Category: Uncategorized (Page 3 of 982)

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‘Medical Oddities, Nature’s Anomalies and Carnival Gaffs: A Pop Up Book for Children, a rather odd book from the Colmore Collection. The mummy face in the middle does not appear to be made from paper. It has a pliable leathery texture. It is quite similar to a mummy that was part of the American Dime Museum’s collection. There is no author or publishing information listed anywhere in this volume. I suspect it is a one of a kind privately produced work. Note that the titular card has the word “anomalies” misspelled. It appears correctly on the cover and title page of the tome itself. Many of the items depicted throughout the book appear in other forms as part of the Colmore Collection.’ — crowolf

The audience for early movable books was adults, not children. It is believed that the first use of movable mechanics appeared in a manuscript for an astrological book in 1306. The Catalan mystic and poet Ramon Llull, of Majorca, used a revolving disc or volvelle to illustrate his theories. Throughout the centuries volvelles have been used for such diverse purposes as teaching anatomy, making astronomical predictions, creating secret code, and telling fortunes. By 1564 another movable astrological book titled Cosmographia Petri Apiani had been published. In the following years, the medical profession made use of this format, illustrating anatomical books with layers and flaps showing the human body. The English landscape designer Capability Brown made use of flaps to illustrate “before and after” views of his designs.

While it can be documented that books with movable parts had been used for centuries, they were almost always used in scholarly works. It was not until the eighteenth century that these techniques were applied to books designed for entertainment, particularly for children. Beginning in the 1990s, pop-up or moveable books have grown in prominence, chiefly due to the innovations of Robert Sabuda, Matthew Reinhart, and other great paper engineers. Another such example is David A. Carter’s Bugs in a Box books which have combined sales of over four million copies. In 1987, Camel cigarettes launched a series of pop-up print ads with several innovative folding techniques featuring Joe Camel.

Some pop-up books receive attention as literary works for the degree of artistry or sophistication which they entail. One example is STAR WARS: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy, by Matthew Reinhart. This book received literary attention for its elaborate pop-ups, and the skill of its imagery, with the New York Times saying that “calling this sophisticated piece of engineering a ‘pop-up book’ is like calling the Great Wall of China a partition”.

Movable Book Society
Brooklyn Pops Up: A History of the Movable Book
Exploring Tunnel Books
Movemania
The Pop-Up World of Ann Montanaro
The Great Menagerie: Pop-Up and Movable Books, 1811-1996
Pop Goes the Page

‘In the late 1970s there was an international boom in pop-up books that first lead them away from their longtime status as a novelty form and niche marketing tool. The most memorable and innovative by far was Jan Pienkowski’s Haunted House: robust both in concept and construction, with its intricate, multiply entwined moveable parts, marvelously theatrical final spread and brilliant sound effects, the likes of which had never even been attempted previously, Haunted House (1979) was – and, having recently been voted #1 in a poll of the most respected artists and scholars in the field, remains- the best pop-up book ever. Born in Poland in 1936, Pienkowski made his first book when he was only 8-years-old. It was a gift for his father. Due to the war his family left Poland and eventually settled in England where he would attend Kings College. Tor Lokvig was the “paper engineer” on Haunted House and that was the first time anyone had ever heard of such a thing.’ — The Guardian

Julian Wehr ‘The Animated Circus: the Clowns’
Julian Wehr ‘The Animated Circus: the Acrobats’
Ernest Nister ‘What A Surprise:The Three Bears’
L. Meggendorfer ‘Allerlei Tiere: Beetle’
L.Meggendorder ‘Grand Theatre de Animaux Savants’

Brian Dettmer’s work is created by altering books. Dettmer seals, then cuts into older dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, science and engineering books, art books, medical guides, history books, atlases, comic books, wallpaper sample books, and others, exposing select images and text to create intricate three-dimensional derivative works that reveal new or alternative interpretations of the books. Dettmer never inserts or moves any of the books’ contents. (read more)

Lexus Pop-Up Book

The Royal Family Pop-Up Book

The Pop-Up Book of Sex

The Pop-Up Book of Celebrity Meltdowns (3:52)

Neiman Marcus Limited Edition Pop-Up Book


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This unusual book is very rare. Few examples managed to survive both the rigors of use by little German children and the destruction of World War II. The 6 x 9 inch, full-color hardcover book is called simply ,,Deutsche Soldaten’’ (German Soldiers) and of course, soldiers of the German Wehrmacht is exactly what is depicted and written about in it. The book consists of five very heavy, stiff chipboard pages, each containing a 7-1/2 x 8-1/2 inch, full-color Richard Friese illustration of soldiers in action and a poetic verse by Hans K. Meixner describing the action in the scene.

