The Blue Book
Naxos, Greece, 1998
Unique hand-made book, 15.5 x 22cm. Textured cover and fifty pages,
predominantly in shades of blue, some dove grey, with petals, leaves,
berries and thread incorporated in the paper, all hand-made and hand-stitched
by the artist. No text.
Thalassa
Florence, 1999 - 2000
Artist’s book hand-made by the artist in 21 versions, each signed
and numbered by the artist. Cover size variable approximately17 x 27.5cm,
hand-made and hand-painted paper and stitched with gold thread by the
artist. Forty internal pages 14.5 x 22cm, Ingres paper, some containing
colour xeroxes of original works by the artist, others hand-painted
with texts hand-written in gold ink by the artist. Each book follows
the same format and is part of a series but is also unique as the painted
pages and script vary. The colours are predominantly shades of blue
and gold. The book is about the idea of the Sea and Origins.
A walk in the woods
Florence 2000
Artist’s book digitally printed in an edition of 50 copies on the occasion of the exhibition “We Map Out Our Obsessions”, Florence, 2000. Each copy signed and numbered by the artist. Soft bound with transparent protective cover printed with the title in Red. Fifty-two pages 11x15.5cm combine images by the artist and text by the artist printed in red on Colotech 160gsm paper on the theme of Woman, Femininity and the Cycle of Nature.
Concept and layout by Rea Stavropoulos.
Printed in Florence by La Stamperia di Massimo Massaini
Danzare la Vita
Bologna 2001
Unique book recording the dance sequences for the rehearsal and filming
of “Danzare la Vita” (Dance into Life) at the Teatro San
Martino in the deconsecrated Church of San Martino, Bologna. Principal
dancer and choreographer Samuella Bianchi with Francesco and Maruska.
Hard bound, cover with colourful Florentine design, 98 pages 8.7 x 9.7cm,
drawings using conté No.2 extra fine drawing pencil.
Dance, Dreams and Journeys – fragments of a life
Florence, 2003
Edition of 50, each signed and numbered by the artist. 116 pages, 13
x 17cm, digital prints from original drawings in the artist’s
sketchbooks 1973-2003 and texts by the artist on Colotech 160gsm paper.
Plain scarlet cover. Hand bound with Murillo 360 gsm. Sections include
“The Seventies”; “From Sri Lanka to India, by train
and boat”; “Family”; “Travels through Greece”;
“Dance – Rhythm in Space”.
Concept and layout by Rea Stavropoulos.
Printed in Florence by La Stamperia di Massimo Massaini
Meditations – Florence, Tivoli, Ninfa
2004
Unique loose leaf book, primrose yellow cover tied with orange and
grey string. Two end pages of grey cardboard. 24 pages of scarlet Ingres
paper, 29.5 x 21 cm, with colour xerox copies of works from sketchbooks
glued on to them, images measuring 29.5 x 10.5 cm, predominantly soft
greens, ochre and darker cypress green, allow red borders of backing
paper to show on either side. The images are of statues, trees, reflections
in the gardens of Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, Ninfa near Rome and
Boboli Gardens in Florence, all painted over a week in November 2004.
The pages are interleaved with powder blue tissue paper 29.5 x 21cm
and smaller strips of the same tissue paper and of grey Ingres paper
with quotations hand-written in red ink from poets and writers: Keats,
Marguerite Yourcenar, Flaubert, Marvell, Marina Warner, Frank O’Hara.
Juego de Dados 2005
Florence, 2004
Spiral bound calendar/book digitally produced in an edition of 30 copies,
each signed and numbered by the artist, containing the artist’s
twelve images for the Game of Dice exhibition in Barcelona 2004, the
artist’s lay-out for the completion of the dice and two photographs
from the exhibition. 32 pages, including cover page, 15 x 21.2cm. The
cover reproduces a hand-written text by the artist written as a message
for the New Year. The edition was produced to be circulated to friends
of the artist.
Concept and layout by Rea Stavropoulos.
Printed in Florence by La Stamperia di Massimo Massaini
Hommage à Lewigue
Porto Alegre, Brazil 2005
Unique hand-made book conceived by Javier Quintanilla to commemorate
fellow artist Jean-Marie Lewigue and to be presented and exhibited at
the exhibition “Jogo de Dados” (Game of Dice), Casa de Cultura
Màrio Quintana, Porto Alegre, Brazil, after which it was given
to Lewigue’s widow.
