The Legend of Zela

It’s October. That means I can’t pretend that summer is still here. To reinforce this reality the temperature dropped and I had to break out the sweaters. I miss the warmth. I miss the summer. It makes me wish I was in sunny Florida right now instead of leaning against the cold winds. If I was in Florida I would be able to stop by the Scissors: Pop-up exhibition at the Florida Craftsmen Gallery. You may remember some of the details from my Call for Entries post in June. I made a small contribution to this show, possibly the smallest in the world.

The Legend of Zela portrays the epic tale of a battle between Julius Caesar and Pharnaces II that took place in 47 B.C. Quoting from his now famous decree- “I came, I saw, I conquered” the book carries the reader from Caesar entering northern Turkey, sizing up his main rival from Pontus, and defeating him at the hilltop town of Zela. This miniature pop-up book, measuring a half inch tall by a quarter inch wide, is the result of my pursuit to share big personalities, events or monuments in a small format. To my knowledge, The Legend of Zela is the smallest pop-up book ever created. This title was created in July of 2009 using inkjet printing on heavyweight photo paper, and is an edition of five for each day of the one-sided battle.

This little guy is in good company as I recognized works from Maria Winkler, Shawn Sheehy and Matthew Shlian (that’s a detail of his work on the postcard above!) The exhibition is on display until Halloween and if anyone visits the gallery be sure to snap a few photos and send them to me and I will upload them on the blog.

-Kyle