nikodim-press

Series of colour woodcuts “The Bible and beyond”, 2010

2012-02-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

Stages of printing process of thepicture “Crucifixion of Jesus”

Stage №1

Stage №2

Final version (four colours)

Preparation of colour plate(blue) for the picture Noah.

various photos

2012-01-13T19:41:00.000-08:00

Mikhail Karasik, Serge Stommels and Vasiliy Vlasov open exhibition
“The Artist’s Book Museum” at ERARTA (The Museum and Galleries of Contemporary Art), July, 2011, St Petersburg

I’m with the book “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” at “The Artist’s Book Museum”, The Museum and Galleries of Contemporary Art, ERARTA, 2010.
16 big and 13 small images (colour woodcuts & linocuts), text: Garamond’24 & Bodoni’46. Translation into English: Edward FitzGerald. Handmade paper by the artist was prepared specially for this book. Cover: one printing block (colour linocut) printed on paper (3 stages) and glued on cardboard. Leather spine, special slipcase. Printing & binding: Dmitry Sayenko. Edition: 15 numbered & signed copies

“Truthful stories about tsar Peter the Great”, 2001, text by Nikolay Pavlov
Colour linocuts. Printing & binding: Dmitry Sayenko. Edition: 7 numbered & signed copies

My first book “The ABC for children” (1996) also “Absurd ABC/Phobias” (2009) and “The Tobacco Novels” (2008) at exhibition “The Artist’s Book Museum” at ERARTA (The Museum and Galleries of Contemporary Art), July, 2011, St Petersburg

My favorite book "Apocalypse Detail" by Laura Davidson (2009)

Carolyn Trant & Peter Chasseaud near the exhibition poster “The Falcon Bride” of Carolyn Trant at the Sussex Barn Gallery, October 2007

