Eleonora Gomez Bas ~ New York

Artist Statement: " Born in Buenos Aires, I moved to Caracas, Venezuela with my family at the age of 10, and have been living in the US since 2001. My passion for making books and capturing images began in elementary school, when I would write stories about a little girl named "Nube Blanca" (White Cloud), illustrate them, and read them to my friends at school.

" I’m currently working as a binder and artisan in New York City. After years of training and working in printmaking, photography and bookbinding - and having gone a long way since those early childhood tales of “Nube Blanca”- I feel the same joy I felt as a 10-year-old whenever I exercise these crafts."

Enigmotextos y Enigmografías (Enigmotexts and Enigmographies), a series of books Bas created in 1999-2000 in which she explored the relationship and dynamic between a book's content and its structure.

Photo Books by Bas

9 x 9
By Eleonora Gomez Bas
Caracas, Venezuela: Eleonora Gomez Bas, 1998. One-of-a-Kind

10” x 6.9” x 0.4” (closed): 9 pages on each side. French Doors Coptic binding. Inkjet print on Ingres Paper.

Eleonora Gomez Bas: "'9 x 9' is the fourth book of the artist’s 'Enigmographic Series'. Like its companions in this series, the book invites the viewer to interact and discover new and alternate readings, through the use of structural characteristics. Because of the 'French doors' binding, all nine images on the left can be combined with all images on the right, to form as many as 81 different "enigmographies'."
$3,750

27=9 Enigmografías (27=9 Enigmographies)
By Eleonora Gomez Bas
Caracas, Venezuela: Eleonora Gomez Bas, 1998. One-of-a-Kind.

8” x 8”x 0.75” (closed), 9 sections of 3 pages each. Coptic binding with fold-out pages. Inkjet print on Tintoretto Avorio Paper.

Eleonora Gomez Bas: "''27=9 Enigmografías' is the third book of the artist’s 'Enigmographic Series'. The book reflects the artist’s passion for cut-outs (or 'photographic moments', as she likes to call them), a simple yet interesting element that makes the viewer second guess their take on an image, and hopefully find surprise in the revelation of the larger whole. Each section in the book begins with two fold-out pages containing cut-outs and printing, which then reveal a triptych image on the third page." $4,800

Eleanor Gomez Baz: "I guess it only made sense that, given my passion for paper and black and white imagery, I would develop a keen interest in photography. Perhaps I was lucky to begin studying it back when digital photography was not yet an established field. This allowed me to become familiar with the traditional elements of photography, to experience the darkroom and the chemistry, the feeling of which is irreplaceable."

home and back / Entrehogares
a journey
By Eleonora Gomez Bas
New York: Eleonora Gomez Bas, 2021. Edition of 3.

6 x 9” closed; extends to 114”. Text in Spanish and English. Inkjet printing on archival paper. Concertina binding. Numbered. Includes separate colophon, “a brief note on the content of this book”, laid in.

Eleonora Gomez Bas: "’Home and Back / Entrehogares’ combines a poem in Spanish and English throughout the book, with accompanying photographs taken during my life in Caracas (Venezuela), and New York City.

“Having left my home country to move to Venezuela at 10, and later on moving to the United States at 24, attachment, separation, impermanence and adaptation have been major themes in my life since an early age. In my work ‘Home and Back / Entrehogares’, I use images and poetry to explore my journey of adaptation over the course of the past twenty years. Images blend into each other, depicting a process where I flow from place to place, sometimes more seamlessly than others. Words reflect my search for a sense of self in connection to my place in the world, my home.

“Because of its particular binding structure,’ Home and Back / Entrehogares’ allows the reader to explore the content through many different combinations, perhaps choosing their own personal journey throughout the book. The concertina binding allows the reader to pull the book open in a way that will display all 16 images next to each other to form one single 9 1/2 ft long image, both front-to-back, and back-to-front.”

Artist’s Books Unshelved/ One Body, Two Homes: “In this episode of … we look at artist books that explore the artists’ relationships to their two homes as touchpoints for stories of reflection, adaptation and growth.”$4,950

New York City and Paper & Book Intensive
By Eleonora Gomez Bas
Boston, Massachusetts: Eleonora Gomez Bas, 2002. One-of-a-Kind.

8” x 8.75” x 1.5” Hardcover. Cloth-bound book containing 28 35mm black and white photo prints. Mounted onto Bristol cardstock. All photographs taken using Canon A1 and Canon Rebel SLR cameras, with Kodak T-MAX 400 film.

