A little darkness to ring out the old...

My (occasionally) Annual Handmade Book



the black book - time to close out this year and bring in the new with a little darkness.

This book is a fragile creature, there's not a hard edge on it. It bends but will not break.



20 images (all but one taken this year),
approx. 5x4 inches, professionally printed on digital paper with a gloss sheen and selectively treated with a matte varnish (by me where I felt a little matte varnish should be.)

The images are fairly dark so the prints are fairly bright.

Prints are mounted on hand reinforced sheets of Thai decorated paper- very delicate-it is likely to bend or wrinkle but infused with reeds and leaves it will not tear. Stronger than it looks.
End sheets of a fine marbled paper
(each will differ somewhat)
Covers, with mounted images, made of a fine handmade paper dappled with silver.

A Japanese Stab binding sew with Irish linen,
the spine then covered with satin ribbon.

7 inches high x 7 1/2 inches wide

The Black Book is limited to strictly 13 copies. It is a delicate book, time consuming, and thus a very short run this year. $56 Including US shipping, $69 including International shipping.

Full set of images in the book, in full sequence, viewable here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurensimonutti/sets/72157625408970494/

Kiss The Past Goodbye

Collages from years past. Shadowboxed & ready to hang for your convenience.

These are shadowboxed, works I did at the change of the millenium 2000-2001.
These are the pieces that led me astray from a formal straight printer and toner to an aspiring chemical alchemist. They are collaged with many never before seen (private) gelatin silver prints, treats and trinkets, hospital arm bands, rough sandpaper, mummified birds and butterflies, reeds and mermaids.

The prints referred to as "personal vintage" pre-date 1990, when I was just beginning.
They are contained- shadowboxed, entirely autobiographical, black eyes and regretted relationships, my second tattoo;
and it is time to let them go.
I try never to dwell on past work, the only picture I wish to think about is the next one but I cannot allow these to languish in the cedar closet in the basement.

So consider giving them a home. This is a garage sale.

Any of these 8 boxes are just $77 including shipping in the Continental US. Signed and dated.

For International shipping (first class) the box is $103

There is only one of each.

If you are interested drop me a line here or at: rabbitlange@hotmail.com
If not interested, look at them anyway, they are who I once was.
SOLD.

I was not yet 20 and I was very good at hiding.

The colours I used were remarkably accurate.

I was never without a sense of irony.

Sorrow exposes.

Winged but still grounded.

rough and smooth

leap

I really do have no idea.

And in a different category-these I was going to hold onto but I am determined to let it all go.

Mermaids is a framed, collaged piece, covered with a heavy leaded glass that was textured to look like water. It is quite a heavy piece. And it is very unlike me. Seldom do I shoot a stranger. This piece is available (I think) for $165 including US shipping, $199 international.

Eye to eye

A large unglassed piece. Neither of the eyes is mine.

The gelatin silver print of the eye is one of the last I ever made on Azo before it was no longer obtainable. SOLD .

bound by sight

I do not know if these will be of interest to anyone. But I thought they deserved a chance.

Watching the words grow

They were of reasonable size, but it remained to be seen if they survived a very long drought.

Windows without a view

Sadly the glass was not transparent, but at least the sun still shone through.

Time Counts - My annual tradition

'Tis the season for my annual calendar. An oversized 13.5 x 19 inch calendar on premium paper with 12 large format images, most never before shown.

You can see a complete preview here

www.lulu.com/spotlight/lsimonutti

(click on 'Time Counts' to get to preview).

Go look. Do it now.

Begin Again: The Need for the Whip

I made the terrible mistake of cleaning up my shooting room. Things were going well. I could afford to eat what I wanted and buy film without struggling. And I couldn't take a shot. I had crippled my eyes. Then I remembered a conversation I had eavesdropped on by two quite brilliant professors over 20 years ago. The phrase I came away with was 'The need for the whip'. Some people find no comfort in order. 'The need for the whip' is the need for a touch of chaos in order to produce work.
So I have my working title. And once I have my title I can see again. For me, it always starts with words.


Part I
The Family Portrait

Family is relative.



Part II
Pincushion
Spent 5 days at the Casa de Union Memorial Hospital. I feel like a pincushion-12 blood draws in 5 days. I am accustomed to the arms and hands but this time they tacked on 4 to the stomach. That was new. I must say I didn't much care for it. Although I did give the doctor my card so he and the staff could look at my work and I feel it was well received.

The birthdays series - year 5

No such thing as silence

Tomorrow is my birthday and I have tired of this room.

Hair of the dog

Making friends

Mama said it would be healthy if I made some new friends.

New works

The empty bed

This image is featured on Eyemazing Editions www.eyemazingeditions.com


Confounded by time (anger is golden)



Barely there (drowning inside)

Exclusively Available

Insomnia, rope and spirits

Insomnia results in Contemplating Daybreak

Given enough rope I will always tie myself up in knots

Spirit photography and the claw hand

Portraits from Oz

Melanie and her mum I

Melanie and her mum II

The Waiting Room

The Whitney Museum of American Art and just now the Metropolitan Museum of Art, both in NYC, have acquired some of my work for their permanent collection. It is nice to know the prints will be cared for and have the chance to last.

Neat.

Time to begin again

eyes taped shut



kanga and me
(The closest I could come to having a pet kangaroo. I have named him Limpy since, taking into account his current condition,
he could not have been particularly fleet of foot.)



puppetmaster has lost her strings



balancing act

A brief opportunity to see original prints

In or near NYC? Even in the appropriate state, country, or hemisphere?
See my original prints at the AIPAD show. The Association of International Photography Art Dealers Show is at the Park Avenue Armory, NYC.
One of the most important international photography events, The AIPAD Photography Show New York, will be presented by the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) from March 18 through 21, 2010.
A nice selection of my works are at Catherine Edelman Gallery's booth #210 (along with other beautiful works by CEG artists). It's a hell of a show.
www.aipad.com

Exhibition open

Details and images of the opening and artist talk here:

http://cyclopsblog.com/

Check out the first First Thursday of the Year on February 4th.
Galleries Open Until 7pm.
River North/West Loop
Additional info available at the Art Dealers Association of Chicago.
www.chicagoartdealers.org

8 rooms, 7 mirrors, 6 clocks, 2 minds & 199 panes of glass

Opening January 8th.

I am giving a gallery talk January 9th at noon.

I have many stories. They photograph well, I believe.

Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago

http://www.edelmangallery.com/home.htm