Availability: There are many components of this installation available for purchase.
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"Love in Four Pieces"
Details:Release Date: Book, Installation, & Posters 2008Size: (book) 6 x 9", (posters) 40 x 26"Materials: Arjo Wiggins' Curious Touch Coverstock, Frabric, Lace, Ribbon, Found sundresses, mirrors, tulle
About this book: (artist's statement)
The
ability for readers to interact with a book in a meaningful way, and
through that interaction to be engaged viscerally with the text, is the
main thrust of my work in the book arts. "Love in Four Pieces",
explores the voyeurism and exhibitionism that has become so prevalent
in youth culture today, as well as the exploitation which exists within
even exclusive relationships. The work as a whole is nuanced in its
redundancy, a reflection of the confessionalist poetry which was the
inspiration for the book and installation.
The Installation:
The
installation for “Love in Four Pieces” requires that the viewer reach
up the skirt of a suspended sundress in order to reach the book and the
text. The book has been covered to resemble frilly ladies’ panties. (If
the reader was being truly deviant and were to remove the book from the
lacy cover, they would find that the under-cover is printed on
ArjoWiggins’ Curious Touch coverstock, which is a specialty paper that
feels very much like skin). It is certainly an uncomfortable way to
read a book, reflecting the uncomfortable themes in the text itself.
The Composite Book:
I
am very interested in books as installation, however I also believe
that my books are first and foremost books. That is why I decided to
edition “Love in Four Pieces” as a composite book. The four sundress
chapbooks become four chapters of a longer poetry anthology, complete
with hand-made cover and long lingerie straps should the reader wish to
recreate the experience of the installation with their own garments at
home. (I love the idea of this book being hung up in a closet instead
of standing on a bookshelf.)
About
the design: each poem is laid parallel to a haiku (or triptych) of
thumbnail icons. These icons repeat throughout the book, giving the
laymens reader an “in” to the meta-narrative created when one takes the
collection in its entirety. Some obscure connections with regards to
the biographical background behind the poetry are emphasized through
imagery only, and in this way the design of the book furthers the
understanding of the text while also ornamenting it.
The Posters:
Accompanying
the installation are four 40 x 26” posters, also printed on
ArjoWiggin’s Curious Touch coverstock. These posters are meant to be
touched, like the sundresses, and thus remain unframed (or, rather,
framed without glass). They highlight one piece from each of the four
sections of the book, typographically resolving issues of multiple
narratives/narrators and excessive length. If a poem is meant to be an
ongoing linear experience, then in the case of long poems the book does
a disservice to the continuity of the piece (requiring that it be
chopped into page-length segments). The posters address these issues in
the framework of the whole installation, and are themselves as
rare/underutilized a method of presenting poetry as are installation
books. Cranbrook has a long and esteemed history when it comes to
poster design, which I drew upon when creating these pieces.