Ken Ishiguro’s ‘Pop-up light’

‘Pop-up Alice falls into wonder hole’

‘Inside the Personal Computer’

Colette Fu’s pop-up books

Shitdisco ‘OK’

ABC3D

立體書: Moby-Dick (白鯨記)

Pop-up tornado

Ingrid Sikikus’ work has been displayed and sold in The Netherlands and beyond. In 2001, it was displayed at the American Craft Museum in New York for four months along side work from Marivi Garrido, Takaaki Kihari, Masahiro Chatani and Keiko Nakazawa. Last Spring she published a book of her pop-ups Van Gebouw tot Kaart (‘From Building to Card’), featuring her original designs of famous buildings in The Netherlands and Belgium.

1. Take two pieces of paper, each 21.5 cm x 28 cm (8.5 in. x 11 in.). Fold each paper in half. Put one aside. 2. On the other, put a dot in approximately the centre of the folded edge. 3. Draw a 5 cm (2 in.) line from the dot towards the outer edge. 4. Starting at the folded edge, cut on the line. 5. Fold back the flaps to form two triangles. 6. Open the flaps again. Open the whole page. 7. Now comes the tricky part! Hold your paper, so that it looks like a tent. Put your finger on the top triangle and push down. Pinch the two folded edges of the top triangle, so that the triangle is pushed through to the other side of the paper. 8. Put your finger on the bottom triangle and do the same thing. The top and bottom triangles will now be pushed out to form a mouth inside the card. When you open and close your card, the mouth will look like it is talking. When your card is closed it will look like this:

9. Draw a monster, a person or an animal around your mouth. 10. Glue the inside and outside cards together. Do not apply glue in the area of the pop-up mouth. You now have a cover for your card.

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‘The ‘Voyage to the Heart of Matter’ book by Emma Sanders aims to explain the science behind the experiment in which protons travelling at nearly the speed of light collide 40 million times a second within the heart of particle detectors. Pages detail how big the 27km tunnels are in relation to Geneva, how the particle detectors were built and readers are even able to build their own ATLAS device – one of the six particle detector experiments at LHC – albeit a non functioning paper one. n this unique collaboration between ATLAS and renowned paper engineer Anton Radevsky, 7000 tonnes of metal, glass, plastic, cables and computer chips leap from the page in miniature pop-up, to tell the story of CERN’s quest to understand the birth of the universe.’ — newslite.tv

