An Encyclopedia of Everything The Expanded Version Catalogue Listing (Part One)
Artists/Book Listing: Collaborations:
An Encyclopedia of Everything The Expanded Version Catalogue Listing (Part One)
Book 1 Wintzer, Marie (Japan)/Cheryl Penn. City. (Also published as e-book) Book 2 Gunther, Wolfgang (Germany)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa) “…right here - left over…” Book 3 International Doodles (Book 4 in the series) Book 4 (VEC Publication) Rod Summers (Netherlands)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa) The Library/Shelf Life Book 5 David Chirot (USA)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa) Today Book 6 John Bennett (USA)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa) SAY WHAT??? Book 7 Marie Wintzer (Japan)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa) Earthly
Books Received (Artists Listing)
Olbrich, Jürgen O (Germany) BAM
Alekyan, Karen (Armenia)
An Encyclopedia of Everything (Everything moves, Everything Whirls) Balmer, Jack (UK) 3.0 # 14 (Holes)
Bennett, John M (USA)
SAY WHAT?? (Collaboration with Cheryl Penn) (Book + Chapbook)
TLP’s and a Bare Moon (Assembled by Cheryl Penn)
Chinea, Sally (UK)
3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Great British Stichers)
Chirot, David (USA).
Today. (Collaboration with Cheryl Penn) (Book + Chapbook)
Penn, Cheryl (South Africa)
3.0 # 14 (Holes) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Are Views on the Same Place) 3.0 # 15 (Writing) (A Mail Art History) 3.0 # 15 (Writing) (Dorothy Orange) A Mail Art History (Book 1) A Mail art History (Book 2) City (Collaboration with Marie Wintzer) Conversations in Turkey Early Beginnings (Bhubezi Mythology) Earthly (Collaboration with Marie Wintzer) “…right here - left over…” (Collaboration with Wolfgang Gunther) Guido Vermeulen by Cheryl Penn Rod Summers by Cheryl Penn. SAY WHAT?? (Collaboration with John M Bennett) (Book + Chapbook)
Shelf Life (Collaboration with Rod Summers, published by VEC
Gunther, Wolfgang (Germany)
publications) (Book + Chapbook) Sing Me a Song (Book + Chapbook) The Story Continues (limited edition of 4 handmade books)
(Book + Chapbook)
The Last Three Revealings (Bhubezi Mythology) The Library (Collaboration with Rod Summers)
“…right here - left over…” (Collaboration with Cheryl Penn)
Iversen, Lisa (USA) 3.0 # 14 (Holes)
Kaufmann, Peter (Switzerland) ORIGINAL
Nartuhi, Kathleen (USA) 3.0 #14 (Holes)
(Book + Chapbook)
TLP’s and a Bare Moon (Assembled by Cheryl Penn) Today (Collaboration with David Chirot) (Book + Chapbook)
Rastello, Martine (France)
3.0 # 14 (The loopHOLES of the memory) 1 3.0 # 14 (The loopHOLES of the memory) 2 Asemic Calligraphy
Summers, Rod (Netherlands)
E of E. Shelf Life. (Collaboration with Cheryl Penn, published by VEC publications)
The Library (Collaboration with Cheryl Penn)
Sundermann, Eric (Austria)
Bhubezi Women alias Hatshepsut alias Lady Lioness South Africa. (original and copy)
TICTAC, (Germany)
3.0 # 14 (The Hollow Trees of Treebian) 3.0 # 14 (Say Cheese) 3.0 # 14 (Urban Myths)
3.0 # 14 (Holes) http://artistbooks.ning.com Balmer, Jac (UK) Chinea, Sally (UK) Iversen, Lisa (USA) Nartuhi, Kathleen (USA) Penn, Cheryl (South Africa) (3 versions) Peral, Marcela (Argentina) Rastello, Martine (France) (2 versions) TICTAC (Germany) (3 versions) Turnbull, Stephanie (UK) (3 versions) Viljoen, Petru (South Africa) Wahl, Svenja (Germany)
Turnbull, Stephanie (UK)
3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Holes in the Wall) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) (looking through the gumnut tree) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Manhole Covers)
Wahl, Svenja (Germany) 3.0 # 14 (Holes)
Wintzer, Marie (Japan)
City (Collaboration with Marie Wintzer) Earthly (Collaboration with Cheryl Penn) Growing Trees Gymnopedie For The Proverbial Morning Toast Maps to Jupiter and Rome Â
3.0 # 15 (Writing) http://artistbooks.ning.com Cheryl Penn (South Africa) 3.0 # 15 (Writing) (A Mail Art History) 3.0 # 15 (Writing) (Dorothy Orange)
Collaborations:
Book 1.
City Cheryl Penn (South Africa)/Marie Winter (Japan) Pocket Book - Edition of 2. This book was not officially a BOOK before becoming the first volume to enter the Expanded Version of An Encyclopedia of Everything - but it was finished (albeit in Ether) first. I had a long and patient wait for the photographs before I could complete the book, but they were well worth waiting for. In fact, this book was the first and last of the expanded version. I’ve noticed before Marie’s penchant for a particular shade of pink. It appears to be some sort of enhancement colour because the photographs take on a new life. Online publication: https://www.scribd.com/BooksOfEther Full version of poem http://collaborativecanto.blogspot.com
City. Marie Wintzer (Japan)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa) (Book 1) Published on scribd 5th November 2014
Book 2
“…right here - left over…”
Wolfgang Gunther (Germany)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa) This free verse collaboration ran for nearly 5 months I think - I had an email meltdown in- between. I must thank Wolfgang for his patience - I was the one at fault here, nearly swallowed this year by the tidal wave called ‘life’. Wolfgang started us off and supplied the title. For a full version of this work see http://collaborativecanto.blogspot.com
the lights went
out the switch was caught Right Here
said the fixing Man
hovering,
one foot in the abyss. “”What is living”?
The first two verses: 1.
the seas rise & the average adjusted profit... electricity still optimizes smiles ... both the surroundings & the sheer infinite need poetry... to take part doesn't mean to live... 2.
