The Cover Story
Pushing Boundaries Expanding Horizons
10th National Print Exhibition & Competition
January 27th - February 22, 2014
Janet Turner Print Museum, California State University, Chico, LA, USA
Exhibition Merit Award by Janet Turner Print Museum
In The Cover Story, I grapple with the concept of the book as a historical authority—a voice that has long shaped and influenced the minds of its readers. The traditional book, with its bound pages and printed words, stands as a bastion of knowledge, often perceived as an unchallenged source of truth and a determinant of epistemological hierarchy. In a time flush with the deluge of online information, I revisit and interrogate this notion, reflecting on how the authority vested in books has guided and molded thought processes and knowledge consumption.
My artistic process involves a subversive alteration of book covers, playing with graphics, scale, and perspective to construct images that evoke a layered relationship between the viewer and the original author. This intervention is intentional, a direct engagement with the authority that the book embodies. By distorting the familiar facades of these tomes, I invite onlookers to challenge their traditional interactions with books and the knowledge within them.
The oversized reproductions of etchings sourced from these texts are more than visual spectacles; they are symbols of disruption. They represent an alternative approach to contemplating history and the established hierarchies of knowing. This physical and conceptual dislocation of the material is a strategic interruption in the way books communicate their contents and assert their influence.
In transforming these books into prints, I am not merely altering their form; I am also intervening in the hierarchical structure of knowledge itself. By changing how we interact with books, I aim to democratize the authority they represent. This work is an invitation to viewers to not only see but also engage with books in a transformative manner, prompting a critical examination of how authority is constructed and perpetuated through the written word.
The Cover Story, therefore, stands as a challenge to the conventional reverence afforded to books. It is a call to viewers to question, to interact, and to reimagine the dynamics of knowledge and power. Through this artistic endeavor, I seek to cultivate a space where authority is not dictated by the medium of information, but is instead a dialogue, ever-evolving with the participation of each individual who engages with it.
