Helen Malone Visual Artist: Artists Books 2012-2014

A SELECTION OF MY ARTISTS BOOKS FROM 2012 - 2014

Back to the Front 2014

Landscape concertina book

Digital photographs with white charcoal drawing on Canson paper,

Cover of paper and leather with white tooling.

11 x 30 x 1 cm. 4 metres opened. 5 Edition variee
Held in Collections of Janet Holmes a Court, Perth, Redland Art Gallery, Brisbane,
State Library of Qld, Brisbane and Private collection Brisbane,

Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK

My contemporary photographs of some of the battlefields in France and Belgium

where the Australian Army fought - Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Messines Ridge and

Villers-Bretonneux were transformed digitally into the dark brown muddy, unreal
and deathly landscapes of WWI France. Drawings of crosses in white charcoal were added as symbols of the dead. The viewer is invited to travel back in time and reflect on the horrific reality of the Western Front and the price that had to be paid for peace.

Si Vis Pacem

Si vis pacem, para bellum (If you seek peace, prepare for war) 2014

Simplified binding with alternate short and long pages

Digital photos and white charcoal drawing, cover of paper and leather with white tooling.

14 x 18 x 2 cm. Edition of 3
Made specifically to the measurements 14 x 18 for the exhibition
Pieces for Peace 14 x 18, held in Ypres, Belgium.

Private collection, Brisbane

The text contains quotes by Australian soldiers who served in WW1 about the horrific
reality they faced on the Western Front. My own photographs of he battlefields in France and Belgium were digitally transformed into dark and deathly landscapes with the addition of white charcoal drawings of crosses as a symbol of those who died fighting for peace.

- + = (Minus Plus Equal) 2014

A collaboration with Jack Oudyn
Set of two concertinas in folders
Linocut composite prints. 21 x 28 cm. Edition of 5

Held in Private collection, Maleny, Qld.

Helen Malone, Jack Oudyn, Brisbane

An exploration of positive and negative space.
Each artist made ten small linocut blocks. Twelve images were chosen for the
final composition and were handprinted in black ink on white paper and white ink on black paper.

Chance 2014
Collaboration with Jack Oudyn
Dos-a-dos book
Drawings of gouache, pencil, ink with collage and rubber stamps.

Based on the theory of Chance in art, the two artists swapped lines of text and

each responded with a drawing into blank books they had each made.

When the book pages were complete, the books were then

swapped and each artist drew into the other's drawings.

Cover of Kraft card, pages of Kraft paper. Linocut by Jack Oudyn. 21 x 15 x 2 cm
Original held in the Manly Library Artists Book Collection, Sydney

Copy held in Collection of Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK

Copy held in private collection, Brisbane

Paper, Scissors, Uluru (Respect our laws and Culture) 2013
Collaborative Book with Jack Oudyn
Folded page book structure in box
Laser printed images of waxed drawing, collage, painting and

Chinese paper covered boards painted with earth pigments, acrylic and

xanthorrhoea resin. The book measures 10.5 x 9.5 x 1.5 cm.

Edition of 6 and 1 Artists Proof

Held in Bank Street Arts collection, Sheffield UK

Collection of Wim de Vos, Brisbane,

Books on Books Collection, Oxford, UK

2 in Private collections in Melbourne and Brisbane.

A mark of respect for the laws and culture of the Anangu people based on the complex

meanings of the Tjukurpa, the foundations of indigenous culture. The pages suggest the

glowing and changing colours of Uluru and also contain some of the

conventions of maps and symbols of our culture.
The local Anangu people do not climb Uluru and ask visitors to respect their laws and culture -
Wanyu Ulurunya Tatintia Wiyangku Wantima

Bloom 2013
Folded page Dome book variation
Cut and shaped linocuts on Canson paper.
25.5 x 14 x 2 cm

Private collection, San Francisco, USA

A sculptural interpretation of a flower in full bloom

Absence 2013
Simplified binding
Inkjet prints of drawings on Fabriano Artistico paper with gouache painting added later.
20 x 16.5 x 1 cm.
1 unique and Edition of 6

Unique copy in private collection of Michael Wardell, Brisbane.

4 copies of edition in Private collections

Bodleian library, Oxford, UK.

Part of the Al Mutanabbi Street starts Here Artists book project, Absence reflects on the loss of life

in the car bomb attack on the literary and intellectual community on Al-Mutanabbi Street

(the street of booksellers in Bagdad) in March 2007.

A mathematical tiling pattern has been used as a metaphor for the intellectual community

and Islamic culture and also acts as a map of the area of Baghdad.
These tiling patterns were used from medieval times on architectural surfaces and in
book illumination.

That Unbearable Lightness 2012
Double sided circular concertina book with perfect style binding
Inkjet print of pen and ink sgraffito drawings on Fabriano paper.
12 x 9.5 x 7 cm.
Made as part of Book Art Object
Edition of 15 and 2 AP, one in Collection of UWE Bristol UK.

Others in private collections in Australia, Iceland, Scotland, Canada and USA.

Wim de Vos collection, Brisbane

Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK

The structure of the book makes reference to the physical symptoms of vertigo

and addresses the psychological vertigo described by Milan Kundera

in his novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
It poses a philosophical question of Kundera's book -

Is vertigo the lightness or heaviness of existence?

Un Chartered Democracy 2012
Inward folding book with multiple Turkish map fold pages.
Cover of inkjet print, ribbon and sealing wax.
Inkjet prints of Islamic patterns, a pianola music roll and drawings with added pencil.
The book measures 21 x 15 x 3 cm. Edition of 20.

Made as part of Book Art Object and in collections in UWE, Bristol, Bank Street Arts,

Sheffield UK, Australia, USA, Canada, England and South Africa,

Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK

This book uses the idea of a charter as an official written contract between two parties, the US Government and soldiers serving on its behalf. A small number of US soldiers in Afghanistan have committed atrocities whilst serving their country and its promotion of democracy. Their actions were disrespectful, unethical, unacceptable, unauthorised, unchartered.

True Grit 2012
Fold out book
Mounted linocuts and collaged digital prints on Fabriano Artistico paper.
14.5 x 14.5 x 1 cm. Edition of 20.

Made as part of Book Art Object and held in collections in Australia, England, USA.

Asylum seekers who flee their homeland and undertake risky journeys with people
smugglers in a desperate attempt to find freedom and peace possess
unfaltering courage.......true grit.

Ten Books on Architecture (2) 2012 (3) 2012

Ten different book structures of various materials, most linked to a particular architect
and one to an architectural style.
Size when closed in box 37 x 17 x 10 cm.
(No 1 made in 2006 in a private collection Australia)

No 2 The Pratt Institute, New York, USA (2012)

(3) State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (2012)

Using architecture as an analogy for building a book structure, this work references the

Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius, De Architettura (c.40BC), and Alberti's
De re Aedificatoria (1452).
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