Lucila Machado Assumpção ~ Brazil

Bookworks on the Olympics by Lucila Machado Assumpção
Everything Makes Sense, Every Sense Makes Change bookworks
Multi-faced fan bookworks
Miniature Book by Assumpção

Cartas para o Hemisferio Norte /
Letters to the Northern Hemisphere
By John Keith Wood
Jaguarlúna, SP, Brazil: Lucila Machado Assumpção, 2005.
Edition of 1000.

21 cm x 14 cm; 96 pages. Color illustrated wraps. Perfect bound. Bilingual text — English and Portuguese.

Lucila Machado Assumpção: "This is a limited commemorative edition of short stories by John Keith Wood [Assumpção's late husband] with original drawings by himself, edited on year after his death. It contains a small stamp that consists of a detail cut from an actual hand painted silk by Dr. Wood that illustrates on of his favorite themes: ‘The Multiplicity in the Unity.’ Each book contains one fragment of the silk, making it unique. Taken together, the books contain the totality of the work depicted on the front cover."

Cover statement: "In a personal, affectionate tone, John Keith Wood narrates his own adjustments to farming and his increasing appreciation for the history and culture of Brazil. He created with his wife, Lucila Machado Assumpção, an Ecological Reserve in Jaguarlúna/Holambra where he lived and wrote his chronicles on the rural life and the quirks of human nature, always attentive to the ‘spirit of the place.’ With gentle eyes, quiet presence, and a talent for listening, he helped each place and each person achieve harmony and fullness."
$30

Lucila Machado Assumpção: "The structure I baptized multi-faced fan, was developed around and after 1991, when I was searching for ways to express parts that combine to make a whole. How diversity may be perceived in the unity has been a quest, shared with my husband, to understand and fully live the potential of the individuality and the totality. This structure was born in the girdle tradition: books carried on the belt like the physician's book of symptoms, or the cleric's prayer book, because one might need them to perform their duties at the moment. It was generated by the desire to take art wherever I go, not exactly like a vest, but like a belief that informs my behavior, or characterizes the essence of my being.

"I like to think that the art I do is prepared for diverse situations including future space travels. It is light, allows multiple transformations, fulfills several functions, can be displayed on walls when fully open or stored in small places folded as books, fans or silk installations. In this vein it also belongs to another tradition, the venetian blind structure of books. The Tamil book found in southern India is an example: where an epic poem Kambaramayanam was written on bamboo strips threaded together so that they could be folded up over each other or spread out flat to be read.

"I also like to think this fan is an art object that may waft constructive thoughts over those who will read it. In this way it is slightly tinted by epic tones, the choice to work on our best parts. It is committed to Beauty and also determined to search for meaning...."

"These three fans were created this year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Japanese Immigration to Brazil, because I thought it relates very well to the Japanese art culture. I talked to several friends in different communities to understand which were the main qualities they brought to Brazil."

Aprendi
By Lucila Machado Assumpção
Jaguarlúna, SP, Brazil: Lucila Machado Assumpção, 2008.
One-of-a-Kind.

Fan: 5 x 7.75"; 8 leaves (slats of the fan). Thread binding with removable screw closure. Printed paper accented with color pencils. Housed in leather cover with horn closing device.

Lucila Machado Assumpção: "This is a simpler format of the fan with only 4 "pages", in a triangle shape."

As with the artist's other fans, Aprendi [I Learn] has several possible transformations. Each of the transformations presents a phrase and image (constructed by arrayed slats) that provide a platform for the artists' thoughts and vision. The screw closure can be put in either end of the slats, which can then be spread out to reveal a series of images and words. Text is in Portuguese.

The captions — honora no camino [honor the way], o misteri do poesia [mystery of poetry], multiculosity no ritual [multiculosity in the ritual]
— provide focus; the images provide focus and flare.
$900

People Place
By Lucila Machado Assumpção
Jaguarlúna, SP, Brazil: Lucila Machado Assumpção, 2008.
One-of-a-Kind.

Fan: 8 x .1.625 x .5"; 18 leaves (slats of the fan); thread binding with removable screw closure. Book: 3 x 2.625" closed; 12 pages; single-sided accordion contains photographs showing possible transformations of the fan. Acrylic paint. Fan slips into felt case with velcro closure. Bilingual text (Portuguese and English).

By manipulating the fan in various ways (using the booklet as a guide) the arrayed slats present 12 transformations, each with differing words and images. For example, stacking the slats and spreading them reveals one transformation. Flipping the fan reveals a different set of words and a new image. Moving the screw, which acts as the fan's pivot, from one end to the other allows different possibilities.

The words provide focus; the images provide focus and flare; the physical transformations provide (initial) frustration and (eventual) delight. An array of possibilities.
$1600

Boletim Metereológico: Tempoema
Weather Report Poem
By Lucila Machado Assumpção
Jaguarlúna, SP, Brazil: Lucila Machado Assumpção, 1996.
One-of-a-Kind.

Fan: 9.75 x .875 x 1.5"; 36 leaves (slats of the fan); thread binding with removable screw closure. Book: 2.875 x 2.75" closed; 12 pages; single-sided accordion contains photographs showing possible transformations of the fan. Pastel and colored pencils. Fan housed in sturdy oblong paper box with booklet.