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p.s. Hey. So, I’m off to SoCal today to finish the preproduction work on Zac Farley’s and my new film ROOM TEMPERATURE, and the blog will consequently go back into its once weekly posting schedule, probably on Fridays this time. I’ll only be able to catch up with your comments every seven days, iow. Better than nothing, I guess. When we start shooting the film on March 20th, I’ll be out in the desert — about two and a half hours away from Los Angeles — full time for approximately a month. My guess is that the blog will have to go on vacation for the period that we’ll be shooting because, based on past experience at least, that will involve non-stop, exhausting work on my part. Maybe I’ll just post some photos from the set once in a while during that time. I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you know. ** scunnard, Hey JP! That is in fact not nearly enough information actually. You should probably use those anecdotes in your writing or something, no? Really nice to see you, pal. Hang way, way in there. ** Dominik, Hi!!! 400! Seriously. You don’t have a stuffed family photo to share, by chance? The schedule is really tough to get right, yes, what with everyone having distinct lives and schedules, but somehow it’ll happen. Love’s help with the jet lag is much appreciated, especially since I have to go into full rehearsals with the actors starting first thing tomorrow morning. Erk. Love not turning everything you own into a stuffed animal, G. Have a great week! ** Misanthrope, Wow, that must be a ratty teddy bear. Unless you’ve done a Madonna makeover on it or something. My ancient (and not so ancient) relatives pretty much all lived in the South, Texas mostly, so slave owning amongst that lot is probably a common thread, horrifyingly enough. ** _Black_Acrylic, Fred sounds cool. I can’t imagine any of the others were remotely as cool. I think you’re right about the ‘CG’ chapter if memory serves. Very nice book, as I also recall. ** fervorxo, Hey. Thanks, that makes total sense. And for the soundcloud link. I’ll hit that ASAP. Take care. ** Steve Erickson, I have heard that, yes. I’m hesitant to crease the dark web as I think I could get very lost there. I have an old friend who’s been beset with terrible migraines since childhood. He says his seem to come out of nowhere, but he is a rather stressed person. I fly to LA this morning. I’ll be there all the way through the shoot, so until about April 25 or so. The shoot itself is 25 days straight with Sundays off. ** Andre, Hi, Andre. Welcome! Really nice to meet you. Couldn’t they get their own teddy bears? That sounds really stressful for your wife. I’m sure the bear came in very handy when she could actually get her hands on it. I must’ve had stuffed animals as a kid, but I don’t remember any. My grandmother was a taxidermist, and I do remember being given lots of stuffed Gila Monsters and jackrabbits and parrots  and things by her. Might explain a few things. Thank you a lot about my writing. Unfortunately I’m going into the weekly posting schedule starting today for a while, but it would be cool to talk with you more if you don’t being a little patient for my parts in the conversation. ** h now j, Thank you! I’m fine, I hope you are too. ** alex, That’s an honestly poignant story. Beanie Babies, right. I just talked to someone the other day who grew up during the Pet Rock phase and said his parents gave him Pet Rocks instead of Teddy Bears. Kind of a nice, grim mental image. No, like I said above, I don’t remember having stuffed animal per se. Oh, wait, I do remember a sock monkey. Huh. Nice about the Vampire Beanie. I’ll google it. Thanks, a! ** Cody Goodnight, Hi, Cody. Thanks, yeah, I’m in pre-long-fight stress mode at the moment, but once I’m sitting in the plane and glued to some terrible, expensively made movie, I’ll be fine. I personally don’t think any city could look as great as Paris, but that’s just me. I do like the homely, low-rise, ever changing look of LA. My day was just packing and doing Zoom meetings, basically. No big whoop. I love Wes Anderson, so enjoy the luxury. Have a really good week, man, and see you again soon. ** Derek McCormack, Hi, big D. I do know about that book, and it is hotly anticipated on my end as well. Miss you too! Wish you could be hanging out on our film set, even though that’s wishing a lot of boredom on you. Love, me. ** Nick., Hey, hey, Nick. Sleep is good. I’m fine, just the usual pre-11 hour plane flight jitters. I hate performing attentiveness too. I can do it, but I’m not a good actor. I … don’t think I’ve seen Matt Kennedy in my day-to-day, but, honestly, there are a lot of French guys who look a lot like him. You’d like it here, or you’d be sincerely attentive at least, ha ha. Right, Ozymandias, I can see that. That makes total sense. This is kind of a boring answer, but I honestly think if I could remove anything from the world it would be mosquitos maybe. At least that’s less boring than picking fascism. I’m an anarchist, and I hate power structures, so maybe I’d remove them in general, but that would be a huge, complicated task. What about you? Well, if the interesting thing around your corner is just clubbing, I hope the djs are in top form, at least. I’m hoping for an unusually lovely week ahead for you, and for me too even. See you soon! ** Okay. You now have a week to look at and think about Pop-Up books, so I hope they hold some sway with you. I’ll see all of you in seven days, and do comment in the meantime at your convenience. Have great weeks!

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Kent Rogowski Inside Out, 2007
‘Think of your favorite teddy bear. Now imagine it’s been ripped open, gutted, and turned inside-out. That’s what Kent Rogowski’s Bears series has done to the iconic stuffed animals of our childhoods.’

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Allora & Calzadilla The Camels Hump and the Ironing Board, 2010
Stuffed camel hump, metal

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Vibha Galhotra Dead Monster, 2011
nickel coated ghungroos, fabric, polyurethane coat, cloth stuffing, thread, and steel

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Takashi Murakami Under the Radiation Falls, 2017
stuffed animals, toys

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Natascha Stellmach Killer (True Self), 2016
mixed media

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Mark Dion Survival of the Cutest, (Who gets on the Ark?), 1990
Toy stuffed animals, white enamel on red steel, wood and rubber wheelbarrow

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Ross Bonfanti Various, 2019 – 2022
‘Bonfanti sources stuffed animals at flea markets and sometimes uses worn toys given to him by friends and family. He creates his innovative sculptures by opening up the toy animals, removing their stuffing, turning them inside out and filling them with concrete.’

