Oils - handmade journals

I am not a machine



These are a series of journals which were produced in late 2007. They were intended to be sold as a set at an affordable price and for artists who may like to have a body of drawings contained as one volume.

Oils
9x8ins
Saw in with cords
50 pages Bond paper acid free
Covers: original oil on canvas

The World Trade Collapse - 2001

Even Allah seemed perturbed

About this Book Project. November 2001-2003

A few months after the events in New York City thebookmann had an usual dream where he was part of the World Trade Center Memorial project.

The Memorial 1

The proposal consisted of a raised transparent resin buttress encased with the names those lost on that day. It was essential to use material from the structures to give an immortal presence.

The type would be set in reverse and the shadow would cast the individual's names below on a polished marbled floor. The names would simply appear or sometimes not depending on degree of light during the course of a day. With no relationship to New York or the United Sates of America, such a project seemed inconceivable and wondered why?….. Perhaps a book?. The following below is the proposal for an Art Book residency in New York in 2003 .

A Book Memorial

Prototype dimensions: 10x10x.25 inches Research regarding this project has been overwhelming. The prototype contains the actual names.

The book consists of 40 folded sheets of transparent paper 10 x 9.5 ins in size. Constructed in the form of Japanese binding the folds are at the foredge and the sections are secured by a side stitch or with wooden pegs (as shown) at the center of the backboard. Covered in full or an optional spine material for strength using Japanese paper. The inner endpapers are ribbed in texture.

The concept are two books sewn as one. The leaves are divided equally so that it can be viewed either side verso-recto. The text blocks are enclosed with the hinge at the pages’ foredge. The two front boards would be die cut to insert two elongated iron rods in the hope that the actual material is embedded. (one eighth x 9.25 ins in length)


This book is assembled with four boards and the sections are side stitched. The narrow center strip tipped on then secured by small wooden pegs.

Hiroshima August 6, 1945

Hiroshima no more no less

The artbook to your left is called "Hiroshima" made from washi paper and other materials from japan. (2002 -2005)

The stand is inserted with bamboo rods to give the impression of the time the bomb went off, 8:15. The lower photograph is the center spread composing of the Japanese national symbol superimposed with the atomic bomb, named “little boy”.

Pencil rubbing lifted from ruins in Hiroshima are also inserted as spreads. The sheets of washi are folded at the foredge and are secured by a Japanese stitch where the spine is exposed at the back. The book would fan open when the pin to the top was removed. See Hiroshima are thebookmann header

The-Book-Man

Books from scratch

For readers wondering where the term thebookmann came from, it all began with my handmade books and the clients who fondly called me the book man. So this post is delegated to the Art of Bookbinding and here are few samples.

In 1999, I began a series of ArtBooks using computer generated patterns printed on paper which was dyed and fixed with a resin. Every book produced had its unique look with sheets of coloured pages, intersperse with graphic patterns. The objective was to give an illusion that the book had a life of its own as you turned each page.

I also produced blank journals in many sizes and experimented with the covers of linen and leather.

In 2003, I was asked to make a solander Box which is an art to its itself. As a footnote, the box’s boards were cut by using a shoe maker’s knife. This is a reminder that each book is made individually by hand. From the Sewing, folding, backing etc. Pages are folded down from large sheets.

I have alway stuck with the words during the first day of my bookbinding studies at John S Donaldson polytechnic in Trinidad and Tobago. That is, I shall produce the finest handmade books in the world. And owning one says it all.

See Bibliotheca Alexandrina - Centre of the Universe

Commissions or orders of blank journals are available to clients in Trinidad and Tobago from prices that range from 100 - 300 TT dollars. Books that are more finished in leather, rounding, headbands may range 400-500 TT dollars. Paper may be 24 pound bond (acid free) or cream laid. Artist Books prices are 600-1000 TT. Restoration of damaged books are also provided at a cost but limited in the area of tooling. See an Artbook as thebookmann header

Minds wrapped with twirlling concepts - Damien Hirst

Playing the God of Art


The painting above belongs to the British artist, Damien Hirst and it is a combination of his earlier paintings where the artist twirled oil paint onto a rotating wheel to form a psychedelic canvas disk. He also used the Blue Morpho butterfly to encrust it into the work.