By manipulating the fan in various ways (using the booklet as a guide) the arrayed slats present 14 transformations, each with a line of the poem (in Portuguese) and a different image. For example, stacking the slats and spreading them reveals a word. Flipping the fan reveals a different word. Moving the screw, which acts as the fan's pivot, from one end to the other allows different possibilities.
$1900

4CES
By Lucila Machado Assumpção
Jaguarlúna, SP, Brazil: Lucila Machado Assumpção, 1994.
One-of-a-Kind.

Fan: 8.75 x .875 x 1"; 24 leaves (slats of the fan); thread binding with removable screw closure. Book: 3 x 2.4" closed; 12 pages; single-sided accordion contains photographs showing possible transformations of the fan.Acrylic paint and colored pencils. Fan slips into hand painted silk cloth case with velcro closure. Text in English.

By manipulating the fan in various ways (using the booklet as a guide) the arrayed slats present 12 transformations, each with a different word and a different image. For example, stacking the slats and spreading them reveals a word. Flipping the fan reveals a different word. Moving the screw, which acts as the fan's pivot, from one end to the other allows different possibilities. The most complex involves twisting the slats into a heart shaped structure.

The single word captions - instinct, individuality, circumstance, Dream, Be4, 4 Get, 4 Give, 4 Ever, 4 Bid, 4 Gone, There 4, 4 Tune - provide focus; the images provide focus and flare; the physical transformations provide (initial) frustration and (eventual) delight. An array of possibilities.
$1700

The Olympic Helix

Assumpção created several works as a result of her interest in the Olympic Games in Atlanta (1996).

Discus Olympicus: Cast your Victory
By Lucila Machado Assumpção
Jaguarlúna, SP, Brazil: Lucila Machado Assumpção, 1996.
Edition of 4.

9.75" diameter; 5 notched circular pages that fit together (and come apart) to allow multiple views. The cover/case is of recycled paper, sized and shaped to resemble a discus sliced in two. Its interior has molded handprints. A circular stretch band overlaps the edges of the two discus halves and serves as a closure. One page fold out instruction manual included.

Lucila Machado Assumpção: "My original mandala structure in celebration of the Atlanta Olympic Games! Book has five loose pages that can fit together in a Mandala Structure. Created to express independent autonomous (pages) individuals or continents, that with an inner opening can easily fit together to integrate a whole."

The games started on the first full moon after the summer solstice.

"In the steps of imagination we have to risk our best.
Starting on the first full moon after the summer solstice,
we will spin together in our quest for excellence,
reuniting the Planet’s athletes, poets and lovers of the spectacle.
Five continents bound together to sustain an important manifest:
dream your Victory and proceed in constant preparation,
risking your best to withstand the test in a fair game,
honoring excellence and reverence,
and getting nourishment from joyful celebration."

As is frequent with this artist, Discus Olympicus invites multiple constructions (thankfully, it comes with an instruction manual) and is textured with multiple symbols. The full moon reminds us that the ancient Olympic Games started on the first full moon after the summer solstice; a view of the earth from space and a circular color spectrum represent the interconnectedness of the five continents in search of excellence; the Victory of Sa. In splashes of color at the top of each circular page are the Portuguese words for preparation, excellence, integration, celebration, and victory.
$1200

The Olympic Helix
By Lucila Machado Assumpção
Jaguarlúna, SP, Brazil: Lucila Machado Assumpção, 1995.
One-of-a-Kind.

6 x 6"; 14 pages. Multi-directional foldout book of handmade linen paper, which is translucent and has the feel of very thin vellum. Images and text in colored pencil, sometimes dipped in water to render the affect of watercolors. Laid in a weathered red leather wraparound with twine and leather closure.

One of several works done for the Olympic Games in Atlanta (1996), this is another of the artist’s transformation books, going from a single 6 x 6” page to an 18 x 24” sheet with an abstract design.

“Nourished Inner Flame passed Hand to Heart...”
$300

Everything Makes Sense, Every Sense Makes Change
By Lucila Machado Assumpção
Jaguarlúna, SP, Brazil: Lucila Machado Assumpção, 1994.
Edition of 500.

12.5 cm X 12.5 cm closed; 87.5 cm x 62.5 cm opened. Fold book, snake construction. In floral illustrated slipcase. Multi direction folding offset of an original watercolor.

Lucila Machado Assumpção: "In this book the perpetual play between the One and the Many became apparent. As each page is turned, the process of orderly change unfolds. And when the story of individuality has been told thusly the pages can be spread out to reveal the inseparable pattern of their fabric....

"For sensory pleasure, no explanation is necessary. One may take up this piece in one's hands, run one's fingers over the texture and "weigh" its value for oneself.

"For those who might seek it, the ‘meaning’ of the book is simple: it expresses the One in the Many. In other words, what every book does, it unfolds an individual page at a time telling a sequential step-by-step story. And upon digesting it completely, it reveals an integral whole....

"Opening the entire work, reveals a 25 x 35 inch water color painting of a wild-flower arrangement. The whole image, made up of individual sequences."
$300