Ch'An Press ~ Washington D.C.
(Irene Chan)

Black Lives Matter Paper Necklace Book
By Irene Chan
Washington DC: Ch'An Press, 2020.

Metal chain with BLM book attached. Necklace chain: 19.5 inches length (49.5cm). BLM Pendant: 1 inch tall (2.54cm) x 3 inches wide (7.6cm). Weight: 0.2 oz (5.6g). Papercutting.

Irene Chan: "'Black Lives Matter Paper Necklace' is hand cut paper and is both a pendant and a book. You can write or draw behind the letters (hidden) or on the letters that will be seen and become part of the pendant. A metal chain and clasp included. The BLM is in black, yellow, and white."
$85

Might
ByIrene Chan
Washington DC: Ch'An Press, 2019. One-of-a-kind.

18"w x 8"d x 8"h [45.7 x 20 x 20 cm] metal tool box containing a series of 9 artist books. Techniques: assemblage, decoupage, origami and papermaking. Materials: handmade paper, dried moss, two drawer metal tool box. Paper title label on exterior of tool box by handle.

Irene Chan: " A blue collaged sky on the underside of the toolbox lid is over a cemetery of white tombstone cast paper sculptures. Lift the top tier of the box and underneath there are multiple bright green folded grasses over a bed of dried moss. The large origami grasses are a series of nine books with quotes from 26 people of advice and comments: tools for death and life."

The artist was a participant in "Multitudes V: Toolbox" by publisher Container (Jenni B. Baker and Douglas Luman). The Multitudes project is about transforming an ordinary object into a one-of-a-kind art and text object.
$935

\ I-Ching Cards /
By Irene Chan
Washington DC: Ch'An Press, 2019. Edition of 50. Box: 4.5"x6.5"x1" [11.3x16.5x2x5cm ] with 64 cards (4"x6" [1.6x2.4cm ]) and instruction sheet. Printed from original relief prints. Offset printed.

Irene Chan: "As far as I know, this is the first version of the I-Ching in card form. I've done performances with these cards but people can throw the I-Ching on their own with these cards.

"The I-Ching, The Book of Changes is a 3000-year-old oracle Chinese divination tool that does not tell you what to do but inspires you to answer your own questions. This set includes an instruction sheet on how to throw the I-Ching yourself with these cards."
$195

Fall, Spin, and Turn
By Irene Chan
Washington DC: Ch'An Press, 2011. Edition of 25.

7.5” x 2.5" [19 x 6.4 cm] folded toy construction. Two miniature books slipped in the wings of the paper toy.

This little book that is a toy deals with corporal punishment from the viewpoint of the child.

Irene Chan: "In a personal story about a childhood toy, this book is about corporal punishment. The cover of the book spins in the air when released from a high point." Text excerpt: "I would imagine that instead: I was moving in space, dancing, spinning, and doing pirouettes."
$105

Freeways on the Moon
By Irene Chan
Washington DC: Ch'An Press, 2011. Edition of 25.

4 x 6” (10.2 x 15.2 cm); 52 pages. Flipbook. Illustrations from collages of artist's prints, drawings and found imagery.

Irene Chan: "Because of congestion and high gas prices, we bring our freeways and cars to the moon in my flipbook scenario. The car moves all around the freeway and then falls off the moon. This is the first of a series of flipbooks of apocalyptic visions of the future."
$315

SpiroVision
By Irene Chan
Washington DC: Ch'An Press, 2011. Edition of 25.

4 x 5-5/8” (10.2 x 14.3 cm); 30 pages. Flip book. Two metal post binding. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Irene Chan: "The average American watches 5 hours, 11 minutes of TV a day.

"I drew this Spirograph as a kid and watched a lot of television then."
$295

Yellowskin Bracelet
By Irene Chan
Washington DC: Ch'An Press, 2011. Edition of 10.

2.5" x 8.5" long (open); 4" diameter x 2" high (closed) or 6.4 x 21.6 cm long (open), 10.2 cm diameter x 5.1 cm high (closed). Materials: Paper, acrylic fiber, plastic. Hand-knitted with laser-printed laminated text. Artist's prints, drawings and found imagery.

Sculptural knitted artist book to be worn on an arm as a bracelet. Book art as performance. Book art as interactive.

Irene Chan: "Tells the story of someone seeing a bright yellow bracelet as the exact same color as my skin. This is one of six artist books that I show in a storytelling performance 'An ABC ReDiscovers Appearance' where I talk about yellowface in American films."
$635

Asian American ? Project
By Irene Chan
Washington, DC: Ch'An Press, 2007. Open Edition.

3.5 x 2"; 35 loose and unnumbered cards, much like business cards. Print media on paper. Housed in a red, white, and blue paper case with slip-in envelope closure.

Irene Chan: "Business cards with text that respond to comments and questions that strangers ask Asian Americans. Every week since age 12, I am asked one to ten of the same questions. Since these questions and comments are common to other Asian Americans as well, I created a set of business cards to flash or hand out for the appropriate moment."
$75

Chapter Zero
By Irene Chan
Washington, DC: Ch'An Press, 2002.