In a few hours, the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, California will open its doors to collectors, art curators and critics and to Hirst's exhibition entitled Superstition. What is intriguing from these painting is Hirst's use of geometric patterns which he has constructed a mandala. The sacred symbol has a beauty which many artisans have used to create the physical representation in the likeness of God. Hirst shows this concept through his cathedral like stain glass rose window paintings. See the related post on Damien Hirst work on auction at Sotheby's

Geometric patterns constructed as a mandala used in Artbooks The science behind these mathematical patterns shows that it has a calming and mystifying affect on the mind. It also transcends a beauty that can't be explained. Since 2000, the bookman has produced a series of handmade Artbooks using these complex geometric patterns.

The act of Painting journals

Since 2000, the Bookman has approached the art of painting though his craft of book binding. The work here is an example of what he is capable of doing. These oil journals are from a series which in 2006 where produced by the influences taken from a painting by Peter Doig called, the music of the future.

Artist's Book Cape Town

Basic covers with an expendable spine.

When you commission an artist book from the Bookman, each work is personalized with the artist in mind, and nothing brings more satisfaction to see it filled with his or her art.


A Collage from 2005/6

Here is a spread from Dean Arlen, and it is a series of drawings and collages he produced during his six month stay in Cape Town, South Africa. He wanted a book which could expand as that he carry things he found in it. The piece looks like an work of Art. See his exhibition of posters at the Museum of Port of Spain, 2005


The working stages of the folds at the back of the spine

This book was the second prototype incorporating an expandable back to accommodate loose documents without the back being broken or covers being bent when closing it. See more book works

King St. Stephen Museum's "Red Bookwork"

The book and slip case for the Forth International ArtistsBook Exhibition at King St. Stephen Museum in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, 2006

Tactile in nature, the beauty of this handmade book is its red acetate. 305mm x 220mm, fourteen folds including the cover and slip case. The mylar is sewn together in the traditional methods of Japanese binding. Each leaf has an insert of resin paper, tissue paper and a washi thread inlay.


The Artbook Red and the Caribbean sky

The King St. Stephen Museum in Székesfehérvár, Hungary has a rich collection of Artist’ Bookworks. Since 1987, the first International Artists’Book Exhibition” presented 300 works and established the first and only artists’ book collection in Hungary owned by a Museum. In 2006, the Museum from the city of Székesfehérvár has organized the Forth International Artist’ Books Exhibition which this book was submitted. See other bookwork, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina - Centre of the Universe

Bibliotheca Alexandrina - Centre of the Universe

Centre of the Universe - Bookwork, 2006, 21ins x 12 ins x 9.5ins
Gray boards, resin on paper, oils Chinese tissue paper, inlay; Japanese washi thread.

Alexandria was established in 331 B.C. by Alexander the Great. For a thousand years Alexandria maintained its superiority and held its place as the apex of great thought and culture. Its library held treasures of knowledge and research, which became a valuable source of inspiration to both artists and writers whose works became models stimulating other intellectuals around the Mediterranean. The Artbook is part of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina 2nd Biennale for Artist's Book, Alexandrina, Egypt 2006


Covers: 8.5 x 8.5 ins resin on dyed paper, oils Pages 32: Computer generated Islamic patterns on paper, resin, oils.Japanese washi thread Spine: Goat skin

This project posed a challenged because the intention was to include a reading stand as part of bookwork. The structure had to be simple, collapsible and be reassembled without any difficulty.

Detail of the Artbook, Centre of the Universe, 2006

Caribbean Books - Where it began - thebookmann

In 2002, thebookmann worked on a collaborative book exhibition with Canadian artist Jamelie Hassan called Caribbean Books. At the time, she inquired if whether any of the work from the project were online.There were none. This, thebookmann website and blog is the genesis of that very question.

Jamelie Hassan met Richard Bolai in Trinidad during her Canada Arts Council residency at Caribbean Contemporary Art, CCA7, Trinidad. She recalled that while attending a lecture that he asked an important question on copyright and this began a series of connections revealing that they had previously met in Toronto where he had lived for some years while studying at the Ontario College of Art.

We had moved in the same contemporary art circles in Canada and had many people, places and books in common. Our mutual attention to books became the basis for our collaboration....

Caribbean Books involved the transformation of Ms. Hassan's original photographs of a bookshop in Tobago as five handmade books. Also, a series of ceramic books accompanied ten coloured books with the pages sized and fixed with a coloued dye. The first exhibit was held in Trinidad 2002, then the show traveled to London, Ontario in 2003.
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Alias: the - book - man(n) coined to Richard Bolai (bookbinder) by Peter Minshall