caught in a breathless
whisper of 18th C existentialism
“…right here - left over…” Wolfgang Gunther (Germany)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa). 2014. (Book /Chapbook 3 and 4)
Book 3
The Library/Shelf Life
(VEC Publication) Rod Summers (Netherlands)/ Cheryl Penn (South Africa) Limited Edition of 5 chapbooks, 1 book, multiple edition by VEC Publications. Correspondence with Rod Summers (a conceptual artist from the Netherlands) began via email on 4th December 2104, and according to my records was finished a month (abouts) later. That’s quite some going! We worked together - that is, words/lines/phrases were altered as we progressed. It’s a challenging way to work for me, as different voices have their own tones/word and rhythm colours, and successful collaboration demands a sensitivity to this. We did another set of verses titled Book Binding for Parasites , but I will publish them separately as The Library fitted neatly as a volume in the Encyclopedia of Everything format. Serendipitously, Rod’s VEC publication of the same poetry arrived on my door on the day I began printing my version. This spurred me to FINISH my chapbooks. Rod titled the two poems collectively Shelf Life - and I have used this designation as the overall title for both poems - and who knows - there may be more? The VEC publication of our collaboration (THANKS Rod!) fits the Encyclopedia of Everything Format so both these versions will form part of this installation. Rod - many thanks - “cheers” - here’s to numerous other chapters in this Saga (to borrow from Helgi…) For further information on VEC and Rods enormous repertoire see http://www.vecworldservice.net/index.htm
As Rod likes birds, his personal copy was tailor made JUST for him, while the rest of the covers of the chapbooks are made from a digital print of the Archimedes Palimpsest. I was going to work on this canvas as a scroll called On Floating Bodies. The title is appropriated from the palimpsest. On Floating bodies is a mathematical investigation by Archimedes and the only known copy in Greek of this writing is on this manuscript. I think my canvas digital version of this portion is better suited here. For a full version of the poem see: http://collaborativecanto.blogspot.com
The Library. Rod Summers(Netherlands)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa). 2015. (Book/Chapbook 27 and 28)
Book 4
Today.
David Chirot (USA)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa) Edition of 9 chapbooks, 1 book. David Chirot and I maintain an erratic email correspondence, but when his messages arrive their energy is rapid, like fast footfalls pounding the pavements of the city where he lives. One feels the truth of the true lives David inhabits within the spilling of his emailed words, falling too fast to take breathes between. If one searches one can find the FACTS about a person - where they live, where they went to school, but these words speak nothing of The Person. That comes through sharing Words. Many thanks David - what a privilege. Â Correspondence for this collaboration with David began 14th August 2014, and has not ended - it was just time to commit to the printed word. The pockets open out to reveal copies of two rubbings David sent and two visual poems I made on the day the books were complete. For the full set of exchanges see:
There is another poem David sent titled 14TH AUGUST Today anniversaries of atrocities. This will be published as a separate edition of 10 chapbooks.
http://collaborativecanto.blogspot.com One of David’s verses:
Today I saw you again, down by the junkyard wall your thick bodied back half turned from me the long trench coat dirty and unbuttoned with a paranoids nod and covert glance you snuck looks at me as you hunched by the Wall
Today. David Chirot (USA)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa). 2015. (Book/Chapbook 36 and 37)
Book 5
SAY WHAT??? John M Bennett (USA)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa) Limited edition of 1 book and 10 chapbooks. Series of 7 libretto arrangements. Collaborating via email began in March 2014 and ended late last year. John Bennett is a writer/poet/performer who uses language and all its convolutions as his medium of expression. He puts together and pulls apart as the words move him, with unexpected juxtapositions of sounds and rhythm. John is an avid and very generous collaboator and I’m hugely pleased we got be ‘distrubeding our wurds’. We have been at this collaboration for over a year so I’m glad to have it committed to paper! For a full version of the work see: http://collaborativecanto.blogspot.com
Book 6
An Anthology of International Doodles (Book 4)
I think this is the last of them, although these marks from afar keep slipping through my mailbox - a result of a threemonth postal strike. The overflow of contributors from America are in this version, these being RCBz, David Stone, Nadine Wendell-Mojica and Reid Wood. Other doodles received are from Frieder Speck and TICTAC (Germany), Rod Summers (Netherlands), Lesley Magwood Fraser and Petru Viljoen (South Africa), Meral Agar (Turkey) and Peter Kaufmann (Switzerland). Late additions - Claudio Romeo (Italy), G Schwind (ArtTower) (Germany) and Tatiana Makarova (Russia).
Also available for download on http://issuu.com/cheryl.penn/docs/say_what.__john_benne tt_cheryl_penn
An Anthology of International Doodles - Book 4. 2014/2105. Compiled by Cheryl Penn. (Book 46). Say What??? John M Bennett (USA)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa). 2015. (Book/Chapbook 41 and 42)
Book 7 Earthly Marie Wintzer (Japan)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa) Marie Wintzer and I have collaborated before (and continue to) in a series titled Books of Ether. Marie posted me the photographs, which she had printed mid-March, and although this project is part of the digital realm, I have also made it into an artifact. I find dissatisfaction in not being able to touch, page through, or remember as well, when scrolling down a glass screen. Together we published various photos on our blogs and the e-book was published by Marie on 22 January 2015 on scribd - see https://www.scribd.com/doc/253274958/Earthly
Forewords: Made of Clay.
Taken from the dust of the earth, these books became something else, data images that happened in Ether Realms. It’s always trying to breathe new life into old ideas - like us, they’re never quite ready to die. Cheryl Penn.
Making books out of clay, the work of a potter [shaping soil into pages] the work of a writer [chiseling words out of sodden earth] the work of a gardener [growing roots across fields] the work of an architect [building stories through dust] the work of a musician [composing songs engraved in ether] The beauty of those clay books needed no enhancement; their stunning naked aura was evident to any eyes curious enough to see. But one can always demand more of books… Marie Wintzer.
Earthly. Marie Wintzer (Japan)/Cheryl Penn (South Africa). 2015. (Book 49)
General Artists Listing Alekyan, Karen (Armenia) An Encyclopedia of Everything - everything moves everything whirls Description: Unique book, square format (13cm x 13cm), mixed media including printing, painting, drawing, collage, stamping, printing and glue on mixed grounds including mylar, bockingford and card stock papers, 38 pages, 3 hole pamphlet stitch binding. Karen posted his book in August - about a week into the strike none of us even knew about until it was a month old. That was nearly 4 months ago - I think we despaired it would ever arrive. I was reminded on receiving his book of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus - one of the best examples of Egyptian Mathematics (housed at the British Museum). In the opening paragraphs of the papyrus, Ahmes the scribe presents the document as giving "accurate reckoning for inquiring into things, and the knowledge of all things, mysteries...all secrets". Karen’s book feels like that. His circles describe the mechanics of anatomy, symbols to indicate ‘activates’ or ‘deactivates’ of function control, juxtaposed with Mars slides and inter-planetary collision. There is mystery and intrigue, housed in an artwork that is hugely satisfying and aesthetically pleasing
"Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot physically see with his eyes... Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an explosion into unknown areas." ARSHILE GORKY.
I was pleased to see on issuu that this work is fully downloadable PLUS the art book I received earlier this year on http://issuu.com/karenalekyan Karen’s artists statement, plus more can be read on his blog - to quote - “ (he) is sure that the main issue in the context of Contemporary Arts should not be the philosophy of imperfect past but that of foreseen Future” see: http://karenalekyan.blogspot.com I can’t believe this book finally found its way home, and that its given me hope for other work I know is out there. Karen - many thanks.
An Encyclopedia of Everything (everything moves everything whirls). Karen Alekyan. 2014. (Book 2).
