In recent news, two of my works are finalists in the Biblio Art Prize 2018.
Once essentially an altered book competition, its parameters have expanded to include a wide range of media, with the only proviso that the completed work references a specific book of the artist’s choice.
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| Progeny, 2018, one-of-a-kind artist book (detail), pigmented drawing ink, gouache and hand stitching with cloth binding, 16.5 x 91 cm (open) |
The first of my shortlisted works is Progeny, a one-of-a kind artist book made during my recent term as artist-in-residence at the Melbourne Athenaeum Library during Melbourne Rare Book Week 2018 (see also Blog Post Sunday, July 15).
Its point of departure is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, which also celebrates a significant anniversary this year - the 200th anniversary of its publication. The artist book's title originates from an extract from Shelley's introduction to the second edition of Frankenstein: "And now, once again, I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper”.
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| Bell Jar, 2018, archival pigment print, 42.5 x 32 cm, edition no. 1/10 |
My second shortlisted work is Bell Jar, an archival pigment print inspired by the eponymous semi-autobiographical novel by Sylvia Plath.
‘I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow, the million moving shapes and cul-de-sacs of shadow. There was shadow in bureau drawers and closets and suitcases, and shadow under houses and trees and stones, and shadow at the back of people's eyes and smiles, and shadow, miles and miles and miles of it, on the night side of the earth’.
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963)
The exhibition runs from 3 November - 2 December.
37 James Street,
Port Fairy
Victoria
In celebration of the competition's tenth anniversary, the show will travel to Tacit Galleries in Collingwood, where it will be on view from 5 - 16 December 2018.
