The Printmakers Left, 2002. The Printmakers Left is an artists’ collective, an organization, and as such it can act and be received. But that collective is composed of individual artists, each with a singular voice and the ability to make course-altering decisions. Therein lies the tension that binds The Printmakers Left together and makes The Printmakers Left what it is. Which is to say that one aim of this collective and its participants is to promote a process of engagement with a complex world [Their website].

This was an edition of 25, with 23 bound and distributed to the participating artists. Only two were available for sale. This work is based on Jorge Luis Borges's story of the same title. The short story deals with themes that recur in Borges's work: idealism, the manifestation of thoughts in the "real world", meaningful dreams, and immortality. This volume celebrates a category of books created by William Blake in the 1790s - the printed manuscript, using a technique he invented utilizing relief etching. There were 25 participants involved in the making of this fascinating book. The book displays varied images and designs to convey the themes they inspired the artists from Borges's story. For 18 months they mailed sets of folios to each other. Almost anything was possible if it could be 30 times. All texts in the edition were typed on a manual typewriter and include previously unpublished poems by Lisa Russ Spaar. This is handsewn printed manuscript using multiple print media, clays, and pigments. It is casebound in a binding of pink cotton cloth with two small decorated paper shapes affixed to the front cover. In fine condition. Measures 10.375 x 9 inches. 206 pages.ARTSB/040623.

Item #36514

Price: $7,900.00