#andrew topel

[garadinervi]

From: Andrew Topel, Abstracts, (20 pages + a poster), Paper View, Leiria, 2024 [© Andrew Topel]

[totaleditorial]

A visual poem is one that must be seen to be fully understood, where the verbal and visual draw strength from each other to produce greater meaning. As such, visual poetry invites us to consider not just the typographic elements of verse—the shape of letters, the spaces between words, the overall composition of a page—but also the poetic potential of images.

In our workshop on visual poetry we followed a progression of ever more acutely visual forms, from technopaegnia (a tradition of “shaped poems,” of which George Hebert’s “Easter Wings” is an oft-cited example) to asemic writing, where the semantic function of language is removed entirely, as in works by mIEKAL aND or Rosaire Appel. Defining a collage-centric lineage of intermedia practices from Dada to Lettrism to Situationism and Fluxus, we lingered on specific works with roots in those traditions: the “typewriter poems” of Dom Sylvester Houédard, Sarah J. Sloat’s diagrammatic erasures augmented by collage, the swirling “tangle of language” in Ava Hofmann’s “[A woman wandered into a thicket],” the typographic abstraction of Andrew Topel’s “Black on White on Black,” and Tony Fitzpatrick’s multimedia collages, with their densely layered personal and social iconographies. We also discussed several visual artists who employ text, among them Ray Johnson and Deb Sokolow, whose work, while not necessarily poetic in intent, nevertheless contains some gnomic inscrutability that seems to tune our awareness to the frequency of poetry.

As with any practice that operates across arbitrary borders of medium and technique, the possibilities offered by visual poetry can make a blank page extra intimidating. The following prompts were inspired by questions from workshop participants, and each represents a potential starting point for exploring the intersection of words and images.

Prompt 1: Diagram a sequence

Choose a diagram you find visually interesting. Instruction manuals and science textbooks are an excellent source.

Remove or cover all the labels and captions.

Now consider something you wish would happen. What are the steps between here and there? What does the end result look like? 

Describe each on a sheet of paper. Be as florid as you like.

Cut out each “step” and assign it a position on the diagram. Don’t think too hard about this part.

For inspiration, see Nance Van Winckel’s Book of No Ledgeor Flat-Pack by Anney Bolgiano.

Prompt 2: Visualizing voices

Start a collection of interesting words or phrases cut out of newspapers and magazines.

Choose one of these at random (draw from a hat, or close your eyes and pick one up). Paste it down in the center of a piece of paper.

Now choose the cutout that feels most like a response. Where does it belong in relation to the first? Does it agree? Disagree? How would that look visually—is it close or far away? Intersecting? Overlapping? Think about the different voices implied by differences in typography. Is the reply louder? Quieter? Paste it in place.

Repeat, with the phrase that seems to respond to what you just pasted down. Keep repeating.

For inspiration, see the work of Douglas Kearney.

Prompt 3: Finding images in letters

Start a collection of large text: newspaper and magazine headlines, chapter titles. 

Cut out individual letters or words. 

Now choose some of the most interesting letterforms and slice them further, vertically and/or horizontally.

Put several of these into your hands, a bag, or a hat, and shake them up. Drop them onto a blank sheet of paper. 

Glue a few of these down where they landed. Now begin filling in the gaps, finding points of connection. Try to think of these as purely visual objects.

For inspiration, see the work of Geof Huth and Cecil Touchon.

Prompt 4: Score an event

Choose a situation that involves a series of repeating events or gestures. This could be a sporting event, the traffic passing by your window, the sounds you hear in a cafe.

Observe for a few moments in order to choose 6 to 16 “events” that are likely to recur. Design a mark or symbol to represent each event. For example, if you are watching traffic, create symbols for cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles. Consider how you can represent the direction a vehicle is traveling, its color or sound.

Decide on a time frame you’ll observe and divide a sheet of paper into units. For our traffic example, we could sample ten minutes by drawing ten lines on a sheet of paper.

Observe, using your system of symbols to record events as they occur.

For inspiration, see the drawings of Lee Walton or Rosaire Appel’s “Unsettled Scores.”

Prompt 5: Simple asemic writing

Coat the palm or side of your dominant hand with ink, paint, or graphite.

Now hold an imaginary pencil and write about a memory you don’t want to forget. Aim for five minutes, replenishing the ink or graphite at the end of each stanza or sentence.

