 |
| |
 |
|
| |
Twisted Meanings
15" x 14" x 6"
Altered dictionary
2003 |
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
|
| |
Erosion
13" x 9"
Collage
2002/03
|
|
|
|
Doug Beube
|
|
The book in popular culture ascribes the venerated object as
precious,
whereas I view the book partially as an antiquated technology,
one we continue to
use in the beginning of a new millennium. Although highly functional,
practical
and aesthetically appealing in a digital age, the book’s ability
to retrieve
information is limited compared to the ‘multi-tasking’ capacity
of the
computer.
Simultaneously, books are taken for granted, billions, trillions
or more
books exist in the world and continue to be published daily:
there is no shortage
of printed material. By transforming them, I encourage viewers
to participate
in a critique or dialogue, which gives them an opportunity
to visually engage
with the object or bookwork.
Searched out in used bookstores on forgotten dusty bookshelves,
acquired in
commercial venues or industrial dumpsters filled with rejected
codices, I find
an abundance of material. The impact of the book, not only
is it a
technological tool for perpetuating knowledge, but when transformed
into sculpture, that
otherwise would have gone unnoticed in its familiar bestseller
dust jacket or
glossy embossed paperback, the book acquires another layer
of meaning.
I look at the book form loaded with metaphors that reference
the body, global
politics, introspection, social issues and perception. Theoretically
and
physically I excavate the book for example, making ‘twisted
texts’ as if the>
text block itself is an archeological site to probe. Ultimately
the visual
impact of changing perceptions through manipulating the book’s
structure motivates
me to pursue the book as a phenomenological endeavor.
|