Balmer, Jac (UK) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) On Jac’s site, http://jacsblog-jac.blogspot.co.uk/ I read this regarding his book for the collaboration on http://artistbooks.ning.com : “When looking through old photos we usually can recognize Aunty Jean or Cousin Fred but often in a group there is someone who nobody can identify. I decided to use this idea of missing identity and take it further by taking the anonymous person out of the image altogether leaving a hole where they had been”. I think we all have photographs like that. One thing I have noticed with old photographs - everyone looks gloomy was it the camera look of the day? Or just sad times? I’m thinking a combination of them both. Mind you, back then, getting your photograph taken was quite a business.
3.0 # 14 (Holes). Jack Balmer. 2015. (Book 22)
Bennett, John. (USA) TLP’s and a Bare Moon Unique pocket book made from TLP’s and two artists books sent via snail mail. Pockets are made from envelopes in which these sendings arrived. John M Bennett is an experimental language artist who also runs a small press, Luna Bisonte Prods, founded in 1974. He has produced and published literally THOUSANDS of publications, as well as acting as an avid collector of “modern avant-garde, experimental and/or unclassifiable literature in the belief that future generations will one day reap the rewards of his efforts. It is important to collect these writers because, as has been the case over and over in the history of literature, the best and most innovative writing, the writing that advances the art and that in the future becomes the classic and defining work of a period, is almost always the work of outsiders”. (Quoted from… http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/stockpiling-the-avantgarde-john-m-bennett/ ) - an article by David F. Hoenigman (2009). I am fortunate to hold - dare I venture to say, the biggest collection of Johns work in Africa??? He is VERY generous with his sendings and this book contains a few examples of ‘TLP’s” - “tacky little pamphlets” (his own terminology) and an artists book titled Bare Moon. Bare Moon is produced by Zwirn “a whitewall of sound publication edited by Jim Clinefelter”. It’s a gorgeous small, square format book of poems stamped on found materials such as maps and textbooks, indicating the whole world is touched by the bare moon. I wondered if John’s poetry is Otherstream - and found this comment “John M. Bennett, whom I consider the most insanely creative otherstream poet on earth (because innovative
in dozens of ways, in dozens of different kinds of poems… I’ve called him “the Jackson Pollock” of poetry because of so many of his poems’ struggled ascent from the reptilian bottom of human feeling into a sub-demotic splatter that eventually coheres into a kind of finally understood momentary but full state of mind” (Bob Grumman. 2014, available on-line at http://poeticks.com/bob-grummanssmall-press-review-columns/14625-2/ ). (‘Otherstream’ was coined by Grumman in the 80’s). I must mention my latest acquisition, which arrived yesterday - Motel Moods published in 1980 - great stuff MANY thanks John.
TLP’s and a Bare Moon. John M Bennett . (Assembled by Cheryl Penn) 2015. (Book 45)
Chinea, Sally. (UK) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Great British Stitchers) I have another treasure accordion book from Sally titled Golden Miles see: http://an-encyclopedia-ofeverything.blogspot.com/2014/05/golden-miles-sallychinea-uk.html?showComment=1423729516141 Sally’s books are labour intensive, reminiscent of history and autobiographically self-referential. Sewing machines were invented during the first industrial revolution to minimize manual sewing work, but the antique feel of Sally’s book reminds me of the practice that once provided the most basic shelter and clothing. I am confronted with knitting holes, embroidery holes, gauze holes, fabric holes, crotchet holes, button holes, pattern holes, needle holes and punched holes. I see grandmothers and years gone by, but eras situated in this day. Conceptually, without a word Sally evokes a history where hand sewing is still practiced, drawing heavily on the meditative traditions of its antiquity. See http://www.sallychinea.com
3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Great British Stitchers). Sally Chinea. 2015. (Book 30)
Lisa Iversen (USA) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) Lisa very comprehensively told me her intentions with this beautifully evocative book. It’s interesting that the experience of our humanity is the same - the trials and emotional battles we wage, the poignancy of our fragility is universal, despite the century, the situation, the family, the finance - trials are our destined lot. A note from Lisa: “the books for this HOLES project each have a unique story focusing on an emotional "hole" (loss or isolation). The stories include lost lovers, family rejections, lost pets, dreams, goals, intentions... accompanied by vintage photographs that supported the specific story. Over a number of years I've collected boxes and bundles of vintage letters and photographs that were saved for whatever reasons. There are so many stories of love and loss, and I'm sure the impact of the stories they tell were hugely important to the people who held onto the letters or the photographs (especially the ones with the faces scratched out). Surprising how often people scratched out the faces in photographs... you wonder why they didn't just bin them. Each book included vintage mailed letters and photographs layered on a common background base from personal photographs and added ephemera that personalized each story. I've wanted to share some of these letters and images for a while, this project was the opportunity�.
3.0 # 14 (Holes). Lisa Iversen. 2015. (Book 21)
Kaufmann, Peter (Switzerland) ORIGINAL Unique book of Artistamps, hand stamped with the preface “Some of my Artistamps just 4 you, Yours PWK 2015. To quote Ruud Janssen (Netherlands) http://iuomanetwork.ning.com/group/artistampscreators?commentId= 2496677%3AComment%3A299570&xg_source=activity “An artistamp (a portmanteau of the words "artist" and "stamp") or artist's stamp refers to a postage stamp-like artform. It is similar to a Cinderella stamp in that it is not valid for postage, but it differs from a forgery or a bogus stamp in that (typically) the creator has no intent to fool any post office or collector of stamps. (However, depending on how the stamp is used, it may be difficult to distinguish artistamps from local post stamps.) The artistamp is intended to be a miniature artwork which can depict or commemorate any subject its creator chooses”. Since corresponding with Peter I have received a number of beautiful stamp sheets, including stamps whose subject matter is artwork I have sent Peter. He has contributed to numerous editions of Mail Art Makes the World a Town and I am very pleased to have one of his books in An Encyclopedia of Everything. Peter is a stalwart Mail Artist who has a variety of repeated stock phrases “Mailart every time - PWK” “Friends of the COWfMAN ISM PWK” “Not fine art - it is the artist who is fine” “after lunch comes mail art”.
ORIGINAL. Peter Kaufmann. (2015). (Book 48)
Nartuhi, Kathleen (USA) 3.0 #14 (Holes) Kathleen has produced the most fragile holes made by a very delicate flame. Book burnings, missing words, transgressed pages, the burnings of the Alexandrian Library, the Paris debate - all those terms/incidents come to mind when one equates fire and books, but not in this instance. I see a carefully handled work where for once the book and its maker were in charge of the fire.
