28 West 27th St, 3rd Flr
New York, NY 10001
Gallery Hours
Mon-Fri 11am-6pm
Sat 10am-5pm
Click here for holiday closings
home
| more photos |
exhibition archive
Jewish Science
Lisa Kokin
1998
ten 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in altered pamphlets
ten 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in
number 1
edition of 1
"Jewish Science" consists of ten Christian Science pamphlets where text has been artfully excised to present a razored shadow narrative--through which images peek--that is simultaneously funny, profound, and chilling.// Every time I take my x-acto blade to the tender page of a book I see my long-deceased grandfather's face before me. He is not happy. I am committing the Jewish equivalent of a mortal sin and believe me, I feel guilty. So powerful is my drive to rearrange and juxtapose, however, that I am willing to risk the wrath of my ancestors to accomplish my mission.// There's something about the silence and intimacy of a book that lets me reveal things about myself that I wouldn't divulge if I were working in another form. Call it denial, but the fact is that if I put it between two covers, no secret is too private. Shy by nature, I like the medium of written work and image and the intimacy between reader and artist it creates.// My definition of "book" is open-ended, a freedom which is in many ways attributable to my lack of book art training. I am blissfully unaware of all the rules I am breaking as I go about my routine of sewing, stapling, riveting and otherwise reconstituting objects to transform them into something readable. I use anything I can get my hands on, from toasters to minipads, as long as it isn't alive and squirming. I try to come up with something new every time so that each piece looks different from the last. Maybe then my grandfather, who gave me my first paint-by-number set, will forgive me.
|
©2014 Center for Book
Arts, Incorporated 1974
A 501(c)(3)
not-for-profit organization |