Academe Obscure, Don't Judge

Don't Judge a book by its cover, goes the saying...I made this book for the Academe Obscure gallery showing at the Tacoma Arts Center.

The picture inside is of the of one of the most hideously deformed men ever documented and pictured: Joseph Merrick, more popularly known as The Elephant Man.

How quick we are too look at him in revulsion, yet for the grotesquerie that was his outer form, inside he was a very kind and polite man. He loved poetry and crafted spectacular paper models with his one good hand.

I made this book to demonstrate how easily we write-off that which at first appears as nothing more than a trash heap. Scraps and used parts, torn apart and beaten can yet yield a strangely unique beauty.

This book has been completely hand bound. The cover has been made using old shopping bags, scrap leather and various tidbits of what would otherwise qualify as garbage. In this case, used as camouflage to demonstrate the beauty that would be thrown out if one didn’t take the time to look within or beyond the superficial exterior.

Inside, the book consists of 156 beautiful pages of coffee-leaf recycled paper. The inner cover has been lined with a fine pearlized paper and trimmed with fancy printed satin ribbon.

A poem oft quoted by Merrick is centered opposite the title page, with a hand embossed name plate.

The back cover contains a picture of the physician who befriended Joseph and was responsible for seeing to it that he lived at least somewhat comfortably in the hospital. How ironic that he should be such a handsome man.

The envelope contains a quote from Dr. Treves about Merrick which perhaps summarizes the tragedy of why we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

"One thing that always struck me as sad about Merrick was the fact that he could not smile. Whatever his delight may be, his face remained expressionless. He could weep, but he could not smile."

~Dr. Frederick Treves

Ugly Girl with Flowers from Academe Obscure

The colors are magic: a field of black lit with topaz against which a human figure and sprays of flowers glow in uncompromising light.

The girl is a study in human ordinariness.

“Do you see what he is doing?” says Caspar. “Do you see his efforts, do you understand?”

She can’t speak.

“He has used the—the grammar of your features to spell out a sentence. Do you know what it says?”

She isn’t sure she can hear the dreadful painting say anything.

“It says only one thing. It says: Aren’t the flowers beautiful?”

Ugly Girl with Flowers was inspired by Gregory Maguire’s ‘Tales of an Ugly Stepsister’. The painting is described in the tale where the unremarkable plainness of a girl is used to demonstrate how much more beautiful are the flowers in comparison to her. They are only that much more heightened by her homeliness.

This book was created for the Academe Obscure: A Library Beyond Description gallery showing at the TAC 25 in Tacoma. I found the idea of a realization of beauty - or lack thereof - quite moving; the sheer crushing of spirit that one must feel to realize that the world would call them ugly is like the innocence of nakedness being revealed as though it were shameful and embarrassing.

For the cover, I’ve created my own illustration of the painting and framed it with a border of thorns, upon spray of petals. The book is covered entirely with red velveteen rose petals and silk green leaves for the spine. Inside the page signatures alternate between sage green and blushing pale pink parchment.

On the inner cover, the quote illuminates the contrast between the mediocre painting and the loveliness of the book with its vibrant colors and cultivated flower petals.

Is it not more shameful that we live in a world that traps people under the knowledge of their own 'ugliness' rather than one which gives wings to the contrast that creates the illusion of beauty?

The Book of Rust from Academe Obscure

“...our love turns to rust,

we’re beaten and blown by the wind,

trampled in dust.”

The Book of Rust is one of the blank journals I've made for the Academe Obscure show at the TAC 25 Collective where it will be on display through mid-October.

It has been waiting to emerge, this book. Pulled from my dreams by a piece of teal suede leather and handmade paper that was tossed out as imperfect because it failed to marble properly.

The picture on the front is based on a depiction from the first dream I ever documented and has been cobbled together with purposeful imperfection onto a blank digital canvas.

Seattle deteriorates in post-apocalyptic ruin, crumbling in the background. Fallen to the ground and rusting are the icons of perfect beauty, human form, love: The David of Michelangelo and the Venus de Milo of Alexandros of Antioch.

Tumbling loosely down are renditions of long ago paintings all depicting the grief of loss, longing and heartache. No longer housed and framed.

Within the book, the pages are a rustic, handmade mulberry with copper and brown bookmarks. On the title page is an anatomical Venus de Milo book plate on rust-streaked canvas.

The inside cover however is bedecked with the triumphant hope of Cupid (Eros) and Psyche even amidst ruin. Pristine in perfect white marble on a bed of white rose petals upon an unblemished background of still more white roses.

I've taken most of the pictures that make this book during my travels in Italy and France and brought them together this artistic medium, including those of the two lovers, The David and Venus de Milo.

To read more about the story of Cupid and Psyche, visit them here on Wikipedia.