Peter Chasseaud at his studio. Brighton, October 2011

I'm with Inna Razumova at CODEX’2011, Berkeley, the USA

I'm with Vladimir Zimakov and Alexandra Demidova at CODEX'2011

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Sappho book

2012-01-13T08:47:00.000-08:00

The Diffculties Of The Antique Subject Illustration

From my own experience

Unfortunately we can't enjoy of the original poems by Sappho. Firstly, because not many of us have the knowledge of the ancient Greek language. Secondly, the texts which we know are only the fragments of her poetry. These fragments give us the opportunity to value her verses. It greatly depends on the skill of the translator who works with the originals. Mary Barnard (1909-2001), is a well known poet and the translator of Sappho into contemporary English. In spite of a free interpretation of the text, Mary Barnard is well-esteemed as a translator and her versions of Sappho's poems are frequently republished.
Unfortunately we can't enjoy of the original poems by Sappho. Firstly, because not many of us have the knowledge of the ancient Greek language. Secondly, the texts which we know are only the fragments of her poetry. These fragments give us the opportunity to value her verses. It greatly depends on the skill of the translator who works with the originals. Mary Barnard (1909-2001), is a well known poet and the translator of Sappho into contemporary English. In spite of a free interpretation of the text, Mary Barnard is well-esteemed as a translator and her versions of Sappho's poems are frequently republished.
With her contemporaries, Sappho was well esteemed as an excellent writer and a wonderful master of style. Apparently, the present day experts of Greek literature appreciate the unique character of her poetry. In her time she was called "the tenth muse" and was even equated with the Greek gods. One can often see her images on vases, on frescos where she is pictured on an equal footing with other gods.
The ambiguous and philosophical character of her lyric, her passion and sincerity lives on forever. Sappho's legacy, like that of many other ancient poets, came to us fragmentarily. We can only enjoy fragments and extracts, mostly two or four lines long, which are sometimes incomplete. Therefore, a contemporary reader has to switch on his own imagination in order to get a profound understanding of Sappho's texts and to think them out, enriching them with his own fantasy.
About two hundred such fragments are presently available. A lot of artists find the subject of Sappho's poetry attractive for illustration. But such subject lays a trap for them. This trap is the abundance of fine arts which ancient Greek left us.
When artists start to work with the antique subject they always repeat the same mistakes: they tend to copy the pictorial style and artistic touch of the ancient masters.
Thus, the contemporary artists become captives of the ancient Beauty. It's very difficult to avoid its attraction. The majority of illustrations on the antique subject become the replicas of the antique art, where the illustrator imitates the antique style. The contemporary illustrations do reflect the epoch, but such images are not as sincere as their real ancient analogues.
However, the antique subjects are evergreen with new inspiration. They will always attract a lot of artists and impel them to do new creations despite of thousand-year-old age gap.
In all the times of the human history, artists have been taking classic subjects for their creation, because classics are never out-of-date, and there will always be the interest for the daily concerns, feelings and the ways of life of ancient people. For the whole of its history, the humanity has not changed. As a matter of fact, only dress, appearance and everyday attributes changed. But the inner nature of man always remained the same despite the age and epoch.
That's why the passions of ancient men are also typical for contemporary men. The antique subject will always be popular.
When I started thinking about my new book based on the texts by Sappho, for quite a long time I couldn't find a suitable illustrative style for it.
I remember, many years ago I once visited the storage rooms in a museum and the main keeper showed me the "trophies" from Henry Shliman's archaeological digs. We had a rare opportunity to see these objects close and even to touch them. My impressions there were stunning. I gently touched these pieces of ancient civilization and I didn't believe that so many centuries have gone since that time. It was amazing!
It's a well known fact, that the results of Shliman's archaeological digs were both sensational and scandalous. Many scientists accused Shlieman of not having a scientific method in his excavations. It was said that his digs brought damage to the archaeological legacy etc., but for us artists an absolutely different thing is important: now we are able to touch these pieces of ancient culture, the fragments of a past civilization that still keep the warmth of ancient man's hand. Even these broken fragments had a complete form and the missing pieces give birth to a splash of our fantasy.
August Rodin noticed this strange peculiarity of ancient Greek sculptures. He purposely broke off the hands and legs of his creations in order to be convinced of their perfection.If Rodin didn't see the desired perfection, he destroyed his sculptures.
This smithereen and fragmentary appearance of Greek ceramics appealed to me and I decided to take it as an idea for my images. Also I decided to refuse the antique style and make all images in my style mixed with classical and typical ancient Greece fragments patterns.

SAPPHO 2009, Format:10,3 x 15,9 inches (25 x 40.5 cm), 21 images: woodcuts on 16 doubled pages. Translation into contemporary English by Mary Barnard, Typeface: Bodoni’28, 36, Paper: hand made paper & leather cover with ceramic insert by artist. Special slipcase
Edition: 12 numbered & signed copies