4 x 4 x 1.25". Sculptural book to be suspended and thus displayed in water. Text on clear transparency and vellum. Housed in a one-sheet origami-fold envelope (4 x 2") with printed instructions and Taoist story (about "a man dreaming he is a butterfly….")

Irene Chan: "Book of text about nothingness 'pops' into shape. Immerse in water to read."
$135

The Book of the World
By Irene Chan
Washington DC: Ch'An Press, 2000. Edition of 100.

1 x 1 x 1"; 8 pages. Miniature accordion book, with text from Dalton's Atomic Theory, 1808, and images from the Science Museum Photo Library, London, England. Housed in a transparent lidded magnifier box.

Irene Chan: "In his 1808 Atomic Theory, the English scientist John Dalton described the world as composed of molecules and atoms much like a book is composed of letters and words. The text is on silver paper and the images are on transparent paper in magnifier boxes. This is a series of 100 miniature books with images of Dalton's elastic fluids drawings that look like the eye."
$85

Cè
By Irene Chan
Rosendale, New York: Women's Studio Workshop, 1998. Edition of 70.

8 x 10" closed; 8 x 18" opened.Three books of silkscreens, origami folds, and dried plant matter gathered into a handmade Chinese seedpod purse.

Prospectus: "Inspired by a Chinese legend that the gift of writing comes from studying the objects of nature, the images of Cè were created from collected found organic material. These forms were arranged into 'sentences' to read as visual language. Cè is about reading nature's form, gestures, and movements as written language. The series of books take the reader through an experience much like a Taoist philosophical journey."

Irene Chan: "Since this all began with finding organisms and collecting these treasures into a purse, the three books of (Cè are contained in a seedpod purse. There is a Chinese legend that Huang Che in the 26th century B.C. discovered the gift of writing after studying the objects of nature. Cè is about nature's visual form as written language."
$425

Altered States
By Irene Chan
Washington, DC: Ch'An Press, 1996. Edition of 25.

4.5 x 5.5" closed; 4.5 x 24 x 5.5" open. Black & white images. Three-dimensional carousel structure with five openings. Raffia tie closure.

The starkness of the black and white presentation and the close-up images of body parts and openings underscore the impersonal nature of the interactions and contribute to the vaguely pornographic feel of the work.

Irene Chan says simply: "Instruments and my body parts interacting."
$435

Cavernous
By Irene Chan
Washington, DC: Ch'An Press, 1996. Edition of 25.

7 x 5" closed; 7 x 5 x 11.5" open. Three-dimensional tunnel book with seven pages/slats (including front and back covers). Black & white images.

Irene Chan: "Mouth self-portrait images. The viewer looks through the mouth hole in the front cover and appears to be looking down my throat."
$435

On Taoism
Words from Lao Tze's Tao Te Ching and from Deng Ming-Dao's 365 Tao: Daily Meditations
Washington, DC: Ch'An Press, 1995. Edition of 10.

Two books housed in 9 x 9.25" black stiff-paper wrap with four flaps on top side that fold into each other like petals for closing. First book: 6 x 5.75"; 20 leaves; photo-etchings on melaleuca bark, poems on bamboo leaf. Bound with screw mechanism in middle of pages. Second book: 6.5 x 7.25"; 24 leaves. Photo-etchings on handmade paper.

Irene Chan: "Dual books of photoetchings of nature with Taoist poems. One has predetermined order, the other has unspecified order."
$1085

Square
By Irene Chan
Washington, DC: Ch'An Press, 1995. Edition of 100.

4 x 4" square (closed); 19 loose and unnumbered leaves. Joss funeral paper bound with copper wire.

Irene Chan: "Book to be torn apart and burned in ceremony honoring the deceased. Book made in process of meditation and healing."

Chinese proverb: "The infinite is a square with no corners."
$105

Textile History Paper Doll Barbie
By Irene Chan
Washington DC: Ch'An Press, 2007. Edition of 10.

4.75 " x 13.5" x 1-1/8" box. Digital prints of cut paper doll clothes. Found object into sculptural book.

Irene Chan: "American textile history is printed on sixteen paper doll Barbie’s clothes. Original doll from 1980 found at Elsewhere Museum and Residency. History is in the form of text and images from mill worker interviews and portraits, tools, statistics, and mill life folk songs."

Includes these paper doll outfits:

Cotton Picker: Green skirt and blouse showing on the skirt image of cotton picker in fields.
Mill Girls' Spirits: Blue prom dress showing ghosts of young mill girls.
Spin and Spool: Green and white turtle neck sweater with words "spin and spool".
Charred Mills: Brown belted coat with industrial town skyline around hem.
Mill tools: Long pink sleeveless dress, slits up the sides with tools pattern.
Textile Mills: Skinny pants with textile mill illustration design.
Loom: Evening gown with boa showing woman at loom.
Mill worker: jacket, blouse, and skirt with image of mill worker and history of skirt.
Mills are Closed: Long sleeve shirt with white over blouse with words "Mills Closed / 1990-1997" Original version at Elsewhere Museum. Artist's copy are smaller-sized versions.

(SOLD/Out of Print)