[ions-in-the-ether]

Andrew Topel and John M. Bennett

[faintpress]

Is This Your Property (no. 2)

collab - Chris Wells / Andrew Topel

[marcogiovenale]

otoliths, issue #61

  issue sixty-one of Otoliths, the southern autumn 2021 issue has gone live, featuring paintings, drawings, music, essays, vispo, fiction, fact, poetry, photography, & vispo, from Laurent Grison, Sanjeev Sethi, Olchar E. Lindsann, Brandstifter & Texas Fontanella, Louise Landes Levi, Linda M. Walker, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, John Bradley, Sarah-Jane Crowson, Doren Robbins, Andrew Topel, Clive…

[michaelpaulukonis]

Somehow, this is all Andrew Topel's fault -

https://www.facebook.com/andrew.topel.735

To be honest, ending up here was a complete surprise. Not an unpleasant one. Much thanks to the Vaporgram app for the mirroring and head - which while I could have assembled seperately, were RIGHT THERE together at just the right time.

[ffooom]

[utf]

by Andrew Topel

[paulo-williams]

andrew topel

framework

[garadinervi]

From: Andrew Topel, Abstracts, (20 pages + a poster), Paper View, Leiria, 2024 [© Andrew Topel]

[outerblog]

Otoliths #59

From Otoliths editor Mark Young:

Issue fifty-nine, the southern spring issue of Otoliths, is now live. It contains work by Ruggero Maggi, Lynn Strongin, Jim Leftwich, Joseph Salvatore Aversano, Jim Meirose, John M. Bennett, Thomas M. Cassidy, osvaldo cibils, Sanjeev Sethi, Mark Pirie, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Jennifer Hambrick, Jen Schneider, Pete Spence, Heath Brougher, Rob Stuart, Ivan Klein, Jim McCrary, József Bíró, Jack Galmitz, Robert Ronnow, Kristin Garth, Scott MacLeod, Vaughan Rapatahana, Daniel de Culla, Adam Day, S. K. Kelen, Mike James, Texas Fontanella, Seth A. Howard, Serena Piccoli & William Allegrezza, Elaine Woo, Hugh Tribbey, Joanna Walkden Harris, Mike Harriden, Isabel Gómez de Diego, Mark DuCharme, hiromi suzuki, harry k stammer, Cecelia Chapman, Jeff Crouch, Bruno Neiva, Clara B. Jones, Eric Hoffman, J. D. Nelson, Sheila E. Murphy, Olivier Schopfer, Miriam Borgstrom, Jack Foley, Baron Geraldo & Associates, Pat Nolan, Adriána Kóbor, AG Davis, Volodymyr Bilyk, Andrew Brenza, red flea & old beetle, Joe Balaz, Kenneth Rexroth, Rosaire Appel, Jeff Harrison, Diana Magallón, Andrew Topel, Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad, Christopher Barnes, Dave Read, Dale Jensen, Carol Stetser, Thomas Fink, dan raphael, Michael Farrell, Jessie Janeshek, T. W. Selvey, Chris Arnold & Francesca Jurate Sasnaitis, Andrew Taylor, Zebulon Huset, Ramsay Randall, Kenneth Howard Doerr, Penelope Weiss, Gavin Lucky, David Lohrey, Khaloud Al-Muttalibi, Barbara Daniels, Doren Robbins, J. Crouse, Simon Perchik, Karl Bachmann, Jeff Bagato, Wes Lee, Judith Skillman, Roger Mitchell, Grzegorz Wróblewski, Tom Beckett, Charles Wilkinson, Michael Basinski, Stephen Nelson, Bob Lucky, Jude VC, Tony Beyer, Stuart Wheatley, Jürgen O. Olbrich, Christian ALLE, Stu Hatton, Nick Nelson, R L Swihart, Kathleen Reichelt & Rich Ferguson, Dah, Daniel f. Bradley, Michael Ruby, Magdelawit Tesfaye, Eileen R. Tabios, Michael Spring, Les Wicks, Susan Connolly, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Elmedin Kadric, Angela Costi, Pamela Miller, John Levy, Jay Buchanan, Keith Higginbotham, Douglas Barbour, Kathup Tsering, Jill Cameron, Peter Yovu, Marilyn Stablein, Paul Pfleuger, Jr., Richard Kostelanetz, Michael Brandonisio, Katrinka Moore, Rosalinda Ruiz Scarfuto, Aurora Scott, Bob Heman, Keith Nunes, Jane Joritz-Nakagawa, Kristian Patruno, Chris Gutkind, Jane Simpson,  & M.J. Iuppa.

[a feast! Thank you once again, Mark.]

[& FWIW, I have three poems in this issue. &, would you believe, I had three poems in #58 also.]

[ions-in-the-ether]

Andrew Topel

[faintpress]

still in / search / of first / victory - collaborative vispo/mail art sequence between me (Chris Wells) and Andrew Topel

[marcogiovenale]

"utsanga" #30-31

“utsanga” #30-31

https://www.utsanga.it/

[michaelpaulukonis]

Variations upon a theme by Andrew Topel (last image)

https://www.facebook.com/andrew.topel.735

[cornpone]

Homage To Two Andrews - Topel & Brenza