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About "The Loneliest", in Amber's own words, from the Introduction of "Free Stallion".
This is an excerpt from the introduction of a book of poems by Amber Tamblyn, to be released in the
fall of 2005 by Simon & Schuster.
The haikus at the end, are a shortened version of a book I did last year with artist George Herms, entitled The Loneliest,
a series of poems and artwork dedicated to jazz legend Thelonious Monk.
I was on the boardwalk at Venice Beach a while back and I saw a street
artist painting a beautiful picture of a black man at a piano. When I
asked how much he was selling it for, he snickered and asked if I even
knew who the painted figure was. He would not sell a white girl from
Santa Monica this painting. I became obsessed with Monk, listening to
Straight, No Chaser, watching the documentary by the same name,
and learned everything I could about this musician out of sheer
cultural embarrassment. I then had an internal Monk-related vision that
lasted for over two months, and I wrote almost every day a short poem
or haiku about Thelonious. Later I spoke with George Herms about my
obsession, only to find that he too was an avid Monk fan. Right then
and there we spoke of the beginnings of what would end up being (long
story short), a poetry book/art collaboration. I still need to go to
see that man on the beach and trade him this product of my inspiration
for that painting. He owes me. I suppose we owe each other.
- Amber Tamblyn
"The Loneliest" story by artist George Herms:
While I was working on a large sculpture for Monk
involving an upright piano, Amber told me she had a dream about Monk
and she woke up and began writing haiku.
I made a suite of collages to mate with Amber's poems without having seen the poems.
The collages were printed at Bulls Eye Imaging.
After the images were printed, I printed each day at
dawn for forty-nine days. As I set type, one lead letter at a time,
Amber's haiku would dance with the collages until the poems coupled
with the art.
- George Herms
Ambers Printing Story
Toward the end of the printing of the book, Amber came to Geroge Herms' Studio
and set her own words in lead type, one letter at a time.
Amber then went through the process of printing one of her poems
300 times on the "LOVE PRESS."
The poem that Amber printed herself is:
dear thelonious
make beatz break them start awkward
do it be that song
Introducing, THE LONELIEST, A Poem Book Inspired by THELONIOUS MONK and his music. Inside you will find Haiku poetry written by Amber Tamblyn and coupled with collages by George Herms.
A boxed edition of only 300 have been printed. Once the 300 copies are sold, there will be no more printed.
THE LOVE PRESS Los Angeles 2004
PAPER STOCK: 80# COUGAR, WHITE COVER TYPEFACE: 18 POINT STYMIE
The collages were printed at Bullseye Imaging using Stochastic Screen process.
The poems were printed in the artist's studio using a Chandler Price letterpress.
This Elegant Limited Edition Book Includes:
- Box enclosure with an image of Monk on the cover.
- White paper wrapping to protect the work.
- Colophon with the Limited Edition Number.
- Cover Page.
- 49 Poems and 49 images, each Poem/Collage is a separate work of art.
The type for every poem by Amber Tamblyn was handset by artist George Herms. All pages of this book can be framed separately.
Price:
First 50 books will be $100.00
Second 50 books will be $125.00
Third 100 books will be $150.00
*We reserve the right to change the price at any time on: “The
Loneliest” by Amber Tamblyn, a collaboration with George Herms, a
Limited Edition of 300.
Click on a thumbnail below to view a larger image.
 
 
 
 
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