GUIDO VERMEULEN: juni 2014

maandag 30 juni 2014

SWITCH part 1

About SWITCH

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

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.

More info on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhaize_Group

Guido Vermeulen

June 2014