About Artist Book

2012-01-13T07:38:00.001-08:00

Throughout the history of mankind, man has made four really great discoveries: the invention of the wheel, gunpowder, paper and book. But while the first three inventions didn't undergo a considerable evolution and remained exactly the same as when they were just invented, the book, on the contrary, has been changing from the very moment of its birth and till now and, more exactly, all is being enriched by newer and still newer forms. At times, behind these forms, there vanishes the criterion, which defines the concept of "book". And now, it is quite difficult for us to deduce the exact formula defining this concept. That's why now in the time of upsurge in new technologies, the concept of "book" has begun to blur and to form separate and quite independent segments or, if you want, genres.
Throughout the history of mankind, man has made four really great discoveries: the invention of the wheel, gunpowder, paper and book. But while the first three inventions didn't undergo a considerable evolution and remained exactly the same as when they were just invented, the book, on the contrary, has been changing from the very moment of its birth and till now and, more exactly, all is being enriched by newer and still newer forms. At times, behind these forms, there vanishes the criterion, which defines the concept of "book". And now, it is quite difficult for us to deduce the exact formula defining this concept. That's why now in the time of upsurge in new technologies, the concept of "book" has begun to blur and to form separate and quite independent segments or, if you want, genres.
It is clear that the book is an aesthetic thing. But, unlike a traditional thing, book gives us its internal qualities which are inherent only for the book and are not peculiar for other aesthetic things which have only external charm. It's some kind of an art miracle.When we touch a book, we plunge into the space of absurdity but sometimes we rise to the level of intellectual heights. Man appreciates any thing for its intellectual and material virtue. In the book these virtues are squared.
The eclecticism and symbiosis of the contemporary design as a whole and of books in particular has erased many distinctions, which only recently outlined the concept of the book as culture and art object. This eclecticism began to engage other genres that at first glance seemed to be far from book art. Sculpture, painting, constructivist design and other fine arts began to intertwine with book art. That's why the concept of book genre began to disappear and became positioned in separate areas and there were more distinctions than similarities. With the big reservations it's possible to bring it all to one common notion that is the book. Along with the isolation, these parts began to get an independent value and, almost ceased to intersect one another, each positioning itself as a newborn sector of contemporary art. This variety of concepts becomes more obvious and demands special studying and detailed research.
My own experience in the field of the artist's book allows me to make my personal research and to carry out the analysis of this phenomenon. Undoubtedly, the artist book is an alternative; it is a kind of undercurrent in the ocean of mass bookmaking. Sometimes it's difficult even for me to answer or to formulate accurately which genre I work in. What is it? The artist book or deluxe-book of limited edition? The Book-object or the special creation for collectors and art dealers? Probably, both that and another and the third. And most likely, the artist should not think especially of what section of art his creativity belongs to. Artist should work, simply with intuitive understanding of what he is doing. The rest is the business of art critics and art historians.
Speaking about the precursor or the precedent of artist book creation, it is necessary to mention first of all the English artist and poet William Blake (1757-1827). His books, such as Innocence Songs and Experience, were written, illustrated and even bound by him and his wife Catherine. These examples set a certain fashion and defined the key concept for the books of successive artists. This included self-publication and self-distribution of the book, which integrated such concepts as text, image, and form of the book.
The Russian Artist Book has inherited the traditions of the French Livre d'artiste which originated as a phenomenon in the modern art in 1910-30s, and is closely connected with the activity of Ambroise Vollard. Subsequently, this phenomenon became a part of the world tendency, more known as artist's book, which appeared in the post-war time and actively developed in 1950-60s. Here, it is necessary to concentrate attention of the reader on one episode, which will help clarify why artist books began to stand apart from other arts, and was soon to be formed as a separate phenomenon of the contemporary art.
Ambroise Vollard had the idea of making books with a lavish illustrative content. He was well-known as an admirer of fine arts, a dealer and a publisher. His was the idea that a contemporary artist should illustrate the work of a contemporary poet or a writer. For this purpose Vollard engaged the already well-known artists, but those who were strange to the book art. They were such artists as Pierre Bonnard, Joan Miro, Marc Chagall and others. For such extra-class books special paper was ordered and the best masters in the field of books (type-setters of the manual text, printers, bookbinders, etc.) were employed.
