MATANZAS, Cuba -- Black tissue paper rustles as you pick up the slim book of poetry entitled "Unforeseen Nectar." On the cover, tied to flesh-colored lace, is a foldout fan of shaved wood and paper, a delicate canvas for a hand-painted garden and its story:
The bee returned to my rose bush,
I told him,
It's late for nectar,
This is still winter for me...
-- Dulce Maria Loynaz
There are only 200 copies of "Unforeseen Nectar," each edition carrying a hand-drawn image of a kerosene lantern -- the symbol of Ediciones Vigia, a small book collective where designers, illustrators, poets and writers create works in a genre known as artists' books.
The Cuban books, which will be on display at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, starting tomorrow, are unique examples of an evolving 20th-century art form now featured in galleries and museums in such cultural centers as London and New York. The Museum of Modern Art has the world's largest collection, directors say.
It's not easy to define artists' books. Generally, it's art created in a book format -- though such works often play with the concept of "book." Pieces might be styled into a doll's bed or made of glass pages. They can be cut to resemble houses or filled with notes, opera tickets or gum wrappers found on a sidewalk. Some are as big as a room, others palm-sized.
The books provide a three-dimensional canvas (some work like accordions or telescopes). One of the genre's early modern manifestations, for example, is children's pop-up books. The works often contain poetry or prose, or may be left blank for a new author's scribblings.
"Sometimes it's a marriage between writer and a visual artist to produce a unique, limited-edition book about craftsmanship, visual beauty and literature," says Walter Gomez, owner of Gomez Gallery in Baltimore. "It's also a marriage of these three aesthetics to make a statement, something political or something that resonates in the soul. It's really quite open."
Gomez, whose Baltimore gallery specializes in Latin American art, says he started seeing dealers specializing in artists' books at the 1996 Iberoamerican Art Fair in Caracas, Venezuela. "It is a very formidable art form that has been gaining strength," he says.
Baltimore artist Soledad Salame is working on her first book-art project with a Chilean entomologist who has studied Chile's myths and legends about insects. Salame's insect-oriented prints and paintings are displayed at the Gomez Gallery.
Book art is "a very intimate view of what you do. It is very precious, like jewelry," Salame says. "You do it by hand. It's like sculpture; you can see it being born from the paper. It's something very private."
The genre is especially popular in Latin America, where it has caught on grass-roots-style. In nations like Cuba, for example, literary or political expression has become easier as inexpensive "printing" processes -- such as mimeograph, photocopy machines and desktop computers -- become available. The Ediciones Vigia books capture the spirit of the artistic form.
A group of 15
Since 1985, a group of 15 or so Cuban artists in Matanzas, a few hours east of Havana, have published the rustic yet elegant books made of recycled newsprint, burlap, feathers, plastic bags, cloth or whatever material they can recycle.
The group's workshop is a regal old colonial house on the banks of the San Juan River in the Plaza de la Vigia (Watchtower Plaza), for which it's named. Matanzas, a town once known as the Athens of Cuba, has long attracted writers, artists, poets and musicians. This building has served as a writer's home, a wine tavern and a casa de trova, a gathering place to hear traditional Cuban guitar music.
Working a few hours a day -- around the clock if there's a big order -- book designers and technicians line a long table in the second-floor studio, surrounded by glue, scissors, watercolor paints and scraps of paper. A primitive mimeograph machine, and now a photocopy machine that sometimes jams, are their printing equipment. Downstairs, there is a gallery and wicker-decorated reading salon. A heavy, old-fashioned cash register is the room's centerpiece.
The visitors who stop here are often European tourists on their way to Cuba's famous Varadero Beach. Others are art buyers who come specifically because they've heard of Ediciones Vigia through book exhibits in Guadalajara, Barcelona, Vienna, Toronto, London or New York. A poetry scroll or book runs $1 to $10 U.S. Some months, the collective may bring in $200 to $300; other months, the take is zero.
"The idea was to create books in which young poets could be published. This is the only one in the country," says Ariel Lopez Gonzalez, 20, who has worked as a book designer/technician at the collective for two years. "Each copy is done by hand. Every one is the same, the same design, the same colors. But it's always just a little bit different. It's a lot of work. And the paper is not very good."