3.0 # 14 (Holes). Kathleen Nartuhi. 2015. (Book 34)
Olbrich, Jürgen O (Germany) BAM Appropriated hand written book retitled BAM - Book About Myself. I have looked at the travelling life of Jürgen through intermittent emails with amazement. Such travels include a 6-week residency on the North Sea - in January (only for the brave hearted I think!). On top of all his exotic voyages he sends copious quantities of Mail Art, much of which is taken from his on-going project Paper Police. There are many references to this project on the internet, and, as I understand it, this enormous venture involves collecting redundant printed paper/documents from bins/containers where it has been discarded, rescuing it, and re-presenting it as a mirror of society. This causes a repositioning of the rejected as something worthy of attention. I gave this book to a German friend of mine to translate, but soon realized that that is not the intention of ANY of Jürgen’s sendings. The original writer remains unknown and unremembered with the purpose of his jottings still a mystery. Now, this discarded artifact becomes a palimpsest, hand stamped, one letter per page to read a cryptic “everywhere I go I am a problem yes no” - I’m NOT going to try unravel that enigmatic statement. See www.spechtart.de
BAM. Jürgen Olbrich (2015). (Book 50)
Penn, Cheryl (South Africa)
3.0 Collaborations
3.0 # 14 (Holes) Edition of 10 unique books made from copies of Leonardo’s blotting sheets used when he painted Mona Lisa. Permission for their use was given by Magenta in a dream. Same Permission was given as long as his secrets were cut from the sheets. That’s the problem with history - there’s a generally accepted version, and then there’s the Real Version. These cutout words/phrases are holes in the generally accepted version of Leonardo da Vinci’s life, clues he could not help himself recording. That’s the problem with History - it’s so subject to winds of change. IF such facts were ever discovered, the course of art history would forever be changed to suit the pallet of the Moorish Darwish.
3.0 # 14 (Holes) Cheryl Penn. 2015. (Book 11)
3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Are Views on the Same Place) Context of the Book: Last year we said goodbye to Jan Jordaan, the printing H.O.D. and curator of the Art for Humanities Collection. He has worked at D.U.T. forever, and many very successful artists have benefited from his experience. Knowledge Holes will evolve. David and I were given the task of sorting out DRAWERS of students work dating back to the 70’s, which Jan had collected. This work you hold is part of that collection which I told him would be continued in books. In 2013 Barry Truter retired. He was the most talented drawer/printer I have ever met. He was a very quiet, unassuming man, the one who sat quietly in the corner drawing everyone arguing. He rode a bicycle to and from work and was well known for his bandana collection - he said printing chemicals had caused his baldness. Barry could not wait for retirement - he had a ‘bucket list’ a mile long. Last year he and his wife went on their first overseas trip in forever. He caught a virus, which attacked his heart tissue, and he died, 8 months into retirement. I cannot describe the Hole he left behind. This book is dedicated to him.
3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Are Views on the Same Place). Cheryl Penn. 2015. (Book 10 )
3.0 # 15 (Writing) (A Mail Art History) Edition of 10 handmade books, accordion bound with pockets into which a variety of mail art has been inserted. The text of this book resembles that of A Mail Art History (Book 1), see: http://an-encyclopedia-of-everything.blogspot.com/2015/03/amail-art-history-book-1.html?showComment=1423729516141 but, it is without the time rigor attached to that earlier book. 3.0 # 15 (Writing) (A Mail Art History). Cheryl Penn. 2015. (Book 43)
3.0 # 15 (Writing) Dorothy Orange First Edition of 10 Chapbooks and 1 book, collaboration on http://artistbooks.ning.com To recap Free Verse a·le·a·to·ry ˈālēƧˌtôrē,ˈal-/adjective: depending on the throw of a dice or on chance; random, relating to or denoting music or other forms of art (in this instance writing) involving elements of random choice (sometimes using statistical or computer techniques) during their composition, production, or performance. These chapbooks afford me the opportunity to commit my words to paper and collation - to produce evidence that thoughts/notes/scribbles can become more than that. The point is not always to produce a work of excellence - how few there be of those, but to work towards one. There are often moments of clarity, like the last verse of Dorothy Orange, which resonates, with the disjuncture of existence I think we all find ourselves in. These verses for me hover between narrative and poetry - possessing the formal elements of neither. As I’ve commented before, I’m in nomans-land right now, with the thought that those plowing the ground are not those that reap the harvest. I guess that’s how it is with many experiments. It certainly feels like that with my own. For the full ‘poem’ see
Last Verse:
Dorothy Orange we were so SPECTACULAR
on supersonic skateboards. Come my beauty, rise, though your underbelly lies exposed. Vodka anyone? We’re on our way to
f l yi n
g
Mars
clockwork pieces
(Not Orange).
http://collaborativecanto.blogspot.com
3.0 # 15 (Writing) Dorothy Orange. Cheryl Penn. 2015. (Book/Chapbook 19 and 20)
Artists Series Guido Vermeulen by Cheryl Penn I “met” Guido in about April 2011 on the IUOMA site and mutual delight ensued. Week after week the most fabulous envelopes arrived from Guido. More than envelopes, I have two STARTLING paintings, nearly A0 in size which are treasures. From the beginning, Guido was complex, generous and honest about the way he felt about EVERYTHING - no mincing words, just WHAM - how it was. He ranted about galleries and war, poetics and philosophy. He wrote and translated and painted and drew. He loved his animals Buzz and Nero, feeling a kindred spirit with animals. Health wise he was not well while mentally vacillating between immense love and grief. He lived everything he felt and my word, FEEL he did. His fierce honesty was raw and sometimes hard to bear, and although I received envelopes like “not all days are as bad as this one” see: http://guidovermeulen.blogspot.com/2013/02/not-alldays-are-as-bad-as-present- one.html he still held a childlike wonder at life which he delighted to share. Switch was the last work I received from Guido in July 2014. Faces on the Road were the last series of books received from Guido and certain lines from these ink drawing books, stand out from what I think are self referential works:
The Wild Ones: 27 - Lets solve the stupidity of first impressions 32 - Le cri aveugle/the blind cry Faces of Universal Tragedies: 13 - Truth as a red tear dripping from a velvet eye 15 - A hero has no face at all 40 - There are more questions than answers - ALWAYS 43 - I am a prisoner of my own reflections Reflections: 26 - I am not concerned about what I see, but about what I CANNOT see 40 - I am a blackbird in disguise and my real name is history tribute to David Stone “When I see your face I see my face 2gether we see faces of Humanity”:
Yes Guido, I see what you mean.
Fado Faces: 20 - Choose between dark eyes or eyes of darkness 43 - ALWAYS listen to the music in your head. Tomb Faces: 20 - The danger of flying in skies unborn 21 - Not all human faces are trained animals 34 - I’m all dressed up for what will be coming 37 - What we have lost is what we’re all about.
Guido Vermeulen by Cheryl Penn. Cheryl Penn. 2014/5. (Book 9).