A bit later, this idea was picked up by Daniel Henry Kahnweiler, Terriad and others. They enlisted such well known artists of modern art as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse in their projects.
But it does not mean that in other countries similar attempts to create highly artistic editions were not undertaken. For example, at the same time in Germany there appeared books by Vasily Kandinsky ("Sounds", Munich, 1913), and other books by Paul Klee, Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Max Pechstein and other artists of the artistic group "Brucke" (Bridge).
Now let's return to the Russian artist book and how and how it evolved into a separate genre. Besides the historical forerunners such as Russian icons, traditional folk woodblock prints, a strong influence on its formation was rendered by the Russian avant-guard and by the Russian Futurism and Suprematism in particular. It is one of the brightest pages of our culture. Such artists as Olga Rozanova, Vasiliy Kamenskiy, Ilia and Kirill Zdanevichs, Pavel Filonov, Natalia Goncharova, Michael Larionov, Aleksei Kruchenykh, brothers David and Vladimir Burliuks, El Lissitski, Kazimir Malevich and others gave an enormous impulse to the development of the contemporary art and the artist book in particular; they also designated its specific features. Later, this page was pulled out from the book with the name Russian Art by the official propaganda of that time. The art of the official Soviet propaganda did not wish to have such neighbor as the artist book, since it did not correspond with official concepts of "socialist realism". But, as a Russian writer Michael Bulgakov wrote: "manuscripts don't burn", and this pulled out page did not vanish, did not burn down.
In the following years, the artist book positioned itself increasingly more as the separate phenomenon of the contemporary and conceptual art. Artists use not only the traditional materials but also some absolutely unconventional ones, such as hair, sand (Anselm Kiefer), the bird's feathers, the parts of umbrellas, rims of old spectacles (Rebe??a Horn) and other "garbage" which, thanks to the artists, finds its second new life.
However, I'm not an art historian and the purpose of this article of mine is simply to express my personal point of view at the artist book as a genre and to describe my way into this field.
I began my work in the artist book field in 1993 but all the same I consider 1996 as year of my being born as a book artist. Since that time the art of the book has so absorbed me that till now I consider it my main profession, despite of the fact that sometimes I paint, do easel graphics and also teach at the institute, etc.
I didn't know that I would be engaged in artist books seriously and professionally. Furthermore, I did not know that in a few years I would become known thanks to my work in this field. But there is a Destiny, and it has given me a chance. It was this way: when I finished the Muhina Art School I had a vague idea about what I wish to be engaged in. The diploma specialty was not interesting for me. Then one publishing house declared a competition for the best design of an ABC for children and I won the tender and the publishing house concluded the contract with me for the creation of this book. But those times weren't so stable. Russia started to live under the capitalist laws of the market and many people went bankrupt. Such was the situation with my publisher. Though, at that moment, my project was accomplished by 90 %, it was suspended. I found myself in a strange situation: my ABC book is almost made but hardly anybody would ever see it except the publishing house workers. My hopes that the economic situation would soon get back to normal and that the publisher would be able to find some thousand dollars to finish this project thawed like spring snow. Then I thought: what prevents me from finishing this project but in a different way? And I remembered the years when I studied printing processes (linocut, woodcut, etching etc). Experience was minor but all the same I had tools and printing inks. For this purpose, it was necessary to buy paper and to finish this project which became my principal task for that moment. But when I decided to adapt to other materials, I saw that it was not so easy. Also I had to think about one new fact: the book will be a limited edition. Thus instead of one year I did this book during three years.
Now that I understand the complexity of the creation of such a book I would never undertake such a project. But then I was young, inexperienced and full of ambitions. These three traits helped to get on to this orbit of the "artist book" (by the way, I had not learned this name until a few years later when I went to the London book fair then at Barbican Centre with my first books). Then there was my second, third book, then the fourth, etc. but I remember my first book, as the first love which seldom turns out happy but is always unforgettable.
