Artists' Books in Crossett: U-Z

Free Jazz Communism actualizes Archie Shepp–Bill Dixon Quartet at the 8th World Festival of Youth and Students in Helsinki 1962. Including archive material and documents, commissioned theoretical and historical texts, and interviews, the book edited by Sezgin Boynik and Taneli Viitahuhta contextualizes politics of free jazz music in light of global decolonization movements, anti-war activism, structures of racial capitalism, and forms of avant-garde music. By focusing on concerts of Shepp–Dixon Quartet, leading avant-garde jazz musicians from the US, in the socialist anti-colonial festival in Helsinki, the book is introducing complexities in the usual Cold War stories about the sixties, and pictures politics of jazz as something transcending boundaries of nation-state and capitalist market regulations. Apart from the theoretical and historical overview by its editors, the book includes testimonies of the collective and international spirit of the 1962 Youth Festival, translated documents from Finnish press, a new interview with Archie Shepp, commissioned text by Jeff Schwartz on the historical context of political engagement of free jazz musicians, and reproduction of three hard-to-find texts by Shepp. Published by RABRAB Press. 200 p.; 20 x 13.5 cm.; Sewn Bound; Offset Printed. Edition of 500.

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 them invisible. Its author, London-based artist Ian Whittlesea 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 recognizable 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 reflects 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. Publishers description "This is a dramatic visual book about living on the Mexican side of the southwestern border. The text uses Spanglish to give a rap-like poetic response to daily life in the time of narco-terrorism. The blood-red images appear to be torn from the daily newspaper front pages. An intense and frightening book that ends up with a ray of hope for the future."

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.

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." Edition of 1000. Four-color offset lithography. 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

‘Grass, Kim Su-yong’ is a typographic artists' book in which a poem composed of letters is transformed into an image. Xianlu Yi reinterpreted a poem into the form of concrete poetry that freely constitutes the size and location of letters, and utilizing the forms of pop-up and accordion books to express the repeated rhythm of the poem in three dimensions. Kim Su-yeong is one of the most exceptional modern poets in Korea. He died at a relatively young age of 48 in 1968, but his poetry became a symbol of freedom and revolution during the democratization of Korea. His last poem ‘Grass’, was published posthumously. It can be viewed as symbolic of populist grass-roots movement interpreted the phrases from ‘Grass’ such as “lying down faster than the wind” and “rising faster than the wind,” as signifying the tenacious vitality of the masses. It can also be viewed from a humanist interpretation as a symbol of life itself. Edition of 50 copies. 11.3 x 13.5 cm. Wooden hardcover. Accordion binding. Pop up structure.

The Velvet Wire by Anne Waldman (Bennington College '66) & No Land is a book of fine-art, poetry, telepathic voyage, & mentorship between sister-poets in an intergenerational transmission. Anne Waldman & No Land met on the street in 2012, exchanging a flower and a few words. Over the following decade, together the two poets have created forty-plus collaborative works, weaving their shared sensibilities in the realms of poetry, art, cinema, performance, and activism. The Velvet Wire is an archival reliquary book of many of their collaborations. In The Velvet Wire, Waldman & No Land offer poems to one another and write to the wider atmosphere of our time. No Land's artworks illuminate an understanding of Waldman's kinetic, delicate, empathic writings. The pair speak to each other in devotional texts, journal-memories of their travels, and through codes of the poet's vow and path. 10 x 14 in., 28 pp. with Japanese paper flyleaf. Sewn in St. Armand black paper wrappers, and foil-stamped cover. Bound with silver thread. Housed in vellum dust jacket with foil-stamped diamond.
Signed. No. 1 of Edition of 33.