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Troy Emery Creature, 2012
polyester pompoms and high-density taxidermy foam

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Sebastian Masuda Colorful Rebellion -Seventh Nightmare-, 2014
‘Artist Masuda Sebastian, a leading figure in Japan’s KAWAII culture, is celebrating his 30th year of activities this year. His works express KAWAII from a variety of perspectives, taking the world by storm and creating a new KAWAII culture with new values. Masuda has since 1995 been working as an art director, spreading KAWAII culture throughout Japan and across the world.’

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Cindy Sherman Untitled (Stuffed Animals Clown), 2003
Digital C-print

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Paola Pivi OK, you are better than me, so what?, 2013
Urethane foam, plastic, feathers

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Mike Kelley Estral Star #3, 1989
Tied handsewn found stuffed cloth animals with buttons

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Nayland Blake Bottom Bunny, 1994
‘You may know the story of Br’er Rabbit—a cautionary tale brought to North America by enslaved Africans, racistly deformed into Uncle Remus, then bastardized by Walt Disney—about a wily hare who uses reverse psychology on his captors (a bear and a fox). He convinces them to throw him into the briar patch then breaks out laughing: the briar is his beloved birthplace. You may not remember how Br’er Rabbit got himself in a position to be tossed in the first place. The canny predators, Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear, construct a little black child out of tar (yes, it’s a racist story). When Br’er Rabbit, passing on the road, says “Howdy-do!,” the tar baby won’t reply. Br’er gets hopping mad, punches it, and gets stuck. Blake’s work falls somewhere between the tar baby and the briar patch.’

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Charlemagne Palestine CCORNUUOORPHANOSSCCOPIAEE AANORPHANSSHHORNOFFPLENTYYY, 2018
‘”This idea or obsession that I had with a few animals at the beginning, never did I imagine that it would become such a maximal, enormous work like this. It’s the biggest ever with about 18,000 or more. That we found them quite easily and quickly. And there are hundreds of thousands more out there so it’s like some kind of social phenomena.” The animals are stuffed, and all of them used, or used up—orphans, as inscribed in the title.’

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Taiichiro Yoshida Shell, 2021
‘Spending between two and six months on each work, Yoshida meticulously molds copper, bronze, silver, and other materials by hand, creating metallic pieces with intricately impressed textures and edgings. Once wrapped around an armature of a stuffed teddy bear, for instance, the fragile components ripple across the form.’

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Linda Hori Super Sleepover Event, 2022
‘It was quite a sight to see! On Friday June 24th, children lined up at the Goleta Valley Library to drop off their favorite stuffed animal for a super sleepover event. Staff were prepared for a great turnout as they have had in the past but were thrilled to see more than 200 “stuffies” dropped off this year for the “all-nighter”. So, what did they do all night? The animal friends enjoyed a variety of adventures and shenanigans. They made s’mores, enjoyed yummy drinks, played fun games, and even had a dance party! The night was capped off with a special bubble machine bedtime story.’

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Hansa Bolt, 2016
Plush stuffed white reindeer, mechanical animatronic

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Miyako Tengyu Sleep Well Child/Genie, 2018
Sewing, fake fur, silk, box

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Iain Baxter& Animal Preserve No. 2, 2013
‘Animal Preserve No. 2 includes over 500 jars, each of which contains a stuffed animal pickled in distilled water.’