A lot of foreign collectors and specialists of the artist book field tell me they feel that there is an entire history of Russian books in the way I make mine. As to my opinion, I do not feel that my books are especially Russian but if it is felt by an onlooker, it is because of something hidden, brought up intuitively. I do not think that Art has any national borders, though it may originate from different cultures. But these borders are conditional and they define the peculiarities of different national cultures. When we listen to Mozart's music, we don't think of what nationality he was, because his music belongs to the whole world, despite the fact that he was Austrian. Different cultures have influence on each other, mix up, as paints on a palette and create new colours, just like various cultural schools and traditions create new uniqueness.
Yet I assume that a lot of onlookers see my books and recollect the traditions of the Russian culture - such names as Michael Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, Vladimir Favorsky, El Lisitsky, Kazimir Malevich and others. Certainly they influenced me when I was being formed as an artist. However at a mature age it is desirable for an artist to establish his own style though it's not easy.
As to the history of the artist book in Russia, in my opinion, the brightest and most powerful splash occurred in the beginning XX century that is 1910-20s. It was an especially bright "page" of the Russian avant-guard.
The rebirth of artist book began with the Perestroyka, when publishing houses collapsed and many of them stopped collaborating with artists and switched to text books or began to publish other production, which was easier to sell and went without artistic illustrations.
That time, artists also recollected the forgotten but not extinct genre of "artist book". A lot of them did such books. However, this kind of work demands much concentration of forces, energy and emotion. The book indeed takes a lot from its creator. At the same time, the artist's book is hard to sell because it is usually more expensive than commercially printed books. I am persuaded that it is something other than profits that makes an artist be engaged in the book art. That is why there are now very few artists who still work in this field.
In Russia the artist book field is not popular as in the West. There are very few artists who work in this field. That's why I have some problems with freedom of choice of paper, supplies of book binding etc. Although it is not because of this shortage that I make paper for my books. For me, paper making is some kind of meditation. It is philosophical comprehension of how the end of an old life means a birth of a new one. I don't throw out paper waste. I process it and try to give a new life to old things. Not for all of my books do I make my own paper but only for those where it is necessary in accordance with the general idea. Talking about different book artists in the USSR in the period of 1930 - 80s, one can say that our book history was bright and full of interesting names too. There were Vladimir Lebedev, Vladimir Favorsky whom I already mentioned, Yury Vasnetsov and a lot of others. By the way, my father those years was engaged in book illustration too. Perhaps, in the years of my childhood I also absorbed a real love of the book. I watched the work of my father when he was making books, I observed this whole process. But all those artists of that time were making books in a traditional way (cooperation with publishing houses where books were published in of millions copies.)
On the other hand, at that time there was also "Samizdat" (the books by forbidden authors, published illegally). But as a rule they were text books, with minimal or absent illustration. For edition and distribution of such literature one was pursued. For such activity anyone could be deprived of citizenship and sent away from the USSR. The typical example was Alexander Solzhenitsyn and he was not the only one. Many writers had lived in emigration till the Perestroika. But if we speak about the artist book as a genre, I don't know the true examples of such books of that period.
There is one common question of what exactly an artist book is. As regards to the ?oncept of artist's book as I see it, there are four integral parts to give an artist book my personal definition.
1.    The book as the result of the cooperation of a writer as the author of texts and an artist as the illustrator.
2.    The book in which an artist creates the general design and sometimes writes the texts. As a rule such books are made digitally and printed on home printers.
3.    The book as "art object" (the artist creates certain art space in the frames of the books). Here we have the right to experiment and do as it is necessary for the general concept. There can be used various materials - from classical (cardboard, paper, fabric) to ultramodern (plastic, polyethylene, metal etc). Often in book objects, artists use sculpture or small plasticity. The place of such books is not on a book shelf, but on a special exhibition podium.
4.    The rare limited book. Here the artist is only the creator of illustrations. The print of these illustrations, the cover, the binding, etc. is done by other people. It is a product of collective creativity.

