A lost gem of permutational conceptualism from a key figure in
artist's book culture, available again
Known internationally as one of Mexico's most important conceptual
artists, Ulises Carrión (1941-89) played a decisive role in defining and
conceptualizing the genre of the artists' book through his manifesto,
The New Art of Making Books (1975), which he wrote soon after the 1972
publication of SONNET(S) and his move from Mexico City to Amsterdam,
where he opened the legendary bookshop gallery, Other Books and So, the
first space dedicated exclusively to artists' publications and an
important precursor to such artists' book hubs as Printed Matter.
One of Carrión's earliest bookworks, SONNET(S) represents a landmark
shift in the artist's output from poetry to artists' books. Here,
Carrión takes a single poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti through 50
typographic and procedural permutations. This republication is
supplemented by new essays on Carrión's bookworks by contemporary
artists, writers, and scholars from Mexico, Europe and the US.