Lifestream
Recent content from my activities on the web, from the following sources:
→ LibraryThing (recent reading)
→ Twitter (tweets tagged '#stu')
→ Flickr (photos tagged 'studiolog')
→ Delicious(bookmarks tagged 'bookart')
→ Adminicle
Tiercel 01 'The power of character', Cover design and colophon
Cover design for the original version of Tiercel. (Click on the images to embiggen). It uses a bit of patterning from a Saxon artefact alongside textures and patterns built up in drawings and on the computer. The image was printed out large, so that I could use it as a doubled-over wrap, to create a softback cover.
I'm also including the colophon below, which gives my source for the book.
Ever since I worked on this book, I've been aware of the power of character to help us to inhabit a topic differently. While I haven't always explicitly used narrative characters in my artists' books, even those that simply posit a different point of view end up inhabiting 'another self' - even if at its most basic that self is the 'drawing self' as opposed to the 'printmaking self'. Though I have always found that books gave me a chance to assemble events and outlooks more 'in the round' that expressing myself through single images. I think it is the sense of cntext books can provide; sometimes this ends up, as here, being worked out into a narrative situation, but elsewhere it seems that there is an opportunity simply to present, as ironic or as pastiche or as investigation, or as satire or as reliquary. All these notions encapsulate a point of view, and books make this process, for me at any rate, a very easy and attractive proposition.
If you are impatient to see the rest of Tiercel, you can view it straightaway, here.
Radio 48
In this, the final page, I reach out towards the air and grasp it.
Am I reaching for the voice, for the implied contact of the communication? Am I touching, holding the messenger and connecting with its message? Or am I crushing it? Is the annihilation of the message/lacewing the completion of its journey?
This plays out some of the same tensions we saw in the transmission of the message 'swallowed by birds', or the notion of the message/lacewing annihilated by (head)light (which might itself be the form the message takes).
But its the end of the book, and you'll henceforth have to find your own bugs to crush.
I will return shortly with a serialised version of Tiercel, my book about a hunting falcon who watches a battle between danes and Anglo Saxons. I wrote a poetic text that is based on a fragment from a well know Anglo-Saxon piece 'The Battle of Maldon', but I retell it from the bird's point of view.
Thanks for reading along, and don't forget that if you are interested in having a nice, high-resolution copy of Radio for yourself, you can get one (among several others) at my Blurb pages.
Radio 47
I really did hear a show about lacewings which crystallised a lot of other material for me and helped me begin this book. I have no idea whether any of the 'journeying' significance I've ascribed to them has any basis in fact, but it was convenient to look at them that way. I think that their winged stage is basically a breeding vector though, so there's that.
They make a comeback here, identified with the wandering line of data that comes in and touches my radio, inspiring this book and, perhaps, completing their journey.
Radio 46
Approaching the lit window.
I based this on my window when I was living at Upton Road in Bristol, and a radio that I subsequently gave away to someone who needed one. (it's represented by that dim shape to the bottom right of the window frame). I never could get the bugger reliably tuned in, so I hope they had better luck than I.
Radio 45
Back in the initial scale/scenario, moving towards the lighted window at night where the listener is waiting for the message that proves he is not alone.
I'm not sure about the text at this point. It seems to me that the collapse back into a more mundane scale has brough with it an over reliance on the available 'Radio' references. I'm not sure now how I would connote a real listening experience. Certainly the sense of company-desite-loneliness can be a real experience of radio, but I'm not sure that, given the foregoing metaphysical shenanigans, that I would choose to frame it quite as 'loneliness' where I doing this book today.
Radio 42
Continuing on from the zoom into the 'iris' sequence, the spaces between elements starts to open up, and the space is not so densely packed with information. We're now at the level of the space between things, or as my chums in Ozric Tentacles like to put it 'The bits between the bits'.
Radio 41
The extreme 'close up' effect over the preceding pages has brought us up to the level where the indentity of the image breaks down, and there are only materials to see reather than shapes. 'Weaving through the waves of the electromagnetic stream' seemed like an apt description of the listener's search for meaning over the airwaves, or anyone's struggle to make sense of the visible world.
Radio 40
Part of a sequence of images beginning with Radio 38. There is a small, barely-noticable bit of filigree decoration off centre at left that connotes a kind of embroidered 'weaving' of the needle. Im not sure it really adds anything and I think I'd just remove it were I producing the book now.
A survey of Buddhism by Sangharakshita
Boulder : [New York] : Shambhala ; distributed in the U.S. by Random House, 1980. Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 11 Jul 2011 | 12:31 pmThe Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path (Buddhist Wisdom for Today) (Buddhist Wisdom for Today) by Sangharakshita
Windhorse Publications (2007), Edition: 2Rev Ed, Paperback, 176 pages
Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 11 Jul 2011 | 12:30 pm Ritual and Devotion in Buddhism: An Introduction by Bikshu Sangharakshita
Windhorse Publications (1995), Paperback, 128 pages
Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 11 Jul 2011 | 12:29 pm Thousand-petalled Lotus: The Indian Journey of an English Buddhist by Bikshu Sangharakshita
Sutton Publishing Ltd (1988), Edition: New edition, Paperback, 320 pages Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 11 Jul 2011 | 12:28 pmAn Introduction to the Interpretation of Fairy Tales (Seminar Series 1) by Marie-Louise Von Franz
Spring Publications (1970), Paperback, 160 pages
Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 11 Jul 2011 | 12:13 pm Problems of the Feminine in Fairytales (Seminar Series (Spring Publications, Inc.), 5.) by Marie-Luise von Franz
Spring Pubns (1973), Paperback, 200 pages
Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 11 Jul 2011 | 12:13 pm Eros and Pathos: Shades of Love and Suffering (Studies in Jungian Psychology) by Aldo Carotenuto
Inner City Books (1989), Paperback, 141 pages
Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 11 Jul 2011 | 12:13 pm Wise Old Man by Pieter Middelkoop
Shambhala (1989), Edition: 1st, Paperback, 194 pages Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 11 Jul 2011 | 12:13 pmIn the Realm of the Lotus: A Conversation about Art, Beauty and the Spiritual Life by Sangharakshita
Windhorse Publications (2004), Paperback, 72 pages Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 11 Jul 2011 | 12:13 pmPriceless Jewel by Sangharakshita
Windhorse Publications (2004), Paperback, 240 pages
Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 11 Jul 2011 | 12:13 pm meerschaum
aesop posted a photo:
Though Ganesha could do with a suitable mount. Had some blu-tac handy.