Collaborative work: each of the seven artists was invited to contribute
four pages on 300gm hand-made paper 60 x 35cm and was given complete
freedom as to style, medium and content. Rea Stavropoulos’s four
pages are concerned with issues of life, death, the struggle of the
artist for independence and ideas of transcendence as discussed in Rilke’s
Duino Elegies and through the figure of the Angel. They include hand-painted
images using watercolour, crayon, pencil and ink and hand-written texts.
Each artist worked separately, in Barcelona, Madrid, Florence and Porto
Alegre and the pages were then sent to Javier Quintanilla who assembled
the book. Rea Stavropoulos’s four pages form the final part of
the book.
Secret Gardens
Florence 2001 - 2006
Unique free-standing sculptural book, can assume different forms for
display e.g. circle, semi-circle, spiral, open circle. Can be opened
up to be read and viewed like a scroll retro and verso. Each is hand-painted
in watercolour on 200gm Fabriano paper and includes a scene from Boboli
Gardens in the interior part of the circle and paintings of flowers
punctuating the artist’s prose poem “Secret Gardens”,
which is hand-written in red ink on the external part. The flowers and
plants and their positioning are unique to each work. Twelve versions
of this piece have been produced to date, each varying in size, but
approximately 10 x 70.7cm (size of sheet when stretched open) for the
smaller ones, and 21.3 x 162cm for the larger versions. Each version
is signed and dated by the artist.
Secret Gardens
Florence, 2006
Digitally produced to accompany the artist’s exhibition and installation
“Secret Gardens” at La Corte Arte Contemporanea, Florence,
May 2006. Edition of 300 (100 signed and numbered by the artist). Soft
bound, it has a separate detachable stone coloured protective cover
with the title printed in red. The two inside flaps have an introduction
to the Secret Gardens project written by the artist in Italian and English.
32 pages, 10 x 20cm, reproduce images of works from the Secret Gardens
project, video stills, performances, installations, work in progress.
There are two articles by Lucia Fiaschi and Mo Throp printed in both
English and Italian. The artist’s prose poem “Secret Gardens”
is included in the original English, with an Italian translation.
Concept and layout by Rea Stavropoulos.
Photographs by Rea Stavropoulos, Paolo Mariani and Giovanni Maragno.
Printed in Florence by La Stamperia di Massimo Massaini
Paperwork for Sian
Florence, 2007
Unique free-standing sculptural book with images of figure, hands, plants, abstract and organic forms hand-painted in watercolour on paper retro and verso and the artist’s “Secret Gardens” prose poem hand-written in red ink between the images recto and verso.
Can be opened up to be read and viewed like a scroll and may be manipulated into different forms for display e.g. spiral, semi-circle, circle, so size is variable. Size of sheet when stretched open 10 x 70.5 cm. Signed and dated by the artist.
Mythologies 2009 - Rea Zoe Stavropoulos
Mythologies 2009 - Rea Zoe Stavropoulos
Florence, 2009
Digitally produced to accompany the artist's exhibition and installation "Mythologies 2009 - Rea Zoe Stavropoulos" at "Il Comignolo", Sasso Barisano, Matera, Southern Italy, September 2009. Edition of 120 each signed and numbered by the artist. Texts by the artist in English: "Reflections on Names and Places", "Do Names Shape Destinies?", "Choròs/ Chòros Dance/ Space" and in Italian "Riflessioni su Nomi e Luoghi", "Nomi e Destini - Matera", "Choròs/ Chòros Danza/ Spazio".
Soft bound, it has a separate detachable red coloured cover, with the title printed in black on the front cover and other texts printed on the back cover. 20 pages, 14cm x 14cm , reproduce images from the "Mythologies" series and the "Dancers" series and there are two pages of "Fragments" where self portrait images of the artist dancing, walking and painting are juxtaposed with "fragments" of the works.
Concept and layout by Rea Stavropoulos.
Photographs by Rea Stavropoulos and Paolo Mariani
Printed in Florence by La Stamperia di Massimo Massaini