A Selection of Drawings and Artist’s Books

by Rosaire Appel

 

Opens February 8th 12-8 pm

Reception with Artist: 5-8 pm

Hours: Saturdays & Sundays 12-6 pm

and by appointment

On view through March 29, 2020

 

 

Light reaches into the dark and the dark absorbs it — or throws some of it back – which is what we read, which is how we are able to read… reading = seeing.

Sound reaches across a room, weather reaches down from above, waves reach toward a shore. These gestures/ actions of reaching culminate in a reception of some kind — acceptance, absorption, rejection, destruction…. 

Words reach toward each other — magnetic attractions. The mind itself reaches out through the voice, through the hand… Reaching itself is a form of magnetic attraction,  with or without conscious motivation.

My books distill many reachings – are records of reaches, both out and into.  And I note: without at least some small shred of hope, of possibility for some kind of plus/ some increment of satisfaction –  it is impossible to reach.  -R.A.

 

For the next few months, No.3 Reading Room & Photo Book Works is giving itself over entirely to Rosaire Appel’s artist books and works on paper. Her prolific and imaginative works encompass the acts of listening, seeing and notating sensory experiences, translated into untranslatable pages that defy conventional reading.

Appel is a well-known and respected practitioner of Asemic writing, which, simply put,  is “writing” or a script that has no discernable content or meaning which is left to the viewer to determine. Despite being open to its viewer’s interpretation, Rosaire Appel has concrete and specific sources for the generative aspect of her work. But once completed, it is free to be interpreted by anyone who wants to take the time to respond.

Asemic writing has a deep tradition, practiced by many artists and writers in versions and variations too numerous to mention here. So for a deeper dive in a rather concise description, this link provides definitions and examples, including Rosaire’s.

https://wikimili.com/en/Asemic_writing

There will be many of Rosaire’s artist’s books on view and available for purchase, as well as rare and unique works that can be viewed up on request. Reference works on Asemic writing and books by various practitioners of this form are also on display. On view through March 29 and by appointment, we’re here to engage and share this fascinating practice of image and text in poetic forms where you decide what it means.

 

“Projection Lamp Catalog”, a visual, non-buying publication, is a selection of drawings  that focus on the distribution of information on a page.  The information is asemic – it has no semantic value.  The drawings consist of (analog and digital) marks deployed as signals rather than symbols. Patterns, echoes, vibrations, pulsations and waves suggest sound and motion in this exploration of non-verbal language.   -R.A.

 

In this book, both story and locations are disturbed – interfered with – disarranged. The result is a sequence of pages that are like rooms unhampered by customary furniture through which a non-verbal story is woven….

This is a colorized and edited hardcover version of my 2016 black and white book: Manual of Disturbances. -R.A.

 

Rosaire’s books can be purchased from her directly: https://www.rosaireappel.com/

And you can find her blog here: https://rosaireappel.blogspot.com/