Tuesday, October 19, 2010

"The child is so sweet, and the girls are so rapturous. Isn't it lovely how artists can capture us?" -Sunday In The Park With George

Hey all you crazy (two) followers!

Here is a project I recently completed for CFC (Concept, Form, and Context) Culture*.

If you plan on viewing this piece as it is meant to be viewed, stop reading here! This artist's statement (of sorts) is a total spoiler. In fact, the piece would probably do better in an old, dusty church library somewhere to be picked up by an unsuspecting school girl in a moment of curiosity (what? who says that?).

*I had to make this blog for class, hence all the boring in-progress stuff...I mean, really interesting and beneficial in-progress stuff. (Hey, Andy!) Supposedly I'll thank him for this later. [I probably will.]



Basically it's a book of "bible quotes" which are really not bible quotes at all. It is meant as a commentary on religion's emphasis on text and how followers of those texts can rarely distinguish them from any other religion's doctrine. I wanted to call into question: what is the purpose of subscribing to texts we know very little about? Also, how easily can one religion's core values be substituted for another's?



I hand stitched the book's pages as well as its binding. The creamy off-white color is closer to the actual color, but the flash pictures gave me higher text resolution. Go figure. Above I'm holding the pages upright to glue them onto the backing.



I tried some calligraphy with my new flat-tipped marker. It's really fun, but I didn't end up using it for the piece. I also discovered that my Hebrew calligraphy is much better than my English.




The quotes come from all over including chinese proverbs, famous politicians, the Quran, the Talmud, and pop song lyrics to name a few.



There is only one quote in the whole book that is really from the Bible and that is "The truth shall set you free". I also made the registered offices of the publishers located on Emett Drive (Hebrew for truth) for another hidden clue for the reader. The piece was a success in critique, as people had a hard time figuring out which quotes they recognized from the Bible, and were shocked to find out there was only one true Bible quote!

On a completely unrelated note, if you have any interest in what I'm inspired by these days, check out Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky Crumb. Pretty crude stuff, but I love their honesty, playfulness, and drawing styles.


Eliana

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