Frans Baake

Books since 1982, mainly based on visits to (remote) islands.
All printed and handbound in small editions of between 7 and 30 copies.
Enschede, The Netherlands.

fransbaake33@gmail.com

Halbinsel                                2014
End of 2012/beginning of 2013 Baake made a series of drawings made by a blue marker.
Half drawings in fact, mainly dictated by the oblong size of the paper, forming parts of landscape-based elements. The German word ‘Halbinsel’ means ‘Peninsula’ and strictly spoken it also means ‘Half Island’. The book has two identical covers; the information is split into two parts and can be looked at from both sides.

Cover in light blue velvet; text in red with letterpress; 48 drawings, reproduced in colour copy; Size: 15,5 x 21,6 cms; Edition of 10 copies, signed and numbered on one side.  £ 50

 

No title                                   2014
The neighbours went to Thailand and brought back a bunch of recycled papers made out of elephant dunk. The artist printed some of his basic linocuts on them and decided to stick the book to a solid underground (MDF-plate). He also thought that the book could do without a title.

6 linocuts, printed in two different colours; Size of the book: 13,7 x 19 cms., plate: 15 x 19,5 cms; Edition of 15 copies, signed and numbered.  £ 60

 

 

Loin d’Ici                                                                                 2015
Loin d’Ici (French: far from here) contains 5 linocuts printed in green and 4 printed in blue.
In total 9 sober atmospheric prints of undefined far away-landscapes. The pictures are shown on greyish recycled paper to underline the desolate character of the scenery.
The side on the opposite of the prints have been left blanc: this actually belongs to the picture, to increase its solitude. More often Frans Baake uses one-colour linocuts. In this specific bookwork he had them printed with very greasy oil-based ink under high pressure, forming some kind of natural attitude to the sensitivity of these landscapes: the prints aren’t that perfect, the beauty of imperfection.

9 linocuts printed in blue and green; title page in letterpress (text printed in Grafisch Atelier Alkmaar); Cloth bound in orange linen; Size of the book: 16 x 15 cms; Edition of 18 copies, signed and numbered.  Enschede-NL 2015.  £ 60



 

Thought(s)                                                                              2015
English expression ‘On second thought(s)’ has been used as a start for a landscape-formed book. Based on the idea that that there might be some more thoughts (perhaps third or fourth or even more) Baake printed these thoughts in blind stamp on different coloured velvet sheets and brought them together in this soft-covered book.

Texts printed in letterpress in Grafisch Atelier Alkmaar. Book in cloth bound-box in dark blue linen; Size of the book: 41 x 6,5 cms; Edition of 10 copies, signed and numbered in the box; Enschede-NL 2015.  £ 126


 

Views of the last spider on the edge of the world              2015
Recently Baake’s daughter Anne went to South-Africa. She successfully conquered her fear for spiders. As to prove it she put a pretty large one on the map on the wall. The spider itself crawled all over, freely crossing oceans and continents. Baake gave his reaction in the form of a black and white linocut that he printed on the photographs that came out of the act.

Diptych captured in blue velvet that contains colour-copied pictures; In combination with black and white linocut; Size: 23 x 41 cms. (folded); Edition of 8 copies, signed and numbered on the front; Enschede-NL 2015. £ 86