Monday, April 11, 2022

id est: neo scribalist asemic expressionism by Michael Jacobson


Here are sample pages from my work in progress id est: neo scribalist asemic expressionism.

The book is scheduled to be released on my 50th birthday in 2023 by Post-Asemic Press. id est is an abstract illuminated manuscript that will be 73 pages in length and reflect the universe as I have experienced it. I am posting all the pages on my Facebook wall as I complete painting them. I am using gouache and watercolor pencils to hand-paint the pages one at a time. So far I am up to page 42. The book will be a hardcover and will be available in a print-on-demand edition. 

Manuscripts that influenced me are The Book of Kells, The Voynich Manuscript, The Codex Seraphinianus, and the painted books from Mexico. Though my book is influenced by the totality of human expression going all the way back to cave art and forward to asemic calligraphy, graffiti, neo expressionism, and alien scripts in science fiction. Kenneth Patchen's painted poems are another source of inspiration for me. William Blake's Illuminated Manuscripts are a major influence on my book though more in spirit than aesthetically.