A New Book by Susan Allix – Nonsense & Nonsense
(Allix, Susan) Nonsense & Nonsense. Artist’s book by Susan Allix. London. 2008. 75p. 11.25” x 9”. Four etchings (one handcolored and one with a second shadow printing), a linocut, block prints and various borders, dots and signs. It is made up of a variety of mould-made papers, including Arches, Somerset and Zerkall, which vary in size and sometimes have cutouts. Typefaces include Grotesque, Granby, Gill and Gallia, with Caslon, Bodoni, Engravers Roman and altered and un-altered wood letters. These are printed letterpress, by hand; with new intaglio plates and linocuts and old printer’s blocks. Binding is of paper of assembled squares over boards; the spine black leather and board edges of black lacquered paper making a wavy-line frame for the paintings which are mounted and applied off-centre to the squares. [Special copies have all edges in leather.] Endpapers of bronze paper with handmade bronze-flecked paper doublures, cream flyleaves and lettered in red. Contained in a cream, portfolio-style folder. One in an edition of 24 copies, signed by Susan Allix. Fine. New.
“Five small paintings were made, relating to the text, and then printed digitally using archival inks. The book and binding were then working together without the paintings necessarily being moveable, so this is the main edition binding, with a few copies made with magnets set into the front board over black and white drawings and the paintings mounted on magnetised squares.“ – Allix.
“On a nonsensical scale this book is not deeply nonsensical. It looks like a book; it has pages that turn conventionally and its contents are not gibberish. Most of the words have been around for many years, some so long that their authors are now forgotten. But they are set in a variety of arrangements, using more typefaces than are usually expected in one book. There is a new piece of punctuation I invented, some wood-letter I altered and some old printers’ blocks reprinted.
“The initial idea for this book was for the reader to be able to do more than turn the pages; to be able to move or change images. Small pictures on the binding would be turned or re-located over others by the use of magnets. As the results of this were not intended to be serious, they would be accompanied by some nonsensical words. [Available in the Special Edition.]
“The different sizes, shapes and tones of the various papers used sustain a vitality in the flow of the pages, while the limited colour scheme of terracotta, red and cream unifies the collection of odd, puzzling or humorous verses and extracts. If these may be seen as somewhat inconsequential, a small voice announces every few pages “I’m hungry”, and does not find satisfaction in the poetic reply (in French).” – Allix.
Related items: Artists' Books, Catalogue 37 - Summer 2009, Susan Allix