Rod Summers by Cheryl Penn Unique book made from a collection of mailings by Rod Summers. Pockets hold such works as Free Form Across the Universe (2014), Prometheus Extinguished Darkly 2014 (in which Rod was kind enough to write “Inspired by the free form poem Overheard by Cheryl Penn (2014), Shelf Life - our collaboration (2105) and An Undistinguished Martyrdom (for those I still love) (2015). There are also pockets holding Rod’s particular style of postcards, ranging from ‘anger management’ tools to the musings of Dr Moss Mure. There are quite a few facts one can gather about Rod off the internet - see for example the trusty steed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Summers (I have put this into the book), BUT I am of course more curious about the PERSON of Rod Summers and we have maintained a lively, slightly erratic email exchange for a number of years. Rod is a compulsive artist, seeking inspiration from everything around him - his beloved Iceland, his allotment plot (I’ve never seen a potato that big), his correspondents - I have been lucky enough to collaborate with Rod AND have had “a genetically moderated text to be read aloud triumphantly” THE SPAR_ROW (from Free Form Across the Universe) written for me. I have listened with glee (among other recordings), to the shenanigans of Helgi, (Rod’s alter ego?), the Hjalteyri Scales (an audio performance and installation in a vacant herring processing plant in Iceland), and a memory stick which I think I am right in saying has over 11 hours worth of listening material - I’m about 5 hours in. Rod loves Planet Suite by Holst, Send in the Clowns and Windmills of your mind. He loves tea and home. We’re on the same page there.
One can read a variety of interviews with Rod, including http://lomholtmailartarchive.dk/focus/focus-1-vecinterview-rod-summers and also watch his lecture on his documentation of Mail Art on https://vimeo.com/98041000 I also have another book by Rod - E of E, in which he sent me “Ben wot ik 8” - his shopping lists from a variety of Maastrichtian supermarkets, most of which are accessed by bicycle? An interesting curiosity read - a legible recital too as Afrikaans is based in Dutch and I have a smattering. I have paired it with a very amusing (although not when you're 5 or 6 I imagine) postcard dealing with finding a set of false teeth in a tin - that must have been on SOMEONES's shopping list?) Rod - many thanks for the years of fascinating correspondence.
Rod Summers by Cheryl Penn. Cheryl Penn. 2015. (Book 47).
General Books A Mail Art History (Book 1) MAN! I had much on my plate and in the middle of all this decided to clear up and try catalogue the cut-up paintings I have done to-date. This was in part due to a collaboration with the title “Writing” - the 15th collaboration I have organized on Robert Heathers artists books website. It was a task I had set myself a long time ago, but never completed. I am a natural hoarder (a Cancerian trait apparently) and this works in ones favour when making books. The book-making studio was a sight to behold and it was time to de-clutter. I started cutting up paintings in 2011 when I needed to find a quicker way to produce Mail Art. One way to accomplish this was to cut up paintings into post card size pieces and send text, a piece of the image and a photograph of the full image as an artwork. Most paintings are done on paper pulp - a gift from Anthony who works at Sappi. Paper pulp is PERFECT conceptually for what I was about to do. The sheets are either cut - 60cm by 80cm (some were a little larger in the early days, or it comes on a roll which takes about 3 men to carry - its REALLY heavy. ”Pulp is a lignocellulosic (any of several closely related substances constituting the essential part of woody cell walls of plants and consisting of cellulose intimately associated with lignin) fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood, fibre crops or waste paper. The wood fiber sources required for pulping are, "45% sawmill residue, 21% logs and chips, and 34% recycled paper" (Wiki).
This means it’s an unfinished product - it’s still going to be something else - something like my paintings. The completed painting is just the beginning of the work - its end is to be disseminated throughout the world and exist in pieces. I have used these sheets as mail art and all my book covers are made from these paintings. Having begun in 2011, I sit at 80 cut-up paintings, some of which came off the roll. The Bridge for example (number 7) was 5 meters long by 80cm high. That’s MANY meters of paintings! The freedom this practice gave me is an experience one can only have by DOING. And it ends up being quite compulsive. Some paintings were done on Mtheni board, some of A0 350gm card stock, but in the main, on paper pulp.
A Mail Art History. Cheryl Penn. 2015 (Book 38)
A Mail Art History (Book 2) CONT: (for previous text related to A Mail Art History see Book 1) At times the painting numbering on the send-outs was different to digital documentation. The reason for the discrepancies was I started officially numbering quite late, once I realized how much I enjoyed this practice. There were also numerous paintings I forgot to number. Numerical values get a bit hazy around 7. In the book I discuss the origins of the phrase “the authentic massacre of the innocent image�, my preoccupation with Mona Lisa and other pertinent mail art experiences. Suffice it to say I was involved for the first time in a book swop I did not organize. Returns were bad. BUT, much good came from this endeavor in terms of understanding and pushing my own approach to a personal visual language. Mail Art correspondence slowed down considerably after I showed the first ever Mail Art Exhibition in South Africa. The title was Mail Art Makes the World a Town. The stimulus for the title came from research on the Novgorod Codex and the dismantling of a bridge book of titled the World is a Town. Now, correspondents are fewer, but I value the ones I have. This has allowed me to concentrate in the main on making books for An Encyclopedia of Everything. I have cartons of Mail Art following the exhibition and this has allowed me a wealth of access to artists all over the world.
A Mail Art History (Book 2). Cheryl Penn. 2015. (Book 43)
Conversations in Turkey Of course, this book may not ever become anything other than this - rough writing on a bus/in a restaurant/in Ephesus/at the sea - in Turkey. A whole group of us went away to celebrate a friends birthday. I took some loose pages with me, and a bag of pens just in case the mood hit.
Being the helpful sort (REALLY!) she offered to carry the pack, take photographs, hold back the party for me, etc, but at the library she dropped the whole book into a puddle of rainwater. NEVER MIND said I - and it was REALLY never mind - books take on their own life and very few works can claim to be dunked on-site.
Too late I thought of rubbings, but fortunately by the time I got to Ephesus I had. Imagine missing the opportunity to make buffed copies of words that were close to 2000 years old. Quite a few were done near the Library of Celsus. “The library of Celsus is an ancient Roman building in Ephesus, Anatolia, now part of Selçuk, Turkey. It was built in honor of the Roman Senator Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus (completed in 135 AD) by Celsus' son, (consul 110 AD). Celsus had been consul in 92 AD, governor of Asia in 115 AD, and a wealthy and popular local citizen. He was a native of nearby Sardis and amongst the earliest men of purely Greek origin to become a consul in the Roman Empire and is honored both as a Greek and a Roman on the library itself. Celsus paid for the construction of the library with his own personal wealth”. See Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Celsus There were many stories in the air - history felt very real among these ruins. My “tools” were in a bag, which my friend Kim dubbed “the nutter starter pack”.
Conversations in Turkey. Cheryl Penn. 2014. (Book 6).
