Bagatelles for Cornell by Brown, Lee Ann [poems]; Randall, Karen [images] - 2012

Northampton, MA: Propolis Press, 2012. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine in Fine Box. Limited Edition. Hardcover. "Bagatelles for Cornell is a new artist's book with poems by Lee Ann Brown and images by Karen Pava Randall. An homage to the early 20th century collage artist and inveterate wanderer of New York City, Joseph Cornell, the book evokes the cityscape through a sequence of photomontages. Each image, capturing a seemingly discrete moment in time, is a layering of several moments. It is the history of New York apprehended in an instant.
Randall's images blend contemporary digital and early modern technology, using 19th century photochemical techniques (cyanotype & gum bichromate processes) to print montages created in Photoshop. There is a utopian / dystopian quality to these photographs - composed from various sources.
Lee Ann Brown is a filmmaker, performer, writer, and the editor of Tender Buttons Press. She teaches at St. John's University in Queens on Utopia Parkway near where Cornell lived. Robert Haas, in his review of her Polyverse, wrote "Among younger American poets, Lee Ann Brown is one of the wittiest and most inventive."
Karen Pava Randall is an artist who works in many media, including words and book objects. She is the proprietor of Propolis Press, which has produced artist's books in collaborations with contemporary poets and the Least Weasel Chapbook series. Her works are held in over a dozen major collections including: Brown, Columbia, Stanford, Yale, and The Library of Congress." [Artist statement]. Small spots of staining (printing issue) esle tight, bright, and unmarred. Accordion bound and nested in a telescoping box containing a bottle labeled: Utopia / Kalligraphischetinte / Sacré Bleu; text was printed via letterpress by Randall at Wild Carrot Letterpress. 8vo. np. Illus. (color plates). Limited edition of 8 (only 6 of which came to market).