paper, Number 13 of 15. 34 x 34 cm

Fear Indexing The X-Files is a collaborative illustrated essay from the Berlin-based artist, Steven Warwick, and the Brooklyn-based writer and art critic, Nora Khan. Khan and Warwick combed through the first 9 seasons of the television show, The X-Files, which originally aired from 1992 to 2002 with a recent reboot, to analyze how the fears in the show related to the evolving climate of fear during the Bush-Clinton Era which saw the rise of neoliberalism and the world wide web as we know it in its current form. The essay points to how the show presented fear as an inherent quality of everyday modern life. Paperback, Staple-Bound, 48 color pages, 5.25 inches x 8.25 inches, Edition of 750.

An artist's book by the Swiss duo dedicated to the questions that everyone asks themselves once in a while: Can something be unbelievable? Should I get drunk? Could I be Japanese? Is the freedom of birds overrated? Am I a farmer in winter? Does unease grow by itself? Should I crawl into my bed and stop producing things all the time?

Othello--a bestiary (with floral additions)' is a wordless retelling of William Shakespeare's 'Othello' as an illustrated collection of common, rare and fabulous animals, hand-cut from paper by Ian Whitmore. In removing the text, Borbonesa presents a deconstructed version of 'Othello' in which the storyline is plotted by the guinea-hens, baboons, blind puppies, strawberries and figs that inhabit the speeches of Shakespeare's human characters. All faunal forms inhabiting the speeches of Shakespeare's human characters are shown. References to monsters and undefined creatures and beasts are marked with offcuts. The red dots represent devils. These faunal and floral forms are arranged in their original sequence so the structure of the play is visually revealed. Based (structurally) on a 1968 version of the play edited by Kenneth Muir and published by Penguin Books. 1 folded sheet 54 p. 10 x 864 cm, folded to 10 x 16 cm. Screen printed. Accordion.

Both an artist’s book and a would-be practical guide, this volume offers occult instructions for becoming invisible by meditating on the color spectrum. It draws on the literature of Rosicrucianism, theosophy and esoteric yoga to demonstrate how, through breathing exercises and visualization, the reader can learn to split light into its constituent parts, then recombine the seven colors of the spectrum to form a glowing white cloud that envelops its creator, rendering him or her invisible. Its author, London-based artist Ian Whittlesea (born 1967) known for his book works based on spiritual-physical exercises, notes in the preface: “These exercises are intended to allow you to become invisible. This does not, however, mean that you will physically disappear or dematerialize. Instead you will be hidden from view, concealed within a cloud of your own creation.” [50] p. 18 x 12 cm. Offset Printed. Edition of 2000.

"Dress Code Strictly Enforced draws on the artist's experience as a Spanish interpreter in the U.S. courts. Wilson compares attorneys, defendants, judges, and people in other key roles to theatrical players, wearing predetermined costumes and participating in staged dialogue. The heads-bodies-legs mix and match structure of the book allows readers to create new combinations. Doing so, they redefine the fifteen characters and create absurd, contradictory messages. The postface quotes the song "There but for Fortune," reminding readers that the role played by any given person is governed by chance as they move through interlocking systems of power." [40] pages. 26 X 17 cm. Printing: silkscreen and digital. Binding: spiral. Paper: French Speckletone, French Construction, and Colorplan. Signed edition of 75. Crossett owns number 52.

Insult Toolbox is set up as a handy quick-reference book when one needs a pithy and sometimes raunchy epithet to hurl at an adversary. The flap-style book allows for thousands of combinations. On the back of some of the flaps, some real life situations are listed that require responses.
The book was published in a numbered edition of 100. The size is 3.25" x 7", has 100 pages, and is in a hand-bound double spiral binding, glued into a paper folder wrap with a metallic silver foil title.

This artist's book emerges from a joint project between writer/musician Richard Hell and painter Christopher Wool. It focuses on their mutual interest in experiences associated with reading. Hell & Wool create images using a selection of word pairings that are both conceptually estranged yet subliminally connected. The result is by turns a reading & a non-reading book which balances precariously between the world of rational ordered sense and the realm of polymorphous chaotic association. 128 pages. Edition of 1500.

"Masao Yamamoto’s second contribution to our One Picture Book series pays homage to Mount Fuji, and to some of the comparisons its instantly-recognizeable silhouette has inspired over the centuries. Yamamoto’s jewel-like photographs capture perfectly the essence of Japan’s most famous mountain; Fujisan is truly a perfect pairing of artist and subject." "One Picture Book series was conceived in 1998 as a way to make original artwork affordable. The series consists of uniformly designed, modestly-sized hardcover books, comprising 16 pages that serve as a “canvas” for the artist to display one cohesive body of work. Each One Picture Book is published in an edition of 500 numbered copies, and each contains an original tipped-in photograph, signed on the verso by the artist; hence the name of the series." 19 cm. Edition of 500. Crossett owns number 95.

where are we now is based on the artist’s memories in the aftermath of her mother’s passing in Los Angeles in 2009. Her family had immigrated from Korea a few years before. Images in the book depict moments in her struggle with grief, depression, and her father’s alcohol abuse. Repeated imagery reflect the recurrence of events – how the artist dealt with the frequency of her dad’s alcoholic behaviors; and the cyclical return of the memories after moving away from home. 35cm X 48.5cm Silkscreen, letterpress (photopolymer), relief (linoleum) printed; Alegreya Sans and Nanum Gothic fonts; Masa soft white, Stonehenge (black) paper; Drum Leaf (adhesive) binding; Signed edition of 50. Crossett owns number 15.

