Marshall Weber

God Damn Europeans

Marshall Weber

God Damn Europeans

Date

2015

Edition Size

unique

Media

Ink, Monoprint, Rubbing

Binding

Hand-sewn

Format

Artist Book

Location

Brooklyn, NY

$ 3,200.00

Unavailable


View Collectors

Wesleyan University, Olin Library

With a mash-up of PJ Harvey lyrics from her “Let England Shake” album (which illustrates the mundane horrors of WWI) chants from the Black Lives Matter marches of 2014/2015, Emma Lazarus’ poem for the Statue of Liberty, and other sources, “Godamn European” is a meditation on the ongoing militarization of our national and domestic cultures. The book features the use of wax rubbings to produce mono-prints in lushly painted and calligraphed text/image page spreads.

Numerous papers are used to form a tactile experience that matches the pacing of both the absent music and the visual ambiance, Gifu Shoji, Hodamura, Rives BFK, Pergamon, and others. Saffron, turmeric, and Japanese Maple leaf pigments, black and orange Sumi ink, and other media construct a vivid palette for this evocative book.

In part, this book is an expression of outrage at the insidious saturation of American life with both racism and the glorification of violence and militarism that keeps racism alive and is a tool of the state and the corporations of the United States against people of color. Make no mistake – the wave of violence against black people in this country is in part practice for the assault against all people who would challenge the hegemony of the corporate capitalist system that death grips our nation.

From the slave ships, to the World Wars, to the police and the criminal murders the history of violence and racism is overt, obvious but not inevitable. The cycle can be broken, if we are up to the task.

Page Descriptions
Covers, mono-print from a wax rubbing plate made from the portrait plaque of the Statue of Liberty at Union Square, NYC, an action print where the wax plate is moved across the page, Arches Rives BFK, black and orange Sumi ink
Endpapers, a black wax rubbing from the plaque of the Chrysler Building on 41st Street near Park Avenue, NYC, Rives BFK, partially inked in with black Sumi ink
Page 1, Mono-print collage from hand-inked paper plates, with calligraphy in gold paint pen and black Sumi ink, on Hodamura paper. The text is lyrics from PJ Harvey’s “Let England Shake” album from the song “The Last Living Rose”
Page 2, verso of above
Page 3, 4. 5. 6, mono-print from a wax rubbing plate from the plaque of the Chrysler Building on 41st Street near Park Avenue, NYC, Rives BFK, black Sumi ink, with turmeric pigment, The text is lyrics from PJ Harvey’s “Let England Shake” album from the song “The Last Living Rose” written with Sharpie marker. The page is has a half-page French fold (which manifests a hoody when handled properly). A fragment of text “For all” from Francis Bellamy’s “American Pledge of Allegiance” is stenciled under the folds with paint pen.
Page 7, Mono-print collage from hand-inked paper plates, with calligraphy in gold paint pen and black Sumi ink, on Hodamura paper. The text is lyrics from PJ Harvey’s “Let England Shake” album from the song “In the Dark Places”
Page 8, verso of 7, with red wax rubbing from Con Edison person hole cover in NYC,
“I can’t breath.” The last words of Eric Garner an unarmed black man who was murdered by NYC police officers” are stenciled over the page with paint pen.
Page 9, a Sumi ink mono-print from a wax rubbing made from the portrait plaque of the Statue of Liberty at Union Square, NYC. A fragment of text from Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus” is written in Sumi ink in the background, on Gifu Shoji paper.
Page 10, verso of 9, with a fragment of text from Francis Bellamy’s “American Pledge of Allegiance” is written in the background, on Gifu Shoji paper. is stenciled over the page with paint pen.
Page 11, calligraphy collage in black and orange Sumi ink, turmeric, etc., etc., the text is lyrics from PJ Harvey’s “Let England Shake” album from the song “The Last Living Rose”, on French cream paper.
Page 12, verso of eleven, calligraphy collage in black and orange Sumi ink, turmeric, etc., etc., the text is lyrics from PJ Harvey’s “Let England Shake” album from the song “The Glorious Land”.
Page 13, black Sumi ink mono-print from a wax rubbing plate from the plaque of the Statue of Liberty on at Union Square, NYC, on pure Indian Cotton cloth, mounted on Pergamum paper. With hand-painted red ink highlights and stenciled text
Page 14, verso of 13, a green wax rubbing collage made from the portrait plaque of the Statue of Liberty at Union Square, NYC, and painted with black Sumi ink.
Page 15, calligraphy collage in black and orange Sumi ink, gold paint pen, etc., etc., the text is lyrics from PJ Harvey’s “Let England Shake” album from the song “The Glorious Land”, on French paper.
Page 16 and 21, French paper (couched to page 15) with calligraphy pertaining to progressive pedagogies (usually associated with early childhood education) written in ink marker with a black walnut wash.
Page 17 and 20, insert page exteriors, a green wax rubbing collage made from the portrait plaque of the Statue of Liberty at Union Square, NYC, and painted with black Sumi ink, with paint marker pen stencils of the name/logo/slogan/call to arms chant of the Black Lives Matter organization, on Rives BFK
Page 18 and 19, insert page interior, a green wax rubbing collage made from the portrait plaque of the Statue of Liberty at Union Square, NYC, and painted with black and orange Sumi ink, and turmeric pigment, on a background of Black Walnut ink treated with water drops.
Page 21, calligraphy collage in black and orange Sumi ink, gold paint pen, etc., etc., “White silence equals violence.” a BLM street chant is stenciled over the page in marker pen, actually starting from the right on page 22.
Page 22, black Sum ink mono-print from wax and paper plates, on Rives BFK, the page is split and tabbed horizontally, a BLM street chant is stenciled over the page in marker pen, with painted elements of turmeric pigment, Japanese Red Maple pigment, and orange Sumi ink.
Page 23, verso of 22, a Sumi ink mono-print from a wax crayon drawing of the Brooks Slave Ship, tinted with turmeric pigment.
Page 24, a fragmented Sumi ink mono-print from a wax crayon drawing of the Brooks Slave Ship, tinted with orange Sumi ink. The names of two police officers killed in Brooklyn by a mentally ill man with a violent criminal history just weeks after the murder of Eric Garner are stenciled on the page in paint pen, on Pergamon paper.
Page 25, verso of 24, a green wax rubbing collage made from the portrait plaque of the Statue of Liberty at Union Square, NYC, “I can’t breath.” The last words of Eric Garner an unarmed black man who was murdered by NYC police officers” are stenciled over the page with paint pen.
Page 26, calligraphy collage in black Sumi ink, clear wax, etc., etc., a memorial to Eric Garner is stenciled over the page in paint marker pen.
Page 27, verso of 26, calligraphy collage in black Sumi ink, a fragment of text “For all” from Francis Bellamy’s “American Pledge of Allegiance” is stenciled over the page in paint pen, credits are handwritten in red paint marker pen.
Page 28, a Sumi ink mono-print from a wax rubbing made from the portrait plaque of the Statue of Liberty at Union Square, NYC. A fragment of text from Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus” is written in Sumi ink in the background, on Gifu Shoji paper.
Page 29, verso of above