The RED SQUARE series
Stokes, T. Desire, (The Collective Unconscious), 1989, Weproductions/Nexus Press. Atlanta. 124pp 15 x 15 cms. Offset, Ed 800.
Stokes, T./Nekrasov, Vsevolod. Ajar, (A History of Burnt Pans) 1991. Weproductions, 68pp 15 x 15cms, Offset, Ed 500
Douglas, H. /Stokes, T. Yarrow Cooks, 1992, Weproductions, 154pp, 15 x 19 cms Offset, Ed 600.
Douglas, H. / Stokes, T. Water on the Border, 1994, Weproductions, 124pp, 15 x 19 cms Offset, Ed 600.
Douglas, H. Between the Two, 1997, Weproductions, 168pp, 13 x 13 cms Offset, Ed 1000.
Stokes, T. Song of the Thrush, 1998, Weproductions, 148pp, 15 x 19 cms Offset, Ed 400.
What started as a series of red and square sized books 15cms x15cms now loosely refers to the books produced between 1989 and 1998. The development was to a fuller use of layered colour on the one hand and a calligraphic use of line on the other. Movement as a theme of momentum is explored in travel and in dance.
DESIRE
Stokes,Telfer. Desire, (The Collective Unconscious), 1989. (ISBN: O 932526 26 8).
A densely beautiful maze of memories, faces and words. All the parts that make it up, the snatches of conversation, the stolen shots, an eye, an ear, a mouth, the intense saturated colour, are held in place by a grid of fencing wire.
Images and text printed in colour and overlaid colour throughout. Published by Nexus Press, Atlanta in conjunction with Weproductions on an artist in residency scheme.
AJAR
Stokes,Telfer / Nekrasov, Vsevolod. Ajar, (A History of Burnt Pans) 1991.
A ravishing series of visual dishes have been served up for our delectation, varying from the raw to the overdone the verse providing the cutlery for this feast. The text by the Russian poet collaborator plays a role more like the guy ropes and pegs that keep a tent erect and fixed in one place. Printed in colour and overlaid colour. Text in Russian and English.
YARROW COOKS
Douglas, Helen / Stokes, Telfer. Yarrow Cooks, 1992. (ISBN: 0 9519540 010).
Conceived as a fundraiser for Yarrow Primary school, this cookery book combines beautiful drawings of culnery equipment and edible delights made by school children with recipes from the Yarrow valley community.
Originally printed in an edition of 600, this book is now only available in a slipcase comprising 3 books in the Red Square Series 2.
WATER ON THE BORDER
Douglas, Helen / Stokes, Telfer, Water on the Border, 1994. (ISBN: O 9523284 9 6).
Direct connections are established between Scotland and China by combining vigorous pen and ink drawings by school children from both countries with reflective images photographically traced from the water surfaces of Yarrow Water Scotland and West Lake, Hangzhou.
Originally printed in an edition of 600, this book is now only available in a slipcase comprising 3 books in the Red Square Series 2.
In addition, six Chinese poems rendered in calligraphy are transcribed from Chinese into Scots by Brian Holton and combined with inspiration drawn from T'ai Chi and the Su Causeway, Hangzhou, to create a continuum and evoke the confluence between water and the water's edge.
BETWEEN THE TWO
Douglas, Helen. Between the Two, 1997. (ISBN: O 9523284 8 8).
This bookwork is constructed to unravel across the open spread and around the edge of the page to express one continuous visual narrative.
It begins with sparse photographic renderings of grasses as black line on white, progresses into a softer tonal sequence embodying flight and finally, in the latter part of the book, develops an arabesque dance of tendrical peas, as light on dark, leading to a flowering of the book. Black and white throughout, the book is bound in scarlet crushed velvet.
SONG OF THE THRUSH
Stokes, Telfer, Song of the Thrush, 1998, Weproductions, 148pp, 15 x 19 cms Offset, Ed 400. (ISBN: 0 9523284 1 0).
Song of the Thrush was conceived during Stokes's first exposure to the raw poverty on the streets of Bombay.
"I had travelled to India to be taken out of myself with nothing to lean on, no one to help, in a place I had never been to where everything was different. A great deal of what I found there had a strange familiar feel to it, which I let myself be immersed in."
Song of the Thrush develops a visual / tactile quality to express a range offeelings from humour to pathos to anger.
As a prelude, a slow introduction is made through a series of images & titles that are commentaries on each other. This in turn leads to the Song where the images words and colour become an interwoven dialogue.
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