Expansion, Altered Book $210
Challenge:
Create a new original work of art in response to the current exhibition, “Turn the Page: The First 10 Years of Hi-Fructose” at The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). After a private viewing of the exhibition, a small group of artists were tasked with creating a new work of art in response to a particular work or the exhibition as a whole.
Main Inspiration:
A large bronze sculpture called Molecule #1 by artist Mario Martinez.
My Artist Statement:
I consider altered books to be a method of eliciting a further message from the printed page, augmenting the initial narrative created by the author. Adding an artistic “twist” to the physical form of the book allows me to merge my own impressions and narrative with that of the author. This provides the viewer with an added dimension to consider regarding the original literary work.
Expansion is inspired by the works of Brian Dettmer and Mario Martinez. While Dettmer carves away and removes parts of the book to reveal what is beneath, I wanted to expand the book and bring out the words from inside. I had already been experimenting with using geometric 3-D shapes with the book-carvings, and the bronze piece by Mario Martinez was the final inspiration for this artwork.
This piece is created from The Book of Virtues, a collection of stories and poems organized around virtuous character traits, such as honesty, responsibility, courage and compassion. The current social and political climate in the United States (and the world) seems to be driven by a core of people devoid of these traits. Perhaps we all need an expansion of virtues within ourselves in order for our society to heal.
Notes:
This was definitely the most challenging altered book yet. I had an elaborate vision and no idea how to translate that into a physical form. The final design evolved gradually after countless hours of thinking, experimenting and letting ideas roll around in my head. I even had a few dreams about it (woo-hoo, just like Salvador Dali!).
The first step was finding the right book to use. If you visit Turn the Page at MOCA, you’ll realize how well The Book of Virtues fits in with the overarching themes of that exhibition. It’s unfortunate that the dust jacket doesn’t show when the piece is hanging, because the cover illustration is perfect. I was lucky enough to find two copies at the thrift store. (I’m still planning to carve the second copy.)
This piece has to hang from a wall, so that was a particular problem—but one that was easily solved with a drill, a paint-stirrer, t
wo nuts and bolts and some wire. The wooden paint-stirrer prevents the book from bending forward, falling away from the wall.
It was incredibly fun to experiment with the 3-D geometric shapes. If you have any interest in that, visit this website. You’ll find examples and free printable patterns that are so easy to use. If you have kids, they’ll have a blast!
If you have gotten this far, I really appreciate your reading the story of this artwork!
Come see it in person at the MOCA Satellite Gallery at Towne Pavilion II in Virginia Beach. The exhibition runs August 5 thru November 8, 2016. The opening reception is Friday, August 5, 5-7 pm. Please join me if you can!