Source: Uploads from aesop | 22 Jun 2011 | 6:52 pmPage for a conference on 'diagramming interpretation'
The 'digital paratextual apparatus' inflect our experiences of reading and constructing meaning. How does this fit in with the construction of informational structures (as in narrative works, or libraries)? Includes links to several essays by J. Drucker. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 21 May 2011 | 12:01 pmCodex Foundation
Site for the Codex foundation which "exists to preserve and promote the art and craft of the book." Archives of conference materials. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 21 May 2011 | 10:13 amCircle Press - Artist's Books & Prints
"Originally formed by Ron King in 1967 for a group of artists print makers interested in publishing limited editions of fine books and prints. The press, since that time, has produced artist's editions of both classic and contemporary texts, poetry posters, first edition books of modern verse and a number of pamphlets." Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 21 May 2011 | 10:08 amhttp://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/bookshelf/
Bookshelf - Museum of Modern art exhibition of 2008 Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 20 May 2011 | 5:44 pmThe book and beyond catalogue index:electronic publishing and the art of the book
online catalogue for a 1995 exhibition on electronic forms of the artists' book. Now something of an historical journey itself, the page considers lots of artists whose books were 'electronic' inasmuch as computer programs were used to help create them. Also lots of material on CD Rom books, etc. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 20 May 2011 | 5:39 pmBlood on Paper - the Art of the Book | V&A
Archive page for artists' book exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum in 2008. Includes images of books included, and link to an essay by Dr Rowan Watson, senior curator ant the National Art Library. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 20 May 2011 | 12:08 pmThe Artist Turns to the Book (Getty Exhibitions)
Exhibition of artists' books at the J. Paul Getty museum in 2005: "This exhibition features works from the Research Library at the Getty Research Institute, which holds over 5,000 artists' books and several artists' archives." Includes images of pages and short video pieces on some books. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 20 May 2011 | 12:01 pmThe 1000 Journal Project
1000 journals are on their way around the world and artists everywhere are contributing. This site tracks their progress and showcases the work of contributors. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 20 May 2011 | 11:57 amReese, Harry - "Everything in the World: A book arts reader"
Harry Reese's very useful set of links to readings on artists' books including theory and practical links. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 20 May 2011 | 10:30 amgwendolyn penner: thesis: "Discovering Artists Books: The art, the artists and the issues "
Thesis on book art.Chapter titles: "1.The Blind men and the artists book: Seeking a definition 2.A brief history of the artists book: Seeking a definition 3.Interviews with artists: Art and issues i.Keith Smith. Kath Walkup ii.Susan King, Susan Share, Daniel Kelm iii.Emily Martin, Peter Verheyen, Julie Chen, Gwen Diehn, Anne Binder, Claire VanVliet 4.The growth of artists books: Exploration and clarification 5.Artists books in the future: Opportunities and challenges" Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 20 May 2011 | 8:51 amtiny ganesha
aesop posted a photo:
This little guy has been on my desk all the way through my recent courses and exams, reminding me to 'get over the obstacles'.
Source: Uploads from aesop | 12 May 2011 | 1:37 pm
my ol' jeans
aesop posted a photo:
for a project I want to work on involving fabrics and textures
Source: Uploads from aesop | 5 May 2011 | 5:21 pm
twangggg
aesop posted a photo:
A moment for the morning twangle
Source: Uploads from aesop | 4 May 2011 | 9:13 am
daily drawing
aesop posted a photo:
practice practice practice
Source: Uploads from aesop | 4 May 2011 | 9:12 am
book of the month
Turndust
A wind-miller has the duty to grind the meal so that the people living nearby can sell the produce they give him to grind and, indeed, so that they can earn their daily bread. Having had no wind to work with for weeks, and suddenly having some chance to do his work, he is tempted, even though he fears a storm. Should he risk the powerful machinery he is in charge of against the unknown? It may destroy him and the mill in the process.
In Turndust, I was able to use the windmill as a complex metaphor to discuss this in depth. Linguistically, wind-milling offers a range of interesting terminology that help give the writing texture and a specificity that helps me to distance the explicit description of visual events, cloaking them in language. Visually, the structure of the windmill itself is full of wood, beams, gears and a sense of a structure built to withstand enormous forces. A windmill is “built like a tank”. But the windmill also contains the means of its own destruction.
reviewing opportunity
Every month I will feature an artists' book in this column. At the moment I am featuring my own. If you would like me to feature one of yours, with a very brief review/description, please get in touch.
home→contact→lifestream
“I have decided to speak from the book, the place of my making”