Linda Zeb Hang
The Antique Sorcerer MMXXIV (proletariat iteration)
20pp, unbound, grimoire letterpress printed cover ⁄ bookmark, atomic cartouche, molecular chatelaine, hand-set metal ‘Filigree’ type, digitally printed interior
5.5 × 15 inches (13.97 × 38.1 cm)
If—a—village—has—no—music,
how—can—it—be—called—a—village?
Poems shape material behavior through spellbinding, letter casting in and out of the patterned ordinary. There are . . . . 2 iterations: hand-pulled + proletariat artist books. Loner folk verses, Brahmacharya, railroad tracks, atoms, and metallic adornment on my mind.
Shots in the dark.
Artwork and text by Linda Zeb Hang
Designed, printed, and unbound by Linda Zeb Hang
Published by FIST, Rotterdam NL
Open Edition
Hand-set metal ‘Filigree’ type, cover letterpress printed, and unbound at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley CA by Linda Zeb Hang
Polymer plates by Boxcar Press, Syracuse NY
Interior printed by Shiva at Easy Copy Center, Berkeley CA
Fine-tuned at Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee BE
Copyright © 2024, Linda Zeb Hang ⁄ FIST
All rights reserved
Last queer Asian-American publication. Collection of Thomas J. Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC). Printed Matter (NYC) has some copies.
If—a—village—has—no—music,
how—can—it—be—called—a—village?
Verses
The Diamond Mind 2.0
Microcosmicroom
Pitch Glue
Cold Code
Calyxes
Treacle and Exudate
Ex-Umbris ⁄ Spit-Bite
Drum Drops
Birth Game ⁄ North Chart
Artery Area
The Free Reed
Village’s Faith
Keys
Colophon
Donors
Critical Citations
Statement ⁄ Bio
The Diamond Mind 2.0
Perceived—as—oneiric—and—likely—to
Their—4—great—tragedies
Still—seams—to—be—cut-cloth
O’—the—distance—measured—by—anatomy
From—the—two-palm—healer’s—shadow—fist
Decorating—figure—8z—towards—the—7th—day
Blessed—by—drums—smoke-covered—joss
Rheumy—tertiaries—o’—their—Floor—Culture
Move—in-between—marginal—gait—and
Brite—altars—o’—non—deceptive—remind
Metallic—and—bottomless
Footwork—commingle—in—this—swool—pit
When—the—lite—strikes—thrice
In—a—blink—all—things—laden—zero
Faith—and—nowhere—to—hull
Then—current—ahead
[ forge—your—own—chains ]
Filament—fracas
One—long—direction—both—ways—dead
Equal—weight
Drive—either—way
Unique—proud—and—alone
Head-lite—roadie—on—winding—dirt
As—the—open—dusky-dawn—rite
Explodes—from—dandelions
O’—this—island—mountain—highway
Visionary—looking—glass
Flint-knapping—meteor
Broken—into—flesh
Penetrating—arteries
Blending—origin—with—chiasma
Swelter—and—falter—across
A—fraying—fascia
Hearth—o’—the—diamond—pattern—maker
Wood-fired—as—it—were—the—primitive—gasp
On—a—purslane—site—as—ageless—as—recursive—space
Though—sticky—as—treacle—on—stone
The—iambic—bilious—one
Their—impermanent—transparencies
Piercing—into—dark—corners
Dislocating—the—four—directions
Grinding—accurately—blue-brown—lenses
Mudra—obscura—heterochromia
Scribed—within—these—salt—walls
There—is—a—black—which—is—ol’
And—a—black—which—is—fresh
He—may—walk—in—their—eyes
Through—it—pass
From—burning—fetters—incorporeal—and—hidden
As—unmoved—and—aware
With—mind—well—freed
Their—emptiness—river
Where—no—floods—overwhelm
To—cool—and—coil—the—wind
Drifting—cantata—in—angel’s—bile
O’—their—own—bitter—heav’n ¬
Microcosmicroom
I—dance—to—remind . . . .
I—will—create—as—I—speak . . . .
Ex-Umbris . . . . Sosegada-Pietra . . . .
Its—secret . . . .
Is—beautiful . . . .
Because—it . . . .
Belongs . . . .
