Here is another beautifully constructed book from Claire Van Vliet’s Janus Press. Beauty in Use is a book of poetry by Sandra McPherson, her third collaboration with Janus Press. Each poem is accompanied by a colorful and complex paper quilt. The book is assembled and bound without the use of adhesives.
The Swiss-born artistic nomad Dieter Roth, spent much of his 5-decade career flitting between styles and media and means of production. But for me, the most exciting slice of this vast and varied career is that moment in the 1950s and early 60s knows as his “Concrete Period“.
During this phase of geometric, op and process-oriented art Roth created over twenty version of what he usefully called “Bok”. These “books”, were collections of loose-leaf pages, that had slots handcut from them according to certain rules and patterns. The pages in each book were largely 2 colors (with one exception), and ranged in number from 10 to 24. The pages in each could be rotated, arranged and stacked to create millions of patterns.
Each book was about 40cm square and the edition sizes were small. Many versions were one-of-a-kind, only four were printed in editions of more than 20 copies. Eventually, in his Collected Works, Volume 8, (Gesammelte Werke Band 8), 2 of these were reproduced in a die-cut edition of 1000.
More information about these books at MoMA’s website, as well as at sites maintained by the Grahame Galleries and Zucker Art Books. In print, the volume Dieter Roth Books + Multiples: Catalogue Raisonne has plenty of information about the various iterations of this idea, and is the source of some of the images in this post.
Additionally, in my fascination, I’ve recreated one of these books as an interactive web app project, you can play with it here. (Thanks to Zucker Art Books for providing the measurements.)
All images from mattshlian.com
Matt Shlian has a way with folded paper. His fascination with geometric, 3-D forms and interactive art is leading him to collaborations with scientists and retailers alike. Attractive wall hangings, small sculptures and art books by Shlian are available through the Ghostly store and through Eight Emperors, a subscription series run by Matt and his partner, Thea Augustina Eck.
Out of this excellent body of work, we are most excited by the kinetic sculptures and flip books. Movement best showcases the complexity of these folded and layered forms, and betrays Shlian’s talent as an engineer.
Even just watching this guy fold paper is mesmerizing. Shlian will be teaching a course on paper sculpture at Haystack this summer.
Auta z Dakaru, a Czech pamphlet of paper model truck plans by Richard Vyškovský.
