Small Publishers Fair

Again, the annual pilgrimage to Conway Hall for the Small Publishers Fair. The highlight for me was the exhibition on Hans Waanders, put together by Peter Foolen, who was also showing some of his other books about the work of other artists - Dick Cassée among them.

Hans Waanders' motif is the kingfisher, and one of his books is Perches; another is In Search of Blue. I loved this view of his studio -

 And this story is extraordinary - "it is not insignificant that Waanders has undergone numerous heart operations including triple bypass surgery. Bodily evidence of these experiences appears in such works as Kingfisherpond (1989) and Bloody Tracks:Traces Sanglantes (1984-87). In these pieces, he literally used the surgically enlarged and engorged veins of his left forearm as a bush to paint. Kingfisherpond is a series of lines made by pressing of this arm on paper. When viewed through the successive semi-transparent layers of paper, the lines form a triangle in blue pigment."

The writing, from an exhibition catalogue, goes on: "On one level, Kingfisherpond might recall the symbolic significance of the number three - potential references to the Holy Trinity, transubstantiation  the Eucharist, and other esoteric and theological references to the philosophical  psychological, and teleological constructs association with numerology. Or it might signify the purely mathematical and geometric form of the triangle as it evolves through numerical progression and physical transparency."

Among the Waanders and kingfisher memorabilia, here is sound made visible -

Elsewhere at the fair, a tempting display from Redfoxpress -

More temptation for me in Things I Wanted To Tell You by Kirsten Merola -

What I took home was this book of poems with illustrations by Mary Kuper, from a recent exhibition at the Poetry Library -