To—no—one . . . . ¬
Pitch Glue
O’—sunsºººbooks˘˘˘polymers˙˙˙
And—bond¬
Terpene—membersˇˇˇærosolˆˆˆ
And—stone—ground—lime
Acetic—boreal˜˜˜dredge—and—behold
Polish—the—plank
O’—nepenthes
Peerless—caves—crafting—nite—alkali
Embers—then˚˚˚with—rare
Wax—filigree
Warbling—radical˘˘˘manipulating
Moon—darts
Shots—in—the—dark
Steam—bending—and—once
On—our—own
Two-feet
Back-tap—the—jukebox
O’—star-tentsˆˆˆ
Cold—code—and—petch—lite
World-wide—singling˙˙˙
Hideous—and—comic
Even—love ¶ revolutionary ¬
Cold Code
Indestructible—identity
Shatter—not
ºººShe—lives—her—justice
The—kind—that—no—one—sees
The—causeway—o’
Plainclothes—regret
Caress—and—bind—your—sleep
Creep—up—on—you
And—you’ll—cave
You’ve—entered
Fires—earth—snakes
Even—floods
Unbreakable—adaptation
Equality—in—isolation
Crushing—abstract—and—skein
Difference—o’—negative—plate
Raged—from—pæsina—rays
With—ol’—glamour
Hard—street—edge
Stone—wash
—and
Sun—erased
Stone—wash
—and
Sun—erased ¬
Calyxes
A—gifted—Calyx
Forming—the—whorls—of—inspiration
ºººBy—a—visionary—sacred—pen
[ Who—are—the—pœts—? ]
˘˘˙˙˙It—hisses—when—the—written
Language—is—absent
With—elegance—and—gall ¬
Treacle and Exudate
PaPa
Properties—o’—knife—war—and—device
MaMa
Way—o’—iron—and—needle
Thread-splitting—sacred—sorrows ¬
Ex-Umbris ⁄ Spit-Bite
He—was—a—monkey—toad
The—trickster—in—a—circus
Hot—mess—express
Hard—to—the—villain—arc
Yo—he—def—a—narc
Someone—give—me—a—brick
2x—the—better
He—ought—to—be—a—comedian
Poquito—crybaby—clown
Asinine—pocket—scrub
A—broken—frame
Without—a—picture
Is—to—wipe—the—hands—o’—him
Silver—scalp—strands
Officially—plucked—out
Bloodline—battle—flyers
Semi-satin-select
Sml—dique—minus
One—knee—cap ¬
Drum Drops
Boreal—forest
Canocopic—oak-ash
Omniscient—letters
Ecstatic—tap—dancer
Woven—by—hand
Stretched—to—receive
Distribution—EQ
O’—strike
Machinist—primitive
—and
Baby-faced ¬
Birth Game ⁄ North Chart
Cali—æolian
Hip—librarian—like—Gemini
Definition—of—down—like—Sagittarius
Fine—detail—like—Capricorn
Emotional—content—like—Cancer
Fold¬ em—like—Aries ¬
Artery Area
Somnambulist—body—parts—are—strewn—about
In—this—ordinary—yet—rare—feminist—read
The—technologist’s—reliquary
A—lullaby—for—the—unborn
[ An—empty—nest ]
Dislocation—o’—the—adaptationist—divine
And—into—the—Diamond—Mind—2.0
[ Cutting—thru—all—illusion ]
I—can—feel—something—within—this
Cold—code
A—recognito—scene—cool—memories
And—September—blues ¬
The Free Reed
Tongue—o’—many—strings
—and
Erotic—plots
Unusual—elan
—and
Flair
[ Draped—ivories—patterned—with—special—hardware ]
Androgynous—grey—green
Its—presence—o’—encoded—script
Implanted—on—domestic—sheets—o’—hemp
Varying—degrees—o’—stitch—a
Rhythmic—site—to—abstract ¬
Village’s Faith
We—all—go—there—in—time
Mixing—it—up—with—iconic
Graphic—silhouettes
Drape—and—shadow—work
It’s—there—when—the—written
Language—is—absent
The—flow—o’—compulsion—to—transduce
A—promise
A—wish
This—serpentinized—curse
Their—recovery—was—worth—the—operation
The—unlikely—yet—possible—return
Towards—the—locus—o’—cosmetic—portraiture
Into—procedure—o’—war
And—the—breaking—o’—our—world
Make—seen—and—valuable
A—resinous—exudate
Harvested—by—its—Antique—Sorcerer
Meaningful—and—terribly—bare
In—the—vertical—way—we—pray
To—cure—our—goodbyes ¬
FIST Keys
To print and publish soul-reachers.
The Antique Sorcerer, 2024. Deluxe and proletariat iterations. My last American printing and publishing ❤️🩹.
It’s the book I wanted to make as a kid. The negative space to do it all, with sophistication, elegance, and gall. I keep wanting to get better at the craft. I want that sparkle in my eyes to remain. Like I see in the artists who fight for love.
There are tears mixed in with the letterpress ink, printed onto paper. My steely eyes softening, and the calm that I’m achieving after so many years of working with hands. To trust myself is to know that I’m enough.
I think that’s what makes it so beautiful. It comes from elsewhere, this saline solution, the mystery ingredient.
Grassroots Fall 2022–2023 overseas exhibition support, recovery, space, housing, artist residency, printing, and publishing. We continue to want that for each other, as we vote with our dollars . . . .
Poems shape material behavior through spellbinding, letter casting in and out of the patterned ordinary.
A temperature read.
There are . . . . 2 iterations: hand-pulled + proletariat artist books. Loner folk verses, Brahmacharya, railroad tracks, atoms, and metallic adornment on my mind.
Linda Zeb Hang’s conte of scanning voices cross-sections the invisible density, flavor profiles, and omniscient presence of the woven, yet frayed environment.
The fiber-optics of place, an artery area, a micro-climate theory, spacecraft language and calyxes of meditation make public their pocket cosmology.
Born in South-side Stockton, California to working-class Hmong refugees, they are rooted from the aesthetic and civic praxis of Southeast Asian Animistic, Shaman and Buddhist life-world.
They shape material behavior through technical experimentation, working spontaneously, collecting and generating information to arrive at a knotty mixed-media synthesis.
Flexibility, instinct and intuition are their chosen guides. Their tools are digital, machine age and ‘primitive.’
Founded in 2013, their mixed-media imprint FIST—with its production of drawings, prints, poetry, book design and hand crafted publishing are held within collective and public spheres, including Queer Work Archive (RI); the Thomas J. Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library, Smithsonian Institution (NYC); The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography, The Cooper Union (NYC); University at Buffalo Libraries Special Collection, The Poetry Collection (NY); John M. Flaxman Library, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (IL); Carl A. Kroch Library, RMC at Cornell University (NY); the Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts & Special Collections Center at the San Francisco Public Library (CA); Letterform Archive (CA); and The SFMOMA Library + Archives (CA).
LZH studied Sculpture, Typographic Design, Book Arts and Horticulture in San Francisco CA from 2004–07 and currently lives and works in Stockton CA and the Netherlands.