Manneken Press ~ llinois
(Jonathan Higgins and Sarah Smelser)

The Orange
Poems by Todd Young
Images by Rupert Deese
Bloomington, llinois: Manneken Press, 2006. Edition of 50.

7.25 x 5.75"; 14 pages. Woodcut images printed in cadmium orange ink by Jonathan Higgins. Arial text letterpress printed from polymer plates in black ink on Arches Rivoli paper. Printed and bound by Deborah Denker at Denker Press in San Luis Obispo. A single signature book, hand sewn with linen thread. Bound in a folded Rives BFK Gray Cover with printed title.

Poetry by California poet Todd Young and woodcuts by Rupert Deese from his Array series.

Manneken Press, Rupert Deese: Array Woodcuts, 2005/06: "The Array series consists of 15 woodblock prints by Rupert Deese published in 2005 and 2006 by Manneken Press. The circular images each hold a unique tiling pattern developed by Deese for a sequence of monochrome tondo paintings generally titled Merced & Tuolumne Rivers. The Array series consists of five prints each, in three different diameter sizes, 350, 500 and 700 millimeters, printed in editions of 20 ....

"In any given Array print all of the tile-shapes are of equal area. The tiling pattern is achieved by making nine equal radial divisions of a circle. The resulting pie-shaped pieces are cut into equal sub-divisions using circles and additional radial lines. Array 700 /Blue consists of 27 tiles. Array 700 /Pink consists of 315 tiles, etc. The number “700” refers to the image diameter of 700 millimeters. The patterns were cut with a router from lacquered 1⁄2” plywood by the artist. The inks were mixed from pure powdered pigments and plate oil."

Arrogance, an apology

We live, it would appear,
in a world of unidentified
sounds and inaccurate
misgivings. We worry.

As a tiny rivulet
of the species,
I decide I am
a decent enough
dead end, maybe
even a triumph.

$50

The Center of the Lake
By Todd Young
Images by Rupert Deese
Bloomington, llinois: Manneken Press, 2000. Edition of 200.

10.75 x 12"; 14 pages. Silkscreen images printed in brown ink by Istvan Kosbar at K-Bar Studio in Brooklyn. Text set in Dante MT and letterpress printed in brown ink on Stonehenge paper. Printed and bound by Peter Kruty and Sayre Gados at Peter Kruty Editions in Brooklyn. A single signature book hand sewn with linen thread in a folded, pale blue Magnani Pescia cover debossed with the title.

Nine poems by Todd Young and ten images by Rupert Deese.

Manneken Press, Rupert Deese: Pale/1, Pale/2, Pale/3, Pale/4: "In each Pale print a narrow white line traverses an arc, one meter in length, across a densely worked field of color. The trajectory of the arc varies from slightly exaggerated in Pale/1 to extremely subtle in Pale/4. These images were first explored in The Center of The Lake, an artist's book in collaboration with poet Todd Young, published by Manneken Press in 2000. In the etching suite the format of the image has been narrowed and lengthened; the warm brown of the book's serigraphs has been replaced by a spectrum of shades in the cadmium and cobalt families."

The portent is unrealizable again,
giving hope to us descending
nightly to the flyspeck beachtown,
or swimming midday to the center
of the lake and floating. ...

$150

Surf Music
By R. Sam Deese with images by Rupert Deese
Bloomington, llinois: Manneken Press, 2000. Edition of 200.

12 x 8"; 12 pages. Silkscreen images printed in green ink by Istvan Kosbor at K-Bar Studio in Brooklyn. Text set in Dante MT and letterpress printed in green ink on Fabriano Artistico paper. Printed and bound by Peter Kruty and Sayre Gados at Peter Kruty Editions in Brooklyn. A single signature book, hand sewn with linen thread in a folded, dark green Canford Card cover debossed with the title.

Collaboration between brothers: nine poems by R. Sam Deese and nine images by Rupert Deese.

Rupert Reese, The Long Riders in Morgantown: Making the Pale prints at Manneken Press: "In September 2000, I was swimming in one of the timberline lakes in the Sierra Nevada. The lake was perfectly glassy and as I swam slowly towards the center I watched the ripples break the stillness and expand along the surface. Large circles emanated across the water. From the lake’s surface the circles seemed like barely curved lines; a set of receding horizons. Because the ripple’s curve is a section of a circle observed from just above the surface, the curve is not an arc but an ellipse. The very slight curve of the horizon, as seen from an airplane, is similarly an elliptical curve. ... The glistening ripple-elliptical-curve became the motif for a set of four intaglio prints, ..."

RED

The bridge that hangs a circle's sweep
to the tangent of the street

and holds our passage up between its cords

crosses air, and earth, and sea
with a spare integrity

lighter than a spoken chain of words.

$150