Early Beginnings (of the Bhubezi Women, which are lost along with The Book of Lyehc) This book deals with the first 8 documented members of the Bhubezi Tribe. It has been suggested that the designations by which they have been identified are titles rather than personal names. This book notates Queen Lyrehc, The Pilot, The Distant Drummer, The Ulu, The Galactic Flaneur, The Tokoloshi and The Time Keeper of Ages. There is also two lesser figures known as The Singer to Sleep and Complexity. Their relationship to these eight is uncertain. She is described as: “Tamed. Untamed, Tame. Cultural Feral. Unhampered Cycles and multitudinous overwrites - veiled. Mapped. Remapped, made underground - Topside. Overgrown structures of the psyche. Done again” As one can see - Complex! In the secret Sof Omar caves, an intriguing stele was found with the following inscription: The Ones That Protect From: The Conscious Life, External words, Pure Pain, False Dreams, Ones to travel to the deepest reaches of the psyche, A barrier on their behalf to the outside world, A Thousand Deaths, An Unfulfilled Life, Enantiodromia, The Incorporeal Body, The destructive animus, Lost Instinct. Those ‘allowed’ are still attempting to unravel these phrases.
Early Beginnings. Cheryl Penn. 2015. (Book 24)
Sing Me a Song Last year, I received from Not-Hi-Ng (USA) a book of aleatory verse made with a pneumatic nail gun. This note accompanied his books: “For quite some time now I have been doing something I call Nail gun Poetry. It started out as homage to John Cage and his chance operations. Whereas his operations were quite complex ... mine are simpler than his. I use a pneumatic nail gun to shoot a nail through a text. The words that are touched by the nail become the words of my poems. I used a variety of texts and for this project I chose Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce because Cage once subjected it to one of his chance operations and I felt it would be fitting”. Subjecting words to chance creates some very interesting word combinations. My words are harvested from Life. The gathering takes place over a few months, a little shuffling takes place and then the books are printed. It’s very satisfying, though not easily accessible. For a full reading see: http://collaborativecanto.blogspot.com The second poem titled Black Box Theory is dedicated to Rod Summers.
Sing Me a Song. Cheryl Penn. 2014. (Book/Chapbook 7 and 8)
Taking Heed According to Thy Word Albert Einstein said, “Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.” In contrast, the way the world was made is in wisdom: “The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens; by His knowledge the deeps broke open and the clouds drop down the dew”. One family understood this. During the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram (Numbers 16), the sons of Korah removed themselves from the tents of their father and were not destroyed. During the reign of David, this family were set aside to worship God in song and music. Later they would help overthrow the reign of Athaliah, and they are still represented during the time of the Maccabees. As a family they eschewed stupidity, fear and greed, believing that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” but, “He has brought desolations on the earth”. The Korahitic Group of Psalms total 11 and are presented in our modern cannon as Psalms 42 - 49 and 84 - 85. Taking Heed According to Thy Word. Cheryl Penn. 2014. (Book 15).
The Last Revealed Three: Its really quite difficult to tell how/when/why the Revealing of the Bhubezi Women came about. It is equally difficult to tell how many there are, or their particular function in Holding up the World. There are a few pivotal pegs in their story though: - They are all REAL historical figures - At the beginning of their history they migrated from the center of the earth (Nede) due to an unknown dispute. - Not much is known about the first eight women (see Early Beginnings). This has led those few concerned with these matters to the conclusion that these are TITLES rather than names and that the Women identified to date may actually also bear one of these titles. Bhubezi Women Identified thus far: Magenta, Sienna (better known as Shahrazad), Mona Lisa, Hypatia, Hatshepsut, Empress Zhangsun Pandora and Cynisca. Other characters include The Moorish Darwish (a documented character from the book 1001 Nights in which Shahrazad became trapped) The Traveller, The Red Giraffe and various receptacles which masquerade as Vessels In Dispute, as well as the Brown Portal. There are men too, who seem to be part of this mythology : The Moorish Darwish : The Red Giraffe (shape shifter to all accounts) : Leonardo da Vinci : Eudoxus of Cnidus : Pausanias : Sergius The Master Builder (a very recent addition, discovered by Erich Sundermann in Austria).
Vessels/Artifacts in dispute include: : съдина : Janie’s Lamp - commonly known as Aladdin’s Lamp (Still not removed from Gerald’s guitar shop) : Pandora’s Box : Cuilan’s Vessel : Funerary urn of Empress Zhangsun : Phaistos Disk : Mildenhall treasure - Neptune’s dish : The Hidden Pâte-sur-pâte
The Last Revealed Three. Cheryl Penn. 2015. (Book 13).
The Story Continues First edition of 4 hand made, varying pocket books. Books created for Roger DeWint (Belgium), Marie Wintzer (Japan) and Erich Sundermann (Austria). Things have been going a little mad Between. Time is running out, but numerous things are falling into place as the participants in this saga realize the gravity of what is happening to the Bridges Between. Soon they will not be able to support the world, but members of the public like Marie who holds one of the keys in the form of a book, and Erich who brought to light the work of Sergius are making lighter the task of The Red Giraffe and The Traveller. Some of the vessels are also preparing to Fade to Between. Hatshepsut’s needle is waking, and The Books, especially those found near the tomb of Empress Zhangsun are needed. (Book made from a series of cut-up paintings, which are posted throughout the world as Mail Art in an effort to solve the mystery of The Women Who Hold Up the World)
The Story Continues. Cheryl Penn (South Africa). 2015. (Book 44).
Peral, Marcela (Argentina) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) Number 4 of an Edition of 7 books. Mixed Media (Acrylic paint, crayons, wax and asphaltic paint on torn Kraft paper). The idea for ‘Holes’ as a title collaboration came from Marcela in Argentina who says that anything other than a very thin letter carries enormous surcharges. This was a note received in July 2014, as to why her title was 20grms:
“Ja, ja...the weight is always a problem to me, in this case I took it as a theme to work with: 20 grs. máximo is a very light weight for hard covers books so I had to make a hole on them... As the service is getting more and more expensive there will be more and more holes in my books!!!”.
3.0 # 14 (Holes) Marcela Peral. 2015. (Book 17)
Rastello, Martine (France) 3.0 # 14 (loopHOLES of the memory) (Book 1) No. 4 of an edition of 9. Etching, walnut ink and old photo’s, very effective wrap-around cover. I guess our lives are a series of decipherable versus obscured experiences, with the past a layered and somewhat distorted form of erasure. Many things don’t make sense - if we knew well our ancestral past, what would we change? Letter accompanying Martine’s book: “Here is my Holes Book 1. I recently found an old box with very old photos of my ancestors, whose identity I don’t know?? A lot of “holes” in my family story and a lot of loopholes in my memory”.
When I found that old dusty box full of letters, various documents and old sepia photos, I realized that my memory just couldn’t help me say who those people were. Even though, on one photo, I could see that a little girl looked very much like my mother but in a more ancient period… I asked an English friend to help me find a word that would have the abstract meaning of “hole” and she gave me a list but the world “loophole” just sounded perfect to me as the word had “hole” in it whereas the others didn’t. So I decided I would uses these photos with the loopholes of my memory”. I think Martine enjoyed this subject as I have it on good authority she is making another Holes book!
