artist's book, edition of 10

When I created my large-format print "World of World: The Adventures of Malbec and Player" in 2009, I also made a limited edition artist's book of the project. At 2x12-feet, that piece was so large I wanted a version that was more portable and that also favored reading over looking. The text in the piece was a crucial part of the project, but it's the element that gets the least attention in an exhibition setting.

For the book, I wanted to keep the borderless look of the original print, that sense of expansiveness and layering, so I took a very simple approach: I divided the piece into 16 roughly equal-sized sections, and each section became a full page in the book, reading from left to right. I had to make some adjustments along the way, mainly to ensure that the text areas didn't get broken up, so the final book includes about nine-tenths of the original.

Fragmenting the piece into book form gave it an explosive quality I hadn't expected—the images really push the confines of their pages. And as I hoped, the text became a much more central and dominant element.

For information on purchasing this edition, please see this page.

artist's book published by Haifisch Press, Bochum, Germany

The Cake of the Desert is a short graphic novel about two characters who stray into the desert as one of them attempts to recover lost memories of a bygone New Year's Eve. The text is closely based on the transcript of a 1994 Plaintext Players performance I directed.

Among the exhibitions including The Cake of the Desert are the "Out of Context" show at Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum (San Bernardino, CA, 2000) and the "Energy" show at Visual Arts Gallery (New York, 1995).

More on this project.

artist's book for the Museum of Forgery

Commercially printed German-language survey of Salvador Dali's work in which the images have been extensively overpainted. This reworking of Dali's oeuvre was created for the Museum of Forgery.

artist's book for the Museum of Forgery

Shown are pages tracing the structure of human memory and desire for flight. Edition of 4 on vellum, no two of which are identical.

artist's book commissioned by the Museum of Forgery

Book of 64 original variations on the I Ching hexagrams with my own commentary. The hexagrams were created as vector graphics and laserprinted in black & white on Ingres paper. The designs visually express intrepretations of the hexagram's underlying meanings. They are based on an earlier set of 64 small gouache paintings. Hand-bound in brown suede with silver-stamped cover.

limited-edition artist's book created for the Museum of Forgery

"Solstice 1" is a notebook set of commissioned works by Christel Dillbohner, Lorie Erikson, Yolande McKay, Lise Patt, and Terri Valli Trotter issued in an edition of 12. A single "Solstice 1" notebook was subsequently dismembered and the constituent parts buried in various spots around the town of Bochum, Germany. A set of maps, photos, and other clues leading to these buried items was issued as "Solstice 2" and sent to the custodians of the remaining sets of "Solstice 1" to be added to those notebooks. As of this writing, no one has yet found the buried items.
 

artist's book, acquired by the Museum of Forgery

Album containing cutout silhouettes of humanoid variants.

artist's book, created for the Museum of Forgery

Handbound book book with altered images and unusual maxims for photographers. This book was created using found images overprinted with a laserprinter. Edition of two, with identical text and differing images.

artist's book, created for the Museum of Forgery

Album containing assorted items both literally and metaphorically related to the history of flight.