Nothing says Barcelona like anarchist graffiti. This is a nice twist on the black 'A in circle' thing all over the neighborhood.
25 May 2013
This is Barcelona: anarchism
Nothing says Barcelona like anarchist graffiti. This is a nice twist on the black 'A in circle' thing all over the neighborhood.
22 May 2013
experimental book
Have you ever made a photo album from scratch? Don't.
This is an experiment: a fast and dirty photo album, if you will. Maybe that's cheating, but my sanity is still intact. I thought the weighty feel of these things and the landscape format would be good for photos, although they don't always tend to open very well. This particular book has a 7mm channel between the spine and cover to allow it to open all the way.
My friend Luli screenprinted the endpapers.
13 May 2013
09 May 2013
More lettering on signs
These almost all have a 1930s vibe.
In Porto:
"Dr. Ricardo Jorge" that part is so great.
In Barcelona:
Check out the 'A'.
Arts Libris
This international book art fair is held annually in Barcelona and I got two days off of school to go to it! (Bookbinding school rocks).
Here is some of the work I saw there:
Kollektiv Tod Verlag makes large scale wood cuts that get plastered around Berlin and Barcelona. Whatever prints don't become street art are bound into really sweet screen- and woodblock printed books. They are bound with a simple Japanese stab binding but then the pages all fold out.
I loved the everything that Editions Collodion had at the fair, but especially a book called Fable. They tear down the paper by hand (deckles and fake deckles galore!). I envy all their wood type.
Francois Righi prints engraved plastic plates on Japanese paper to make images with rich, deep black fields of color and delicate linework.
Eva Mengual, of La Seis Cuatro, has editioned some lovely artists' books. She is inspired by the work of Emilio Sdun.
Javiera's work was the coolest thing ever.
And, of course, Maria was there, too, with her latest books.
Also I want to buy the whole contents of El Astillero, a bookshop in Barcelona that specializes in works on paper by latin american modernists. Stuff like this:
I felt like the selection of work was wasn't representative of the Spanish letterpress printing scene: no Spanish presses showed up, although at this point most of those presses are doing jobbing, not making books. However, overall, Spanish fine printmakers were well represented. I wish the Imprenta Municipal could have been there with a selection of the beautiful editions it has done.
There was also a lot of independent, small-scale publishing on display, not necessarily remarkable for the quality of their paper product (simple pamphlets, etc) but still cool. Most my favorite stuff along those lines was done by Bside Books.
Image credits: each image is from the respective site it links to.
Here is some of the work I saw there:
Kollektiv Tod Verlag makes large scale wood cuts that get plastered around Berlin and Barcelona. Whatever prints don't become street art are bound into really sweet screen- and woodblock printed books. They are bound with a simple Japanese stab binding but then the pages all fold out.
I loved the everything that Editions Collodion had at the fair, but especially a book called Fable. They tear down the paper by hand (deckles and fake deckles galore!). I envy all their wood type.
Francois Righi prints engraved plastic plates on Japanese paper to make images with rich, deep black fields of color and delicate linework.
Eva Mengual, of La Seis Cuatro, has editioned some lovely artists' books. She is inspired by the work of Emilio Sdun.
 |
| This was the only contemporary letterpress printed book (bound, not loose sheets) I saw at the whole fair. |
Javiera's work was the coolest thing ever.
And, of course, Maria was there, too, with her latest books.
Also I want to buy the whole contents of El Astillero, a bookshop in Barcelona that specializes in works on paper by latin american modernists. Stuff like this:
I felt like the selection of work was wasn't representative of the Spanish letterpress printing scene: no Spanish presses showed up, although at this point most of those presses are doing jobbing, not making books. However, overall, Spanish fine printmakers were well represented. I wish the Imprenta Municipal could have been there with a selection of the beautiful editions it has done.
There was also a lot of independent, small-scale publishing on display, not necessarily remarkable for the quality of their paper product (simple pamphlets, etc) but still cool. Most my favorite stuff along those lines was done by Bside Books.
Image credits: each image is from the respective site it links to.
08 May 2013
PORTO
In Porto ...
I saw the sun!
I remembered that the small city is a beautiful thing ... goodbye, endless hours on the metro.
Students dressed up (finals week tradition):
I ate a giant meat-stuffed sandwich (chorizo, ham, a fried egg, tomato sauce, roast beef, and fries). Yup.
I climbed to the top:
I swam in this!!
There were a lot of things about Portugal that were charming but slow.
I got my fill of printing museums:
The colors were all so intense ... such orange rooftops in the rain. Porto in the rain made me thing of what Margarit said about another place: "una ciutat grisa amb un gran port."
The city isn't all clean and shiny, but does it sound terrible to say that it's pretty clean for the Iberian Peninsula?
I went to an antique book dealer
All the shops had old fashioned facades and antique furniture (counters, cabinets). It was like stepping back in time.
There were traditional bookbinding, leatherworking, and woodworking shops. (I dig this).
They apparently don't have rules like in Barcelona about where you can hang your laundry. (In the part of the city where I live we can't hang it outside). I guess sometimes I feel like rules in BCN are made more for tourists than locals, but Porto felt pretty lived in.
I really liked seeing some baroque churches; Portuguese baroque is over the top (I mean that in the best of ways). The guide I had referred to this one as "Golden Cave #2."
I remembered that the small city is a beautiful thing ... goodbye, endless hours on the metro.
Students dressed up (finals week tradition):
I ate a giant meat-stuffed sandwich (chorizo, ham, a fried egg, tomato sauce, roast beef, and fries). Yup.
I climbed to the top:
I swam in this!!
There were a lot of things about Portugal that were charming but slow.
I got my fill of printing museums:
The colors were all so intense ... such orange rooftops in the rain. Porto in the rain made me thing of what Margarit said about another place: "una ciutat grisa amb un gran port."
The city isn't all clean and shiny, but does it sound terrible to say that it's pretty clean for the Iberian Peninsula?
I went to an antique book dealer
And they let me go look at their basement stash. People there were friendly, patient. A little old man forced a pastel de nata on me while I waited for the bus to the airport home.
All the shops had old fashioned facades and antique furniture (counters, cabinets). It was like stepping back in time.
The market was full of olives, seafood, sausage, fruit, and homemade jam.
There were traditional bookbinding, leatherworking, and woodworking shops. (I dig this).
They apparently don't have rules like in Barcelona about where you can hang your laundry. (In the part of the city where I live we can't hang it outside). I guess sometimes I feel like rules in BCN are made more for tourists than locals, but Porto felt pretty lived in.
I really liked seeing some baroque churches; Portuguese baroque is over the top (I mean that in the best of ways). The guide I had referred to this one as "Golden Cave #2."
I saw a fellow Minnesotan (how was it that we didn't take any photos together???). But it was SO GREAT. MINNESOOOOOTA. So soon!
More than anything I loved how being there felt like being in another time, not just another place. I seriously googled "expat in Portugal" when I got home. But you know what? MINNESOTA. That is all.
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