3.0 # 14 (Holes) (The loopHOLES of the Memory) Martine Rastello. 2015. (Book 35). 3.0 # 14 (The loopHOLES of the memory) (Book 2) Book 3 of an edition of 6. A note from Martine tells us comprehensively about her thinking process during this collaboration. “The French word TROU which means HOLE is used for a hole in a garment or in a garden or whatever else where there is a piece missing, but it is also used with an abstract meaning like <<a gap in my memory>> would be <<un trou de memoire>> as there is something missing there too.
3.0 # 14 (Holes) (The loopHOLES of the Memory) Martine Rastello. 2015. (Book 23).
Asemic Calligraphy Unique book. Painted printed pages with asemic calligraphy. The word “calligraphy” comes from two ancient Greek words ₫άλλος kallos "beauty" and ữρửφή graphẽ "writing". I guess it is best described as visual art interconnected with writing. It is design orientated in its execution and is generally done with brushes or calligraphy pens - I would say general script is the alphabet drawn rather than a pictorial aesthetic? This is what Martine does. She creates glyphs, which look like writing but are ultimately meaningless. This qualifies them as asemic writing. The emphasis on writing systems is enhanced by the layering over extant printed text. Martine wrote “I quite enjoyed the exercise especially as it’s very different from my usual work though I have always practiced what I call ’’free calligraphy’’ ... what you call ’’asemic writing’’. Martine made quite a few books related to Babel and even this she says is part of that series - “This book could join the Babel series as the asemic writing recovers the missal pages therefore makes in a way God’s words incomprehensible”.
Asemic Calligraphy Martine Rastello. 2015. (Book 40).
Summers, Rod. (Netherlands) E of E. This book - â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ben wot ik 8â&#x20AC;? is a set of list shopping slips/receipts from a variety of Maastrichtian supermarkets most of which are accessed by bicycle? An interesting curiosity read, a legible read too, as Afrikaans is based in Dutch and I have a smattering. I have paired it with a very amusing (although not when you're 5 or 6 I imagine) postcard on which Rod describes finding of a set of false teeth in a tin - that must have been on SOMEONES's shopping list?).
E of E. Rod Summers. 2015 (Book 47)
Sundermann, Erich (Austria) BHUBEZI Woman Alias Hatshepsut alias Lady Lioness South Africa (Original plus copy) Erich and I have been corresponding for about 3 years, and just when I thought there was a down turn in the fortunes of the Bhubezi Women, along came this beautifully drawn visual narrative relating to the fortunes of Hatshepsut - the 15th character in the series of Women Who Hold Up the World.
There is of course the matter of the monument planned for the moon, a facsimile of which was used by Filippo Brunelleschi for the Duomo of Florence. But more about that for another day - we have to deal with “One more Flower of my invention”.
Erich always writes the most wonderful letters and this instance was no different. “Years ago a big crocodile from the Nile came to eat up Hatshepsut, but hunted by her many slaves, and shot dead by the soldiers spears, it afterwards was made into a bag, to keep Hatshepsut’s lipstick ‘forever’. It was found by James Henry Breasted in the sarcophagus of a pyramid, first shown to him (and later sold to him) by an Arabian guide (same is now on view in the historical museum of Berlin). It was demanded back by the National Museum of Cairo, but successfully defended as an object of study for German students, and also for the whole world because temperatures in Egypt are very hot”. Erich has plans for archetypical buildings (safe houses if you will) situate in Between, Messenger Fish and plants from THEIR world. Erich also introduces Sergius, the Master Sculpturer and Builder who says “I am old, but to build makes me happy” - little did this octogenarian know how valuable he would ultimately be.
BHUBEZI Woman Alias Hatshepsut alias Lady Lioness South Africa Erich Sundermann. 2014. (Book 12).
TICTAC/(Ptrizia) (Germany) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) Artists Book swop on http://artistbooks.ning.com There’s just no denying that TICTAC (Ptrizia) makes the most beautiful artists books, pristine in their execution, a work of art - in the form of a book. Most conceptual artists make use of the book format as an important aspect of their practice. As with many of us practicing this form, these artists' books are self-published and in this instance produced in very small editions of 10. Although an edition, Ptrizia’s books are all handmade, signed and numbered - our 3.0 # 14 (Holes) collaboration is no different. The Hollow Trees of Treebian No. 1 of an edition of 10 handmade books. Colophon: handmade by the author in 2014 with fine art matt paper, embossing and rubberstamps during an autumn that felt like the summer we did not have in Bavaria and just before the Oktoberfest. I know Ptrizia inhabits numerous wonderful worlds, like Quindi Islands. The Hollow Trees live in a place no different to this - neighbor to Quindi Island? Treebian is “an island located in the Archipelag of the Fairies, in the South Pacific”. If you have any imagination, you’ve been there - the wind is gentle, so that trees like the Nisi Quiuque have no fear that their live seed will be dropped into the ocean. Rather, two seedlings dropped every 5 years fall gently between their parents where they will be nurtured until they are big enough to walk away and find other Hollow Trees of similar kind.
3.0 # 14 (Holes) - The Hollow Trees of Treebain. TICTAC. 2014. (Book 14)
3.0 # 14 (Say Cheese) - ok, this made me smile - I can think of all the toothless wonders we were as children, proud of those unsurpassed gaps while we waited for our two front teeth to grow. Were those the days??? Some days I think so, mostly not.
3.0 # 14 (Urban Myths) No. 1 of an edition of 10 visual poetry books. We all know those narratives, which strangely remain quite universal with minor changes to suit regional variations. Think of the woman killed by spiders nesting in her hair or people being ambushed and taken by aliens. Think of the creepy result of going to Sleep Clinics - better known as The Kidney Heist, where one wakes up with one kidney less. The other has been sold on the black market... As Prtizia suggests - there are huge holes in those stories.
3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Say Cheese) TICTAC. 2015. (Book 25).
3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Urban Myths) Ptrizia/TICTAC. 2015. (Book 26).
Turnbull, Stephanie (UK) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) Hole in the Wall No. 1 of an edition of 6 screenprinted books. There is a beautiful place - not too close by, called Hole in the Wall it’s south of Coffee Bay. It stands before the mouth of the Mpako River and is the source of many legends. In the Xhosa language, this area is called esiKhaleni, which means ‘the place of sound’. A hole in the wall can also be an out-of-the way place, or it can just be that secret place you found as a child, set among the bricks at the bottom of the garden - either way, Stephanie’s book evokes all of these.
