In this ode to the letter X, Mexico and language itself, Alberto Blanco and Nacho Gallardo Larrea brilliantly show how the artist’s book can translate word and image from one to the other and back and, at the same time, soar over the challenge of translating poetry.
Book of X (2012)
Book of Equis (2012)
© Alberto Blanco and Nacho Gallardo Larrea (“El Nacho”).
Slipcase paper-covered spine and edges, and leather Intagrafía insignia on cover panel; enclosing a casebound hardback, monotype over boards, and black doublures. H15 x W7.5 in. [18] pages. Letterpress printed with Bembo Roman and Bembo Roman Italic types. Printed on Rives BFK paper. Bilingual text of Spanish and English. Edition of 50 plus 15 artists’ proofs (P.A. 1-15), of which this is #11; 5 binding workshop copies (P.T. 1-5); and 3 print proofs (P.I. 1-3).
Photos: Books On Books Collection. Displayed with permission of Alberto Blanco.
The Spanish and English versions of Blanco’s text shape, and are shaped by, the bilateral symmetry of the letter X and the codex form of the book. Spanish on the left, English on the right: the imposition of type and the ghostly images of the X play with one another. The two texts delight in the crossover between similarity and difference, knowingly in the white space at the exact center of the X in the double-page spread below. How better to use the notion that, for all letterforms, space counts as much as line?
Sometimes the language on one side completes a thought or expression before the language on the other side can do so, a natural phenomenon in translation in which one language needs fewer or more words than the other. See above, for example, the passages beginning “La equis del volcán” and “X of the volcano” that do not quite align in the legs of the X. The Spanish sentence trails off in a fragment to be completed on the following verso page, but the English sentence is already half way there on the recto page above.
As the shaped poem continues in the pages below, and the number of words in one language exceeds those on the other creating lines asymmetrical to one another, the poet and artist use the X shape in whole and parts and the diametrical placement of text in the last double-page spread to reflect the crossing dance of similarity and difference, asymmetry and symmetry, that they find in X across languages, generations and country.
Interpersed between the pages of text, the late El Nacho’s monotypes make color, shape and space play with one another to mirror — not merely illustrate — the thrust of the language. If ever there were a collaborative work that distinguishes the artist’s book from a livre d’artiste, this is it. Alberto Blanco has also created solo artist’s books, which enjoyed an exhibition at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, La Jolla, California, February 19-March 26, 2011. Stylistically they are distinct from The Book of Equis, which underscores its collaborative originality.
Colophon: “The Book of Equis was designed and printed in Intagrafía, located in San Jose del Cabo under the direction of Peter Rutledge Koch, with monotypes created by El Nacho. Printed under the supervision of Lenin Andujo Fajardo by Ivonne Rivas.”
ABC (2008)
ABC (2008)
©Alberto Blanco and Patricia Revah
Softcover, saddle stitched H230 x W170 mm. 32 pages. Acquired from The Book Depository, 11 July 2021.
Photos: Books On Books Collection. Displayed with permission of Alberto Blanco.
Rhyming poetry often raises the already high bar to translation. The literal English translations that follow Alberto Blanco’s charming abab Spanish poems do not attempt to substitute suitable rhymes. The textile art in this abecedary, however, wraps a comforting quilt around the challenge of translating poetry in a way that appeals to children.
The Blank Page (2020)
The Blank Page (2020)
©Alberto Blanco and Rob Moss Wilson
Jacketed, casebound, illustrated paper over boards. H224 x W252 mm. 32 pages. Acquired from The Monster Bookshop, 1 July 2021 1 Jul 2021.
Photos: Books On Books Collection. Displayed with permission of Alberto Blanco.
Who would think it possible to introduce children to the ideas of Stéphane Mallarmé? Alberto Blanco for one, albeit without mentioning the French poet.
Further Reading
“Abecedaries I (in progress)“. Books On Books Collection.
“Alphabets Alive!” 19 July 2023. Books On Books Collection.
“‘Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’Abolira l’Appropriation’— An Online Exhibition“. 1 May 2022. Books On Books Collection.
Blanco, Alberto. 2011. Visual Poetry/Poesía Visual. La Jolla, Calif.: The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library.
Blanco, Alberto. 1995. Dawn of the Senses : Selected Poems of Alberto Blanco. San Francisco: City Lights Books.
Blanco, Alberto. 2007. A Cage of Transparent Words : A Selection of Poems = Una Jaula de Palabras Transparentes. First edition. Fayetteville, N.Y.: Bitter Oleander Press.
“
Books On Books 