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Guido Vermeulen's mail art envelopes are like worlds into themselves and at the same time they are part of the much larger whole.

(a comment by NANCY BELL SCOTT, USA, on the IUOMA network)

Guido's paintings are like finding images in the clouds
(a comment by Kathleen D. Johnson, USA, on IUOMA)

Guido does not paint monsters but spirits and ghosts, full of love, tenderness and compassion
(LIZA LEYLA during a conversation, Belgium)

His ability to express emotions through painting is a beautiful gift. Allowing oneself to feel sadness is the most direct route through grief. His paintings feel peaceful and kind.

(STEPHEN WALKER, USA)


My life is shifting... Your work is intangible, ethereal, cosmically rewarding. i eat it up & savor it like a great sandwich! It made my day!
(Lisa PEREZ, USA, on IUOMA)

Thank you for the TALISMAN painting on the envelope. It is real cool and creepy at the same time. I haven’t seen a piece of abstract capture such as pain and emotion so well since I visited the museum of art in Toledo. Bravo!
(Sarah Jo Pender, USA, from the Indiana Women’s Prison)

I suppose you could characterize Guido's painting style as expressionist. I know he is very interested in dreams as a source for art and poetry, and these particular chapter pages seem like shadowy dream corridors filled with shifting images and scenes. The Michaux quotes work as a counterpoint, Guido's art is taking over when the limits of language have been reached.
(De Villo Sloan, USA, on my tribute pages to Henri Michaux, see LAMUSAR blog)

Guido’s art expressions are always poems and they show us the reality of our real faces and souls (Mariana Serban, Romania)

His titles have both inspired and educated me (Alicia Starr, USA)

maandag 30 juni 2014

SWITCH part 1

































About SWITCH

1.
Switch is a double accordeon book.
One folded accordeon binds front & back cover 2gether by glue.
The second is only attached to the front at the other side of the cover but not to the back.
This implies you can add pages to both accordeon folds.
So inside the book you have 2 books with several pages.
You can see them apart, as duos or triptychs even or mix the pages in between.
I owe the concept of this artist book to Lavona Sherarts (USA).
It was one of the many books she showed me how to make during my sabbatical in 1997.
I glued pages of different sizes and shapes in the folds of both accordeons to create a contrast. So pages show you also a glimpse of other pages that follow.
On these pages are asemics made with torn newspapers, pieces of brown envelopes and some greenish paper. On top of that are line drawings in black ink, except on a few that show you only the collaged papers.
This is a bit similar to my second collaboration with John Bennett but on a smaller size.

I am mailing this artist book (1/1) to Cheryl Penn in South Africa as an exchange for her free verse book. Her productivity and creativity in various forms of expression continues to surprise and delight me.


Guido Vermeulen
June 2014


SWITCH part 2

































About SWITCH

2.
I dedicate this book to the workers of the Delhaize group, a chain of supermarkets in Belgium. The CEO decided recently to lay off thousands of workers by closing supermarkets in local communities, not because they make a loss but because he wants a higher profit. This is the brave new world in which we all live in 2day.
Solidarité avec les travailleurs de Delhaize = solidarity with the workers of Delhaize.
These words are in the book but torn to pieces !
I hope that the Belgian trade unions will be able to show some teeth in September (after the summer holidays) and decide to « strike » back.
By the way the Delhaize group has an important chain of supermarkets in the USA 2. Brands are Food Lion, Bottom Dollar Food and Hannaford. Think twice before shopping there or working there in the first place UNLESS you have strong trade unions.



Guido Vermeulen
June 2014