3.0 # 14 (Holes) Holes in the Wall. Stephanie Turnbull. 2015. (Book 31)
Looking up through the gumnut tree No.2 of a variable edition of 6 - Lithograph and hand cut imagery on Somerset paper. “Book inspired by the negative spaces we see when looking up through the trees”. A very nice idea and an interesting concept - I sometimes think the term ‘negative space’ does not do those areas justice. I’m thinking Robert Frost - Birches …”It's when I'm weary of considerations, And life is too much like a pathless wood Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs Broken across it, and one eye is weeping From a twig's having lashed across it open. I'd like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over”…
3.0 # 14 (Holes) Looking up through the gumnut tree. Stephanie Turnbull. 2015. (Book 32)
Manhole Covers No. 1 of an edition of 6 screenprinted books. Manhole Covers - I FINALLY decided to read up about them, prompted by Stephanie’s book. I have made rubbings of manhole covers all over the world, but never wondered why… manhole covers - removable plates forming lids to manholes, dating back at least to ancient Rome. This was interesting - “The question of why manhole covers are typically round (in some countries) was made famous by Microsoft when they began asking it as a jobinterview question. Originally meant as a psychological assessment of how one approaches a question with more than one correct answer, the problem has produced a number of alternative explanations, from the tautological ("Manhole covers are round because manholes are round.") to the philosophical” - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhole_cover
3.0 # 14 (Holes) Manhole Covers. Stephanie Turnbull. 2015. (Book 33)
Viljoen, Petru (South Africa) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Breathing Spaces) I am reminded of neurons when looking at Petru’s book an elongated sort of electrically excited (hairs) in this instance - complex junctures, lines along which creativity hangs, and the spaces between. Neurons actually generate a brief pulse called an ‘action potential’, and this is certainly the way I read Petru’s work. Petru wrote about this book: “I juxtaposed materials in the concept of beauty, not only of women (having Marilyn Monroe and Saartjie Baartman in mind) but also of a way of life, an idea, an attitude, that is or was or will be misconstrued, misused, even inappropriate in a culture of cheap tricks and disposable kitch - the plastic table cloth. The falseness of intentions in wanting to appear beautiful in order to rise above circumstances”. It’s always interesting the way different readings bring new meanings to successfully open ended work.
3.0 # 14 (Holes) (Breathing Spaces). Petru Viljoen. 2015. (Book 18).
Wahl, Svenja (Germany) 3.0 # 14 (Holes) No. 3, Edition of 6 handmade books. I have found it quite interesting how any artists have dealt with families - known or unknown to demonstrate some sort of loss, memory lapse or factors unknown. I know from past dealings with Svenja (she did a wonderful book for the Bhubezi mythology - see http://cherylpenn.com/wpb/?p=1875 ) that she has boxes of old family photographs and has drawn strength and inspiration from those that have gone before. I am always left wondering - even though I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know them - where are these people? How did their lives turn out? Were they HAPPY? As Svenja shows, some knowledge holes will never be filled. Is it just darkness left in the empty spaces? Like bites out of time?
3.0 # 14 (Holes). Svenja Wahl. 2015. (Book 29).
Wintzer, Marie (Japan) Growing Trees. No. 4 of an edition of 4 handmade books. “The tree poems were written in November 2014 as part of an experiment attempting to grow a forest on quicksand.’ In this limited edition they are combined with an Indian ink study. If you are reading this book you had a part in the elaboration of this forest and it is dedicated to you”. Another beautiful book from the bookworms lunch. Contrary to the cover of the book (I cannot believe Marie made FOUR), trees don’t grow in cement factories made by man, spewing out pollution as a result of growing. If left alone they mature in peace, at one with the earth and the vicissitudes of nature. In fact their crowns and leaves are food factories for the tree. The old bark is called heartwood - a good term for Maries tree poems, as she delves into personal roots, experiences and affections. The book for some reason feels sad to me, with little clues like silica gel packets which read DO NOT THROW AWAY. The book feels cathartic too, so I hope Marie is sending out new shoots and creating different experiences.
Maries spin: ”spilled accidently like a bottle of ink like shirts wear out my affection has no bottom”.
I thought of the sad undertones of William Blake’s Poison Tree: “I was angry with my friend I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe2 I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I watered it in fears, Night and morning with my tears; And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles”.
Growing Trees. Marie Wintzer. 2014. (Book 39)
Gymnopedie For The Proverbial Morning Toast The Gymnopédies (not for toast) are three piano compositions written by Erik Satie, WAY BACK in 1888. These lent et douloureux pieces (translate to "slow and painful") are some of my favorite piano pieces, and this is the first mention of ‘gymnopedie’ for An Encyclopedia of Everything. They’re gentle if eccentric compositions, and this perfectly describes Marie’s book. I mean: “bubblegum petroleum killerwhale flapjack butterjohn miniskirt candyfloss methanol sourtooth bittersweet belly button fluff” Satie was a colourful figure in the Parisian avant-garde and referred to himself as a "phonometrician" (meaning "someone who measures sounds”) rather than a musician. I think Marie is of the same metal, using the faintest thinners prints to transfer some kind of random imagery to her equally unsystematic word links - something like the last ‘verse’ where one reverses back to bed on the morning one does NOT want to be toast on a day when facing the music. “distrace rectangle unfry infralaugh prespell turbodextrous misapear”
Gymnopedie For The Proverbial Morning Toast. Marie Wintzer. 2014. (Book 5)
Maps to Jupiter and Rome If in your travels, you ever encounter a Map To Jupiter and Rome, be aware you’ve found a GREAT secret. To interpret these rites of passage to the stars you will need an unrecognizable text and a Great Code Cypher with which to untangle the way. She, the scribe at The Book Worms Lunch may for certain hold the key. Whichever way you choose to begin your journey to the stars, also know that no-one who has ever been there will give you all the clues - part of the journey is finding your own way. There are some things I can tell you are essential: 1) 56 2) sealing wax 3) Jackie Paper 4) string 5) found graph fragments.
Maps from Jupiter and Rome. Marie Wintzer. 2014. (Book 16)
One thing I DO know, it’s going to be a long journey. This part of a series of evidences (I hope!) took a few months to get here. But we know what books are like - it INSISTED on being posted during a strike. And, from that list, if you know Puff the Magic Dragon, he’ll help.
Artists Blog sites: Karen Alekyan http://karenalekyan.blogspot.com Jack Balmer: http://jacsblog-jac.blogspot.co.uk/ John M Bennett: http://www.johnmbennett.net/new-luna-bisonte-prods/ http://www.johnmbennett.net http://johnmbennettpoetry.blogspot.com Sally Chinea: http://www.sallychinea.com David Chirot: http://davidbaptistechirot.blogspot.com Lisa Iversen: http://textile-mail-art-project.blogspot.com/ Jurgen Olbrich: www.spechtart.de Cheryl Penn: http://an-encyclopedia-of-everything.blogspot.com www.cherylpennartistsbooks.com http://cherylpenn.com/wpb/ http://collaborativecanto.blogspot.com www.cherylpenn.com http://shadowlandwriting.blogspot.com http://bhubezi.blogspot.com Rod Summers: http://www.vecworldservice.net/index.htm
TICTAC http://tictac-tictac.blogspot.de/ Stephanie Turnbull http://www.stephanieturnbull.weebly.com Petru Viljoen: http://pviljoen.wordpress.com Svenja Wahl http://amtfuerpostkunst.wordpress.com Marie Wintzer http://mariesuitcase.blogspot.com http://thebookwormslunch.blogspot.com Â