Pia Pizzo ~ California

Poetry Books
Artwork by Pia Pizzo
Long Beach, California: Sama Press, 2004. Edition of 31.

8. 5.5"; 2 leaves. Digitally printed on 100% cotton Arches paper using an HP printer. Paper wraps with title and illustration on front cover. Colophon printed on inside back wrapper. Print and colophon signed and numbered by the artist.

A series of books in which consists of a poem accompanied by Pia Pizzo's artwork, which has been computer generated from an original.

Works in this series:
The Wheel of Ch'i                   Poem by Chang San-Feng
Anything but Firewood         Poem by Ryonen Genso
It is not Mind nor Buddha    Poem by Daio Kokushi
Unknown Unity                       Poem by Ts'ao Shan
Arrows of Fear and Hope      Poem by Manazar Gamboa
Mystic Spiral                           From Jill Purce's The Mystic Spiral
The Way to Infinity                  Poem by Chuang Tzu
Being and non-Being             Poem by Sun-Ts'an
The Cause of Being                 Poem by Hakuin
The Wheel of Time                   Poem by Layman P'ang
Spiral of Love                          Poem by Rabindranath Tagoreh, Cali

$100 each

The Mystery Box
By Pia Pizzo
Long Beach, California: Pia Pizzo, 1991 - 1994. One-of-a-Kind.

4 x 6 x 2"; 24 pages. Materials: a variety of black and red papers, thread, ribbon, cloth, wood fragments, and black and red inks. One pocket page with 3.4 x 7.5" folded letter and 4 fragments of text with burned edges. Bound in black paper covers with black grosgrain ribbon closures.

Although it is not mentioned in the book, in private conversation Pizzo revealed she was inspired by the line "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" from Act IV, Scene I of Shakespeare's The Tempest (IV.i.).

The enigmatic letter and text fragments seem to pay homage to a dear friend who has been lost - "drowned into the river of mud." As usual with Pizzo's work, the colors - somber with fleck's of gold - and texture - like layers of weathered skins - combine to suggest a silent fugue.
$800

One-of-a-kind Mind and Memory books

Pia Pizzo, artist statement: "The non-books or rather the non-readable books that I contemplate as extension of the perspective of both mind and memory set out to recount a happening, a state of affairs or a journey within the page or through the pages. The page is therefore the chosen setting for any hypothetical adventure you may embark upon or any hypothetical message you may be seeking: the blank page thus represents the virgin void of mental space. In this way the progressive cutting, this virtual inter-framing between one page and another, opens up upon the perspective against which and within which the mind can roam at will.

"The sequence of the pages, which act as the filters/screens of an unidentifiable complex machinery, unfolds with kinetic rhythm as you turn the pages, so these books become the arena within which to unwind your mind rather than the stage for grasping codified messages. The tearing of the paper is never the outcome of an aggressive approach but stems rather from studied feeling and touching, from physical contact with both the material and reality at the same time, as a step towards thinking once again in tactile terms....

"When I start a work of art, there is an empty space, a void, and I search how to balance form with emptiness, knowing when one has 'says' enough....

"The non-Books and pages without words or images are focused only on the light and shadows created in the empty spaces of their construction; they are composed with natural light which cause the pieces to vibrate as the light changes through the course of the day. As well as an awareness of the unknown fathoms of exploration, my work demands the music of silence."

Rings of Conjunction
By Pia Pizzo
Long Beach, California: Pia Pizzo, 2005. One-of-a-Kind.

79.5 x 6.5 closed; 11 pages. 9.5 x 24" open. Papier d'Arches. Japanese rice paper. Ink of China. Watercolor. Gold leaves. Bound by the artist. Signed and dated by the artist.

$1,200

The Great Energy
By Pia Pizzo
Long Beach, California: Pia Pizzo, 2004. One-of-a-Kind.

9.5 x 6.5 closed, extends to 24"; 8 pages. Papier d'Arches. Japanese rice paper. Ink of China. Watercolor. Gold leaves. Bound by the artist. Signed and dated by the artist.

$1,200