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Mattia Biagi Untitled, 2016
black tar, gold glitter, teddy bear

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Stefan Tcherepnin The Mad Masters, 2018
‘“The Mad Masters” appears to ask what would become of this Muppet if he were to attempt to put aside his monomaniacal focus on baked comestibles and search for meaning elsewhere. Entering the gallery space, the viewer encounters four spot-lit stuffed animal dioramas, in which a series of Cookie Monster–like creatures are displayed in the manner of taxidermied animals in a natural history museum. The first of these, the white-furred Band Leader (all works 2018), stands before a microphone, surrounded by guitars, amps, and drums. It’s not clear whether his bandmates are late for rehearsal or exist only in his mind. The second creature, the brown-furred Channel Surfer, slumps in an easy chair watching TV. Beside him, a wastepaper basket is filled with scrunched-up sketches of his own face. The art of self-portraiture, it seems, has failed him, and now he contemplates his reflection in the flickering screen. The gray-furred, staff-wielding Tilyou Traveler, by contrast, is the outdoors type, gazing on an awesome vista: the arrangement recalls Caspar David Friedrich’s Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer [Wanderer above the Sea of Fog] (c. 1818). Rounding off the quartet, the red-furred Crash Survivor lies flat on his back, surrounded by empty packets of Haribo and spent cans of Fanta, as though he’s overdosed on the Cookie Monster equivalent of methadone.’

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Gimhongsok This is Rabbit, 2005
‘”This is Rabbit” is an installation piece in which a person hidden inside a stuffed rabbit and accompanying texts form a set. The text explains that the person in the rabbit costume is an illegal immigrant worker, that they are performing at the museum, and that they are being paid for the performance.’

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Paul McCarthy Pink Clown (from PROPO series), 1991–2008
Cibachrome mounted on aluminum

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Jon Rafman Mainsqueeze, 2014
‘While Rafman is associated with digital artists of his generation, including Cory Arcangel and Ryan Trecartin, the truth is that his real avatar is filmmaker Chris Marker and, beyond that, the vast web and archive of the internet itself, in all its festooned splendour and baroque, libidinal glamour. Marker led viewers beyond the failsafe point into the dystopia of our existence. So, too, does Rafman, even if it now seems clear that he has entered something like heaven. Like Wade Davis, the intrepid ethnobiologist who journeyed up the Amazon in search of psychoactive plants, Rafman the artist/ethnographer has journeyed deep into the heart of our web culture, in search of ecstasy and delivers a full measure of ecstasis, trance, rapture. More than any other artist who uses the web as both canvas and support, he wants to induce euphoria and change both perception and the condition of being here.’

Watch it here

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Christine Crane Fuk u Panda Loves You, 2008
Mixed media

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‘Why Do Guys Strap Stuffed-Animals to Trucks? One prevalent theory among truckers is that chicks dig them. … the battered bear and his brethren had at least one foot in the vernacular cultures of Latin America, where the festive and the ghoulish enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Most of the drivers whose trucks he photographed were Hispanic, he said. “There was some sort of heraldic device to deny the fact of this gigantic machine,” he said. “You would have these humanizing forms, anthropomorphic forms – a device that both proclaims the identity of the machine and conceals it.”‘

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Annette Messager Les Depouilles (Skins), 1997
‘Messager’s piece “Les Depouilles (Skins)” in 1997 showcased a series of children’s clothing and toys that she had taken apart, removed the stuffing and pinned up on the gallery wall. When commenting about the work Messager explained that she wanted to explore the similarities between what she saw as the final result on the wall and the shapes found in a Rorschach print.’

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Hannah Black and Precious Okoyomon I Need Help, 2018
teddy bear stuffed with book shreddings

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Mike Kelley & P.A.M. Little Friend, 2007
‘Do you miss the special love that a Little Friend can give? I bet you do! If you’re like most of us, there’s a Little Friend from your past whose voice haunts you across space and time. Little Friend is the specter of your childhood, when you stood at puberty’s door. Little Friend is a loveable talking plush toy conceived by Mike Kelley and P.A.M. that randomly speaks 20 different phrases and comes to you packed in box adorned with cheery, colorful, graphics. Add 3 AAA batteries (not included) and your own love and Little Friend will return your affection.’