In a 1995 exhibition, the British Library featured the Cuban artists' books. The library's Web page (http: //bl.uk/collections/
hispanic/en/vigia.html) touts Ediciones Vigia's primitive processes: The group "uses the most basic printing techniques, thus highlighting the importance of craftsmanship in the making of books. Glossy modern presentation would also detract from the artistic content of the works."
Even in the innovative book artists' world, Ediciones Vigia is a bit of an anomaly. Following the Cuban-socialist style, it's an artists' union of sorts. "They are very interesting because they've survived as a group," says book-art dealer Beverly Joy-Karno, co-owner of Howard Karno Books outside San Diego. "Most [book art] people tend to work independently. But this group has forged this little area. They sell a lot out of Cuba, and that has kept them afloat."
"The books are charming," says Karno, who says she visits Ediciones Vigia about once a year and sells about a hundred of their books annually to U.S. museums, university collections and private art patrons. The price she charges is still reasonable, at up to $25 a piece. "They are meant to be accessible."
Ediciones Vigia has a legion of international fans. Ruth Behar, a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan, has included an interview with the group's directors and chief
designer in her 1995 book "Bridges to Cuba."
"They are rejuvenating the idea of the book in Cuba," says Behar, a Cuban-born poet whose work fills one Ediciones Vigia edition. "They are creating a new aesthetic tone that's come out of the Cuban Revolution, using simple forms of brown paper. They use an aesthetic of poverty on the one hand and an aesthetic of beauty on the other."
Augustina Ponce, collecting materials one afternoon in Ediciones Vigia's studio, explains why she and the others are now here. "It's my work. Everyone has their own element of art. One is painting, another is writing or poetry. We are all good friends, so we work together," says Ponce, 39, who earns a state salary equal to $15 a month as an artist.
She gets about 25 copies of each issue she designs, books she hopes will make their way north. "In the U.S., the books can sell for triple or quadruple the price," she says, striking a saleswoman's tone. "It's a good business for the North %o Americans to buy books and sell them there. It's good for us. It's good for them."
Capitalism, sort of
In these and other ways, the workshop (which like the rest of Cuba deals in U.S. dollars) is a quirky blend of socialism and capitalism. Before issuing a new edition, the group meets to vote on the poetry or other literary work to be featured. The Cuban government pays the salaries to a few of the artists and provides the building and some money for maintenance. The artists' group is officially under the Ministry of Culture.
Yet the dollars they earn on books go directly back into the collective to buy recycled paper from a nearby factory and other materials, making them nearly self-sufficient. They also get donations from universities abroad, especially Spain, and foster book artists' exchange programs.
Their work, which includes two literary magazines, does not openly criticize Fidel Castro's government or the 1959 Cuban Revolution. But their publications are not presented for official review, and some of the writings highlight Cuba's social problems, including an entrenched poverty. In a rare tightrope act, they are able to work outside the state-controlled publishing system, yet be a part of the state.
"We function pretty well," says Ponce, who was acting as spokeswoman because the group's directors were invited to Spain, Austria and Germany to show and sell their books to galleries and universities.
"If we had more resources, we could do more ambitious projects," she sighs. "With more money and better materials "
Book art
What: Ediciones Vigia book art exhibit
When: Tomorrow through Sept. 30. Before Sept. 7 (Labor Day), 8: 30 a.m.-4: 30 p.m. Monday-Friday; after Sept. 7, 8: 30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8: 30 a.m.-4: 30 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: Maryland Institute, College of Art's Decker Library, 1300 Mount Royal Ave.
Admission: Free
Call: 410-225-2273
More information: An extended Ediciones Vigia exhibit is planned at Johns Hopkins University's Milton S. Eisenhower Library, to run February through May. You can learn more by reading "The Century of Artists' Books" (Granary Books, 1995) by Johanna Drucker, or by visiting these Web sites: Umbrella (http: //colophon.com/umbrella/ newlit_artbooks.html) or preservationist/artist Jeanne Drewes' page (http: //milton. mse.jhu.edu: 8001/library/pres/ jeanne.htm).
Pub Date: 8/20/98