My favorite book “Sonetos del Amor Oscuro” with Lorca’s verses by British artist Carolyn Trant, although all her books are fantastic.

Last London book Fair was in September. I shared the table with the Italian Valeria Brancaforte, a good artist based in Barcelona. Many years ago she was studying in Moscow, therefore she speaks a rather good Russian. Russian culture influenced her work and she made several books with Russian texts.

Concerning my own books, I call them: "the primeval books". It means that I try not to use new technologies but, on the contrary, I prefer the archaic ways of making books but it concerns only my techniques and the method of creation. It is as beautiful and grasping as ancient cars or vinyl gramophones. It is the aesthetics of the past time and such aesthetics has its remarkable charm. As for the fine art side, I should say that here I employ all the recent achievements of the contemporary book graphics.

The Circus, 2009-2010/Easel graphic

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I dedicated this series of work to my childhood impressions of the circus. Many years passed since that time but I still remember the fantastic smell of circus. It is difficult to name the source of the smell. Especially I loved the circus after performances when bright spotlights switched off and everything was enveloped in a unique atmosphere.

Easel graphic

2012-01-12T11:49:00.000-08:00

Metamorphosis № 2, paper, monotype +mixed technique, drawing, 41,7x59,5 cm., 2011

Abstract Composition. opus №16, paper/monotype+mixed technique, 30x43 cm., 2011

Abstract Composition. opus №14, paper/monotype+mixed technique, 30x43 cm., 2011

Abstract Composition. opus №13. paper/monotype+mixed technique, 30x43 cm., 2011

Abstract Composition. opus №12, paper/Monotype+mixed technique. 30x43 cm., 2011

THE GOLDEN AGE OF ALCHEMY

2012-01-10T05:48:00.000-08:00

THE GOLDEN AGE OF ALCHEMY

2011 format: 7.087” x 9.449” x 1.378” inches
(18,24,5x3,5 cm).
73 pages, 41 big and 13 small images
(colour linocuts & woodcuts),
Typeface: Univers’22& Bodoni’46,
18,36 Text: Dmitry Sayenko
Translation into English: Alexandra Demidova.
Handmade paper by the artist was prepared specially for this book (11 copies, 2 copies printed on the paper Goznak (1956). Leather cover, special slipcase. Printing & binding by author.

Edition: 13 numbered & signed copies

This book was awarded excellence by the Fine Press Book Association at the Fine Press Book Fair in Oxford (November 2011).

THE ABC OF FEARS / THE FAMOUS PEOPLE’S PHOBIAS

2012-01-10T05:35:00.000-08:00

THE ABC OF FEARS / THE FAMOUS PEOPLE’S

2011, 61 pages with 37 woodcuts & linocuts
with English text. Format: 7,48 x 11,024 inches (19,5 x 28 cm)
Typeface: Garamond’22 & Bodoni’46,
Translation into English: Alex.Demidova
Hand made paper by artist (approx 260-280 gr.)
Leather cover/stamping, special slipcase

Edition: 12 numbered & signed copies

They say sometimes that every one has their own black beetles in the head, which means some minor deviations form the norm as well as personal fears and phobias. Surely, there are people who are not afraid of anything or those who have learned to fight their phobias. However those who have certain fears –of heights or other people or darkness or spiders or whatever – prevail. Among famous people there are quite a few having various phobias. Even very famous people, who seem infallible and fearless, are in fact frightened of the things we would have never guessed. The most remarkable fact is that the fears of many inventors, artists and writers became their source of inspiration and a stimulus for their creative ideas. Many great inventions were born under the pressure of fears. This book is not a medical manual nor is it a historical script. The author has frivolously dealt with the characters and their phobias. However, many of the facts are historically true.

handmade paper by Dmitry Sayenko

2012-01-10T05:32:00.001-08:00

About Hand Made Paper Creation

Artist book is a work of Fine Art. All elements here must be unique, from choosing the paper to binding and slip cases. Paper is extremely important factor in this creating process. The right choice of paper determines the further perception of the book, its wholeness and physical appearance. Initially, an artist book is not a mechanical process and it requires a special individual approach. Long before starting to make a book I do my preparations in advance. I consider paper as a ground of further book in its size, thickness, the shade of color, etc. That's why I prefer to make my own handmade paper. I make it at home where the conditions do not allow making paper of absolutely similar appearance, therefore the shade of my paper varies. It gives each copy of my book its individual appearance and uniqueness.