Eleonora Gomez Bas: "In the summer of 2001, I attended my second Paper and Book Intensive in Utah, making a stop in New York City on the way. As always, I brought with me my Canon A1 camera to document the trip, and proceeded to develop and enlarge the photos in my darkroom/bathroom upon return. What I like about the photo books I put together during those years is that, unlike the overabundance of digital images I produce today, I typically ended up with only a handful of prints. 35mm photography is labor intensive and definitely more costly. Because of that, it wasn't about documenting it ALL. Looking back, the images I did capture seem almost random, whimsical, as if I was curating the work as I went along. For this reason, and probably some others, they seem all the more significant today."
$3,500

Valle de la Pascua / El Ávila (Venezuela)
By Eleonora Gomez Baz
Boston, Massachusetts: Eleonora Gomez Bas, 2002. One-of-a-Kind.

8” x 8.25” x 1.25”; containing 24 35mm black and white photo prints, mounted onto Strathmore Bristol cardstock. All photographs taken using Canon A1 and Canon Rebel SLR cameras, with Kodak T-MAX 400 film. Bound in cloth boards with titles printed on front cover. Laid in black glossy box with paper title label on cover.

Eleonora Gomez Bas: "I made this book at North Bennet Street School (Boston, MA) in 2002. My wish was to give a container to a select group of photos from a trip to 'Valle de la Pascua' (Estado Guárico, Venezuela), and from my hikes up 'El Avila' mountain (Caracas, Venezuela).

"My boyfriend and I went to 'Valle de la Pascua' (a 4 1/2 hour drive from Caracas) in 1999 to visit an altar built for the 'Anima de Pica'-Pica'; (Pica Pica Soul). Legend has it that a man by the name of José Zambrano was once found dead by a Pica-Pica plant (the cause of death is all over the place on the internet!). The man who stumbled upon him was searching for his lost mule, and promised José a proper burial if he helped him find it. Upon finding his lost livestock, word spread that the dead man's spirit was able to grant wishes and perform miracles, thus the present day chapel where people travel from all over. Having exhausted my own resources trying to solve a problem at the time, I went to Pica-Pica's chapel to light my own candle and ask for help. My wish was granted a couple of years later...

"The second half of this book is a small collection of photos I took during my daily walks in the mountain I grew up next to. 'El Avila' is Caracas' backdrop, cherished by everyone who lives there, and admired for its ever-changing palette and imposing presence (my photos, of course, are mostly cats!).”
$3,500

Gatos
By Eleonora Gomez Bas
Caracas, Venezuela: Eleonora Gomez Bas, 2001. One-of-a-Kind.

7.75” x 9.75” x 1.125” hardcover. Set of two cloth-bound books containing 39 35mm black and white photo prints. Mounted onto Bristol cardstock. All photographs taken using Canon A1 and Canon Rebel SLR cameras, with Kodak T-MAX 400 film.

Eleonora Gomez Bas: "Gatos I and Gatos II (Cats I and Cats II) is a set of two books containing photographs of perhaps my favorite subject out there. Most of the cats in these books were cats from my own home, but there are also some street cats and some feral cats that lived in the mountain."
$5,200

Cuba/Cementerio del Sur
By Eleonora Gomez Bas
Boston, Massachusetts: Eleonora Gomez Bas, 2002. One-of-a-Kind.

8” x 8.25” x 0.75” Hardcover. Cloth-bound book containing 15 35mm black and white photo prints. Mounted onto Strathmore Bristol cardstock. All photographs taken using Canon A1 and Canon Rebel SLR cameras, with Kodak T-MAX 400 film.

Eleonora Gomez Bas: "The first part of this book gathers a collection of photos I took during my first trip to Havana, Cuba. During that visit, I stayed mainly in Habana Vieja (Old Havana), and was struck by the contrast between its state of disrepair and the cheerful disposition of its people. I made friends with paper and architecture restorers, musicians and other locals. Despite their limited access to internet, I kept in touch with some of them for years, using regular (snail) mail.

"The photos in the second part of the book were taken during a visit to the 'Cementerio del Sur' (South Cemetery), built in Caracas in 1876. Many renowned figures were buried here, including Armando Reverón, Miguel Otero SIlva and Rómulo Gallegos. I don't know what condition the cemetery is in these days or how safe it would be to visit. Back then, the place offered a wonderful opportunity to capture photos of its 100+ stone statues and monuments."
(SOLD)

Tu Mundo Interno
By Eleonora Gomez Bas
Buenos Aires, Argentina: Eleonora Gomez Bas, ca 1994. One-of-a-Kind.

7.6" x 7" x 0.5".; 28 pages. Text handwritten in ink. Handdrawn illustrations in ink and watercolor. Text in Spanish. Artist signed on title page. Bound in illustrated paper over boards with faux leather spine. Laid in cloth covered clamshell box with paper illustrated title label on cover.

Eleonora Gomez Bas: "“I created this illustrated poem when I was around 19, during a summer that I spent in Buenos Aires, visiting my grandmother and learning calligraphy. The illustrations were the result of my exploration of the techniques of ink drawing, watercolor, and a positive-negative effect that I created through the use of a color-soaked sponge.”
(SOLD)