Sonnet(s)

A lost gem of permutational conceptualism from a key figure in artist’s book culture, available again

Known internationally as one of Mexico’s most important conceptual artists, Ulises Carrion (1941-89) played a decisive role in defining and conceptualizing the genre of the artists’ book through his manifesto, The New Art of Making Books (1975), which he wrote soon after the 1972 publication of SONNET(S) and his move from Mexico City to Amsterdam, where he opened the legendary bookshop gallery, Other Books and So, the first space dedicated exclusively to artists’ publications and an important precursor to such artists’ book hubs as Printed Matter.

One of Carrion’s earliest bookworks, SONNET(S) represents a landmark shift in the artist’s output from poetry to artists’ books. Here, Carrion takes a single poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti through 50 typographic and procedural permutations. This republication is supplemented by new essays on Carrion’s bookworks by contemporary artists, writers, and scholars from Mexico, Europe and the US.