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p.s. Hey. ** James B, Hi, James! Welcome! Thank you very much. I don’t know if this will help, but when I’m writing, I try to keep as much of myself as possible dedicated to what you call the ‘darker, dreamlike’ area, which I guess I think of as the stuff that’s difficult to seemingly impossible to put into words, and I try to think of the realist approach/language as the writing’s surface or the means to communicate, the compromise area in a way, and that sometimes, when my concentration is at its best, allows me to kind of have my cake and eat it too, as it were. But, yeah, it took me a long while and experimenting to figure out how to do that. But it’s possible. But I don’t know if that way of thinking is something that you can relate to as writer? I don’t know where my confidence comes from. I think I’m patient with myself, and I tend to always think long term, like … I’ll get where I want to go eventually. So I think my confidence is more about trusting in how much I want to write well and less so in what is actually pouring or leaking out on the page at any particular moment. Does that make any sense? Feel more than free to share what you’re thinking about your writing whenever you wish. Thanks! ** Misanthrope, The Coopers were originally Scottish, if I’m remembering what my dad used to say. The only family distant, ancient well-known relative that I can remember is Sam Houston, that guy who did something famous to do with the Alamo. Yeah, I’m not so interested in my family’s lineage either, but one of my brothers is, so he’ll pass along back stories, and it is kind of cool to know, I guess. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Oh, wow, on the timing. The girl wants to play the part, so that’s great. But now we have to see if we can change the shooting schedule because she’s 12 years old and only available during her spring school break and on weekends. I really hope we can sort that out. It would be a huge relief. A real human being that looked like Casper would be a whole lot scarier than Casper. Oh, you’re right about the mid-sex mac&cheese mouthful. Yikes, I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m guessing that I couldn’t find Kate Monica’s poetry even if I tried. So I wish love all the luck with your task of yesterday. Love making anyone who flies internationally tomorrow officially exempt from getting jet lag, G. ** _Black_Acrylic, Awesome! It’s so great, right? Back when I was doing Little Caesar Magazine I transcribed Eric Emerson’s crazy LSD-influenced monologue and printed it in one of the issues, which took forever because back then you had to rent a 16 mm print of the film to even see it, but it was worth the drudgery. ** Steve Erickson, Ah, I didn’t realise that migraines are triggered by specific events, which shows you how little I know. Glad to hear it’s history. Enjoy the snow. I think even the mountains around LA are supposed to get snow, but I’ll find out tomorrow. I’m sadly not surprised by the ugly downturn in 100 gecs’s stuff. Oh, well. Onto the next promising musical unit. ** alex, Hi, alex. Thanks, yeah, the wallet thing could have been much worse. You’re working in a hospital. That sounds intense, but I guess when I imagine a hospital there’s always crises in progress. Damage from watching too many ‘ER’ episodes back in the day. I think in fact, if I’m remembering, HH did have his fair of secret observation rooms. Someone should rebuild the Castle in an amusement park or something. ** Robert, Hi! Hm, I don’t recall that I ever fell down a flight of stairs. It seems strange, but I don’t think I ever have. I’ve certainly stumbled more than a few times, but I guess I must have a lightning quick reflex to grab the railing or something. Strange to envy your history of falling, but I do. I think it was the words ‘somersaulting head over heels’. Such an inspiring phrase. How are you? It was rainy here yesterday, but today it’s blue up above for as far as I can see. ** Cody Goodnight, Hi, Cody! Thanks! Your comment got a comment from Kettering, if you didn’t see it. I’m okay, mostly just getting ready to fly endlessly to Los Angeles tomorrow. Yeah, I think it’s probably the rich musical history of Memphis that makes me so curious about it. Whenever I see photos of it, it doesn’t look especially exciting architecturally or anything. I like cemeteries too. Paris has three pretty great ones filled with lots of bodies of people who were great artists of one type or another. And some of the graves would qualify as weird art themselves. I’m happy you’re feeling better. I must’ve listened to that first Tears for Fears album a lot when it came out because every time I hear a song from it I immediately feel how I guess I felt back in the early 80s, which seems to have been melancholy and a little coked up. How was the inspired double feature? Have a swell day, pal. ** Kettering, Hi. Thanks for writing that. ** Niko, Hey there, Niko. Fantastic news about your novel! Champagne and all of that festive stuff! I’m proud if anything I said helped you at all. 392 pages, that is a whopper, by my standards at least. It’s already going to the printers and preparing for launch?! Wow, that’s a fast turnover, no? I’m used to the US timeframe which usually takes a year between publisher acceptance and actual publishing. That’s great! Congratulations! ** Okay. I wondered if I could sustain a whole thematic post around the theme of stuffed animals, and I guess I decided I could whether I actually did or not. I’ll see you one more time tomorrow before I go to LA and the blog returns to the weekly posting schedule again for a while.