Testing a Concept

Sometimes you see something that really catches your artist eye. While in Mexico City I saw some artist books made by Patricia LaGarde, a Mexican photographer. One in particular fascinated me. It was a structured book with cuts and folds within the pages. I liked the way the cuts and folds changed the feeling of the book. When I returned home I started cutting up copy paper and printing small images and folding the paper and images and then I let them sit on my work table for a week or so until another idea came to mind and another round of calculating sizes, cutting and pasting and looking would ensue but always looking for how the light worked with the new version.

While working on it, I realized that I wanted a book that could sit on a book-shelf lined up with other books or it could sit opened up as you see it here, a three-dimensional object sitting on a mantel or table. I am really liking the way the light reflects off of the folded pages and also through the light tunnel made by the projecting images. I like the way the shadows change on each side of the folded image. This concept is kind of a cross between an accordion book and a pop-up book. Unfortunately it is missing the covers. The book board is cut but the bookcloth I ordered did not arrive before I left Mexico. The concept works and maybe it will be the beginning of more variations.