6387

Mikhail Karasik (Ed.)

ОБЭРИУ box

Oberiu box

St. Petersburg, 2002

370 x 275 x 60 mm.

The OBERIU box contains a collection of seven artist’s

books plus an appendix. The seven books each have

a text by a different author of the late 1920s, early

1930s OBERIU group: Daniil Kharms, Igor Bakhterev,

Alexandr Vvedensky, Nikolai Zabolotsky, Konstantin

Vaginov, Nikolai Oleinikov, and Leonid Lipavsky.

The concept of this collection was thought out by

Karasik. As organiser and promoter of contemporary

Russian book art and artist’s books, he asked six of

his artist friends to contribute to this project. Each

of the seven artists involved choose one of the

aforementioned authors as topic for a book. In addition

to a book by Karasik, the box contains contributions

by Victor Goppe, Boris Konstriktor, Iuri Shtapakov,

Petr Shvetzov, Iulia Zaretskaia, and Serge Iakunin.

The books and an appendix made by Karasik are

kept in box, an enlargement of an actual matchbox

manufactured by the Gomeldrev match factory. The

collection was published in a 21 copy edition.

7334

Mikhail Karasik (Ed.)

ЛИТКОНСТРУКТИВИЗМ box

Litconstructivism box

St. Petersburg, 2003

370 x 275 x 60 mm.

The Literary Constructivism box contains a collection

of seven artist’s books. It is the second box published

by Kharmsizdat, in a series of boxes that started

with the OBERIU box in 2002. The seven books in

this box each have a text by a member or members

of the United Russian Literary Constructivists, a

group founded in 1925 by Aleksei Chicherin and Ilya

Selvinsky. IIn addition to texts by these two authors

there are contributions by Kornely Zelinsky, Vera Inber,

Semen Kirsanov, and Vladimir Lugovskoi. Contributing

artists are Tatiana Igumnova, Victor Remishevsky,

Vladimir Zagorov, Andrei Chezin, Evgeny Strelkov,

and of course Mikhail Karasik. Again the collection is

printed in a 21 copy edition, and the books are kept in

an enlarged matchbox. This time the front cover is an

original design rather than the standard one.

References:

Hellyer 2006, nr 945

7315

Mikhail Karasik (Ed.)

Русский DADA box

Russian DADA box

St. Petersburg, 2003

370 x 275 x 60 mm.

The Russian Dada box contains a collection of eight

artist’s books with texts taken from futurist authors of

the early 1920s: Riurik Rok, Mikhail Zenkevich, Orest

Tiesenhausen, Khabias-Komarova, Tikhon Churilin,

Aleksandr Tufanov, Igor Terentiev, and a manifest by

the Nothingists. It is the third box in the series based

on a concept by Karasik and contains artist’s books

by his hand and by Petr Shvetzov, Vladimir Kozin,

Grigory Katsnelson (Girsh), Dmitry Pilikin, Boris

Khaimsky, and Vladimir Igumnov. Again the collection

is published in a 21 copy edition and the books are

kept in an enlarged matchbox. Like the previous box,

the front cover an orginial design by Karasik, while the

back is again taken from an example produced by the

Gomeldrev match-factory.

References:

Hellyer 2006, nr 962

7335

Mikhail Karasik (Ed.)

LENINGRADSKII  LITERATURNYI ANDERGRAUND box

Leningrad literary Underground box

St. Petersburg, 2003

370 x 275 x 60 mm.

The Leningrad Literary Underground box is the fourth

and final box of the series by Kharmsizdat. It was

published in a 21 copy edition and contains eight

artist’s books with Samizdat (self-published) poetry.

During soviet rule in the 1960s and 1970s, Samizdat

was the only way to distribute modern poetry. The

box contains poetry written by Leonid Aronzon, Viktor

Krivulin, Oleg Grigoriev, Henri Volokhonsky, Boris

Konstriktor, Vladimir Ufliand, Elena Schwartz, and Boris

Kudriakov. Three of these poets–Konstriktor, Ufliand,

and Kudriakov–also made the book and illustrations

for the box. The other books were created by Iulia

Zaretskaia, Andrei Chezhin, Valentin Gerasimenko,

and Igor Lebedev. The books and a wooden table

of contents page are kept in an enlarged matchbox,

similar to the previous boxes. Karasik again made an

original lithograph for the cover.

References: