Monday, August 13, 2018

A review of Michael Jacobson's Works & Interviews by Federico Federici

"Works and interviews" by Michael Jacobson is a collection of both asemic scripts ("The Giant's Fence", "Action Figures", "A Headhunter's Tale"), interviews and other textual installations ("THAT: A Planet", "The Paranoia Machine", "MK JCBSN").
The first three sections challenge the reader to enter a net of finely entangled patterns and explore the residual signs of plots, which the paranoid characters, once inhabiting there, left deliberately behind.
Page after page, a carousel of abandoned or accidental symbols, of dreams cropped from a broader vision is delivered to the brain, which is supposed to edit and reassemble them into full narrative frameworks. Readers turn into spies collecting evidences of the impenetrable shelter of meaning. They may even find themselves connected to peripheral cameras, recording the relentless brain activities on the verge of dreaming.
Under a different perspective, the storytelling approach of this book convincingly relies on a cornerstone of asemic practice: however paradoxical it may seem, the intrinsic coherence of asemicism generates meaningfulness while stimulating the aptitude of readers to scan symbols in a meaningful way.
Asemic works act as blank tapes, simultaneously activated, recorded and erased again while watched. Each reader is, as such, an accomplice of the writer and possibly its desired alter ego.
A mirror is not an image in itself, but it has the property of imaging, likewise each asemic text does not exhibit a meaning of its own, but it is some sort of filter, capable of simulating and stimulating meaningfulness, engaging the reader into this unprecedented task.


- Federico Federici

Click here for Works & Interviewshttp://postasemicpress.blogspot.com/2017/04/works-interviews-by-michael-jacobson-is.html

Saturday, August 11, 2018

2 Great New Asemic Writing / Poem Brut Books by Steven J. Fowler


Aletta Ocean's Alphabet Empire  (Hesterglock Press, 2017), & I Fear My Best Work Behind Me. (Stranger Press, 2017),  are two great works of asemic handwriting from author SJ Fowler (Steven J. Fowler).

Aletta Ocean's Alphabet Empire is the more unreadable of the two. It contains mostly black and white asemic writing with the occasional "Picasso blue" page of asemic script. The art/writing has a storm like quality to it with asemic lightning bolts cutting across the surface of the folios. Other pages seem to contain illegible asemic animal tracks, and still others remind me of Morse code birch bark dashes. This book's main focus and general theme is the raw erotic power of creation of an excelled asemic mythology. AOAE is presented in a fine hardcover volume by Hesterglock Press and is limited to 40 copies.

I Fear My Best Work Behind Me is the slightly more legible of the two and is more colourful than Aletta. It has a spring-like playfulness and joy bringing qualities that makes me think of an asemic Kenneth Patchen crossed with finger painted art. There are a few more recognizable drolleries such as a deer's head and a crab, and the skulls on the cover art, but most of the text/art is nebulous. Fowler has acknowledged the influence of Christian Dotremont and Henri Michaux in this book, but from these predecessors he has developed his own original calligraphic style and signature. The publisher Stranger Press has taken Steven's work and made an admirable codex which I will treasure.

Both works offer an excellent introduction to Steven J. Fowler's personal raw art poetry. This is Poem Brut in its finest form, a term I believe coined by Steven to describe the outsider poetry not created with a computer. It is refreshing to read/hold these handwritten books since they offer a respite and rest from today's bloated techno-culture. Asemic books are the ultimate captcha and prove we are not robots. It is invigorating to read through these two works in a time when everything is being digitized, to have these two beautiful works of resistance now is essential. Find these books and you will know.



Friday, August 10, 2018

100 Hybrids by Jefferson Hansen is available now in the shop at Minnesota Center for Book Arts & Eat My Words Bookstore here in Minneapolis!


Jeff and I dropped off some copies of his new book 100 Hybrids at Minnesota Center for Book Arts today. We also dropped off copies at Eat My Words bookshop here in NE Minneapolis. These are the only 2 physical bookshops currently offering Jeff's book at the moment. 100 Hybrids is available for $12 at these 2 locations. So if you are local, or are visiting Minneapolis, these are 2 great bookstores to support where you can find Jeff's book while browsing the shelves. Next month, on Saturday September 22 at 6pm at Boneshaker books (another great local shop here in Minneapolis), there will be a poetry reading/asemic writing hybrid event and book release party for 100 Hybrids. More details of the reading will be coming soon. All Post-Asemic Press titles are currently available at MCBA. Jeff's book is the only PAP title at Eat My Words.