the sensory delights of text

I'm pleased to announce that my friend and fellow book maker, Gabriella Solti, has won third prize in the Alcuin Society annual book competition in the limited edition category with her book "The Sensory Delights of Text." Two photographs of the book along with her thoughts on the visual beauty of text. Congratulations, Gabriella!



We often place a heightened importance on the content of texts, giving a status of superiority to the ideas in them while neglecting their materiality, the physicality of their creation and their pictorial beauty. We celebrate text and language as the primary means of communication, as the depository of knowledge and ideas; but do we honour their cerebral character to the detriment of their sensory qualities?

“The Sensory Delights of Text” is a selection from my collection of manuscripts of artists and scholars. Each has its own visual attraction, unusual placement on the page, odd rhythm, and often striking peculiarity. Their sequence in the book highlights and strengthens their sensory qualities. In my own personal engagement with these manuscripts, driven by my aesthetic, the materiality and pictorial beauty of texts can be just as exciting as the thoughts they may contain.

life drawing in black and white

strong lighting makes for high contrast.

pencil, black ink on white paper

F L O W E R

although these sketchbook pages were done a couple years ago, the sky for a while today had a very similar look

the potential of Chance

Michael Byron writes about Chance in his article “Korsmit* and Chance”

In order to harness the creative potential of Chance a rigorous set of procedural steps must be established in order to have pure Chance appear. If one strays from the established equation and, there are many Chance will respond to, the result is mere subjectivity.

* artist George Korsmit, The Netherlands

my vancouver

Fir SPRUCE PINE

vancouver collage

thinking about
"my" vancouver
during the
2010 olympics

objects of beauty

a page from my sketchbook

found vintage admission and raffle tickets

be excited.

we all should be excited.

The fusion of experiential art, Fluxus, drawing, radio, Mexican food, the future, the past, science, make believe, diagrams, and critical theory together with intimacy, poeticism, science fiction in art practice provides the potential for the unexpected.

I'm excited.

Artist Erin Marranca is building a kit with step-by-step instructions for how to accomplish the impossible. I have been privelidged to attend a special work-in-progress preview and can only say that I believe it will be worth seeing at it's official unveiling scheduled for May 2010. the how-to kit

image above: a sample of Erin Marranca's secret and preliminary work in the moleskin series

any time

white in Vancouver as seen by Rolf Erni

modus press

sock monkey loungin' letterpress greeting card

the studio of Modus Paperie & Press celebrates the elegant and simple beauty of historic letterpress printing





modus press and online shop

the christmas cards of artists

Dan Flavin, famous for creating sculptures with fluorescent lights, sent this Christmas card to artist Andrew Bucci in 1962.
see more: Smithsonian Magazine

oh christmas tree!

Date: 09 10 05, Set: 001, Zone 7, Colour CMYK, Title: fir, spruce, PINE ST 00 / Fir St 1800, SPRUCE ST 2300, pine [photographic colour inkjet print], Site: shot on location in vancouver
lphillips22, ••••••, 0031277

an atlas of radical cartography

From South to North by Lize Mogel
New artist's book: an-atlas-of-radical-cartography

could this be true?!!!

Could the 2008 International Collage Association award winner for “paint C”, P. L. Phillips in fact be the very same “PAULA” whose name and design are both registered trade marks of well known LIMONEIRA of Santa Paula, California?

Our judges do not believe the highly revered winner P. L. Phillips is possible of any actions that would discredit the International Collage Association but it is with regret that we must announce an ongoing investigation is now under way.

* ALL AWARDS AS OF JANUARY 17, 2009 ARE NOW ON HOLD. *

ICA sincerely regrets the necessity of these actions.

about drawing

For the new year, some words spoken by Australian critic Robert Hughes, in an address at the Royal Academy in 2004

"... there has been a tragic depreciation in the traditional skills of painting and drawing, the nuts and bolts of the profession. In part it has been caused by the assumption that it's photography and its cognate media - film and TV - that tell the most truth about the visual.

It's not true. The camera, if it's lucky, may tell a different truth to drawing - but not a truer one. Drawing brings us into a different, a deeper and more fully experienced relation to the object. A good drawing says: "not so fast, buster". We have had a gutful of fast art and fast food. What we need more of is slow art: art that holds time as a vase holds water: art that grows out of modes of perception and whose skill and doggedness make you think and feel; art that isn't merely sensational, that doesn't get its message across in 10 seconds, that isn't falsely iconic, that hooks onto something deep-running in our natures. In a word, art that is the very opposite of mass media. For no spiritually authentic art can beat mass media at their own game. This was not a problem when the Academy was founded, because in 1769 such media were embryonic or non-existent. A quarter of a millennium later, things are different. But drawing never dies, it holds on by the skin of its teeth, because the hunger it satisfies - the desire for an active, investigative, manually vivid relation with the things we see and yearn to know about - is apparently immortal. "

the complete text

Henri Matisse - The Snail

Many thanks to Anonymous! The comment about the similarity between "Autumn Colours" by
P. L. Phillips and "The Snail" collage by Henri Matisse is most perceptive. To read about "The Snail" please go to The Tate Gallery.

international collage association announcement

the long awaited International Collage Association award winner
for "paint C" category announced today, December 20, 2008, is
P. L. Phillips

Our judges' comments: Ms Phillips is best known for her international reputation as a sender and receiver of postcards, even postal workers have been known to comment on the sheer volume of postcards that make their way to her mailbox. However, we are proud to acknowledge her more recent contributions to collage art, as clearly evidenced in "Autumn Colours" (above).

Her creativity and resourcefulness are indeed worthy of recognition. Just as a further remark, as a Canadian entry it is interesting to note the use of both official languages.

We would like to thank everyone who entered this year's competition and send special congratulations to Ms Phillips. In keeping with ICA traditions, a private award ceremony will be held later this year to honour our winner.

read today

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There is always voice enough to an attentive listener.

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random notes
literary remains of François Delsarte
delsarte system of oratory

shopping in holiday colours

dustpan :: broom

seen and enjoyed at emily carr university
:)