The Women’s Studio Workshop invited twelve artists working in the social terrains of California, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee to consider the safety pin’s rise as the symbol of contemporary protest. The resulting portfolio, In Solidarity, captures the waves of distrust, encouragement, criticism, and hope in calls for allyship following the 2016 presidential election. Silkscreen and digitally printed. Edition of 35. Crossett owns number 5. Signed. Loose leaf with case.

"Paper Paper Film is a paper sculpture facsimile of a box set of educational films on Paper and Gravure Printing, published by Meridian Educational Films in 1983. The original box set was found in a storage closet within Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art Print Studios. Through the creation of this laboriously handmade physical copy, the artist transforms an outdated tool for education into an art object in direct conversation with the power structures of how, why, and what is archived." 112 unnumbered pages; 7 x 11 cm + 4 paper sculptures (7 x 10 x 1 cm and 37 x 52 mm diameter) and 1 sheet (18 x 23 cm); Papers: handmade cotton paper, Colorplan (bright red and leather embossed) acetate, Rives BFK, Awagami Murakumo Kozo Select Natural Digital Inkjet Washi; Perfect Bound (adhesive); die cut; silkscreen and digitally printed.

Each leaf of heavy paper stock has cut-out footprint of the World Trade Center. The first leaves consist of a single pinhole die-cut representing the antenna; the following one hundred and twenty leaves with two identical square die-cuts represent each floor of the towers, and the final leaf is a die-cut footprint of the financial district street grid surrounding the twin towers.

Edition of 150.5.25 x 8.25"; 148 pages. Perfect bound with English and Spanish text. Signed and numbered by Zimmermann. A book about the terrors of living on the Northern border of Mexico in this time of the Narco Wars, the bloody drug was that rage inside Mexico. Phil Zimmermann, blog: "The book is about the bloody drug wars that rage inside the Mexican borders, and what it is like to live in Ciudad Juárez, where Leon lives with his wife Gabriela and where both teach at the University in Juárez. The text is in Spanglish. I made the most of the photographs and added a few police photographs that were in the public domain. The word ojalá derived from the Arabic inshallah, meaning 'I wish it were so' and describes the wishful thinking that Mexico can someday return to the days before the brutality and violence of the narco-cartels…Title page shows the border fence along the Rio Grande in El Paso, which looks across to some of the Colonias. ... I have added large halftone dots to the photos to give the images the gritty feel that they have been torn out of the pages of newspapers."

Images of borders and fences around properties in Westway, NM which lies only about three quarters of a mile from the Rio Grande and about nine miles from the Mexican border.

"This is a book of border beatitudes. This work comments on the complicated attitudes of Americans on illegal immigration from Mexico. The cover shows a photograph of the area of Southern Arizona which is the most active in terms of migration across the Sonoran desert, and where thousands have lost their lives in the deadly desert heat. The interior pages show the progression of a typical high desert day from dawn to sunset with a single line of text on each two page spread." "The cover image is part of the Sonoran desert in Southern Arizona about 50 miles from Lukeville, and just a couple of miles from the Mexican border. It is one of the most heavily trafficked and dangerous entry points for illegal Mexican immigrants entering the United States, and many die there each year from exposure and lack of water. The skyscapes were all photographed in New Mexico and Arizona during 2003 and 2004." Edition of 1000. Four-color offset lithography printed book was created as a series of two page board book spreads that minimize the visual distraction of a 'gutter' on the panoramic view of each skyscape. The edges of the book are rounded and gilded in the fashion of religious breviaries or missals. Signed by the artist. 90 unnumbered pages: 28 cm

This book is an experimental exploration and illustration of the rules of book design. It can therefore be seen as a kind of skeleton book. The skeleton book is a Print on Demand publication. It was first printed in June 2011 and due to the nature of Print on Demand has changed over the years. Variations an be found in stock paper, printing quality, and small adjustments in the design. Each publication is therefore a reflection of a moment in time. Special edition super gold cover. Crossett owns number 8 of 11. Perfect bound. 5 × 8 in. 48 pages. Print on demand.

'Emotional reactions' uses as its background a facsimile text taken from a 1923 research paper entitled, 'The measurement of emotional reactions: researches on the psycho-galvanic reflex' by David Weschler. Superimposed onto this text are images of ephemeral objects - a label reading 'Fragile, a dead fledgling, old snapshots, a battered 'Old Maid' playing card juxtaposed with a cinema ticket that reads 'Admit One'. This imagery forms its own narrative that can be read in isolation from the text, or can be taken in conjunction with the information that lies beneath. The interplay of image and text sets up contrasts and juxtapositions - colored pictures against black and white text, the ambiguity of the images versus precise scientific language, the haphazard placing of objects across ordered columns of typed text, the applied emotions of the apparently autobiographical imagery resting on dry, impersonal research. Through this use of symbolism, Zweig questions the validity of scientifically quantifying 'emotional reactions' in a humorous and though-provoking way. 47 p. 23 cm. Offset-printed