Maria Roosen: My Friends, Mis Amigos, Mes Amis, I Miei Amici, Meine Freunde, Mijn Vrienden

Dutch artist Maria Roosen loves magic. Not so much witchcraft as the small everyday wonders--like the way a drop of oil in a puddle of water suddenly reflects the world in 1,000 colors. Glass is one of Roosen's primary materials, and she is best known for her little glass carrots; her glass eyes; her glass penises dangling from a cord, somehow at once sweet and sorrowful, and calling to mind the work of Eva Hesse or Louise Bourgeois. Roosen also makes big white papier-mbchi spheres that she gives to her friends, asking them to make alter-ego faces on them and to wear them over their heads, or to share them with others at public events. In this sturdy accordion-folded book we are introduced to Maria's friends--in their masks--via a series of photographic portraits, while Hanne Hagenaars tells us about their adventures.