BOOK ARTS NEWSLETTER No. 39 February 2008

A new publication from The Imprint of the San Francisco
Center for the Book, Publication Number 3 (2007)
The Relative Value of Things
Nigel Poor
The Relative Value of Things consists of three projects that
investigate the joys, follies and contradictions of collecting,
desire and valorization. The first project is the books’ front
covers, each uniquely embellished with encapsulated hair or lint
donated by a multitude of individuals. The second is the books’
contents, comprised of color images and letterpress-printed lists
documenting personal possessions discarded by the artist over
time. The third project comprises the back covers, featuring
meticulously drawn text that addresses the struggle to find
reassurance and meaning amidst life’s mysteries and
uncertainties.
Edition of 120, $350
This publication of the Imprint of the San Francisco Center for
the Book, is available for purchase, see: www.sfcb.org/imprint
or email: imprint@sfcb.org for more info/orders.
Swept Away - Xtina Lamb
This illustrated artist’s
book tells a story that
resonates with danger,
disturbance, loss,
beauty; all set in a
very powerful place.
The ten pages of
economical, haikulike
text follow a
contemplative journey.
Seven colour plates
document the seaweed,
slate and foam swirls that wash to and from a treacherous
Cornish beach, their striking natural hues glowing in contrast
to the undercurrents of the sea and mood of the tale.
All prints in the book have been made on a Print Gocco Arts -
a Japanese table-top machine that uses extremely high screen
mesh, with special inks pressed through rather than swiped,
allowing multiple colours with each pull and finely detailed
results.
£18 each
For more information, or to order, visit:
www.xtinalamb.co.uk/gocco.htm
usus: trans-lation
Lending surface, space and voice to the sense of possibility
In “trans-lation”, the Offenbach am
Main-based artists Ulrike Stoltz and
Uta Schneider are presenting a published
catalogue of works documenting over
twenty years of their cooperation.
The edition, designed in the style of a
monograph and richly illustrated, is
released for an individual presentation
in the Klingspor-Museum Offenbach
am Main (Germany).
Over the last twenty years, their art books, installations and
drawings have been presented in different ways according to
individual aspects. Now, for the first time, a broad selection of
the overall oeuvre with works in different media is being shown
representatively. In addition, the book contains literary texts by
the two artists, who both work in conjunction and individually.
The title of the publication and the exhibition plays with usus’
recurring critical appraisal of the motif of translation and their
occupation with language and typography.
Eight texts lend depth to reading and illuminate the work.
Stefan Soltek (Offenbach am Main) positions the text
installation work by usus in a context to art books. Johannes
Strugalla (Paris/Mainz) responds with a lyrical text as a fellow
artist. Etel Adnan (Paris/Beirut/Sausalito) describes the topic of
translating language into images and from images into language,
from something that is perceived into a thought. Lutz Hesse
(Frankfurt am Main) localises the voice and texts by usus in the
literary world. Marie-Ann Augustin (Frankfurt am Main), as
dancer and gallery-owner, underpins the female viewpoint that
unites both artists and its movement in space. Clemens Ottnad
(Reutlingen) provides insight into the drawing work by usus and
their symbolic abbreviations and image systems. Barbara
Tetenbaum (Portland, USA) describes the parallel development
from the art book to the room installation from the perspective
on the other side of the Atlantic. Christopher Wilde (New York),
as co-founder of Booklyn, evokes the mutual artistic inspiration.
usus: trans-lation
Lending surface, space and voice to the sense of possibility
Offenbach am Main, 2007, 380 four-colour images
Lyric and prose texts, German, English.
248 pages, 23 x 29.5 cm: flexible linen cover
ISBN 978-3-00-021630-5
49 EUR / 38 GBP / 72 USD + shipping
To order, email: usus@boatbook.de
Page 25 this newsletter can be downloaded in colour from www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/banlists.htm P.T.O.