This series of four LINE BOOKS explores the news as seen in newspapers and the line as a basic element in visual art. In the discipline of limiting my expression I’ve discovered the eloquence of the line. Drawing a line I feel like an archer releasing the arrow. I repeat the action until the page is covered. Each line is a conscious act.

The pages of these books are taken from newspapers in late 2004 and 2005. First the images are obscured with black or white gesso, a symbolic comment on current government policies in the United States. I have found this obsessive process enormously calming. The painted lines further obscure the images, as if to deny their content.

Lines

Fifteen pages of gessoed newspaper with painted & collaged lines, recto and verso; one silk page with stitched lines, one vellum page with cut slits, two text pages printed by ink jet on vellum.

Covers are 4 ply museum board with gesso, shellac and charcoal.
Binding is single sheet Coptic stitch.
Box by John DeMerritt.
Edition of one.

Text:

Drawing a line I feel like an archer releasing the arrow.

To have your concentration control your hand is an exquisite physical and emotional experience.

It’s like making the first tracks across a field of fresh snow.

As I embark on each line I think, “this will be the perfect line.” If it is not, then it is what I am capable of at that moment.

The lines do not lie.

They add up to a certain kind of truth.

They place me in the moment, as present as I can be.

I live each line.

Power Lines

Ten pages of gessoed newspaper with painted lines, recto and verso. Some pages have torn edges, one page has cut-out void. One page of text and one colophon printed by ink jet on vellum. Vellum cover sheet with cut-out void revealing title. Covers are 4 ply museum board with gesso and paint. Binding is single sheet Coptic stitch. Plexi slip case. Edition of one.

Text:

The men on these pages are men in power, men with authority, and men in uniforms.

Authority presented and power perceived. 

A dry brush of white gesso obscures the images, creating a kind of snowy static, like a television set with poor reception.

Obscured. Obscuring. Whiting it out.

Lines accrue across each page like bars.

Black lines intervene, like the lines issuing from politicians in a relentless campaign.

Party line.

Enemy line.

Headlines.

Reputations on the line.

Stay in line.

Walk the line.

Hold the line.

Power line

Fault Lines

Twelve pages of gessoed newspaper with painted lines, recto and verso. Pages are of varied sizes in a stepped progression to full size. Vellum front page with cut-out void. At the end of the book statement and colophon printed by ink jet on vellum. Covers are 4 ply museum board with gesso and paint. Binding is single sheet Coptic stitch. Plexi slip case. Edition of one.

Text:

“Fault Lines” is one of four books in a series that explores the news as seen in newspapers and the line as a basic element of art. In the discipline of limiting my expression I’ve discovered the eloquence of the line. Drawing a line I feel like an archer releasing the arrow. I repeat the action until the page is covered. Each line is a conscious act.

The pages of this book are taken from newspapers in late 2004 and picture the war in Iraq. First the images are obscured with black or white gesso, a symbolic comment on the foreign policy of the United States. I have found this obsessive process enormously calming.

The painted lines further obscure the images, as if to deny their content. Each line is a life-affirming pulse, opposing the war and government policy.

Head Lines: Women in Order of Their Appearance

Twenty three pages of gessoed newspaper with painted lines, recto and verso. Black and white gesso with red paint.. Some pages have torn edges and one has a cut-out. Vellum end page with cut-out slits. Statement and colophon printed by ink jet on vellum at the back of the book. Covers are 4-ply museum board painted with gesso with tipped in color Xerox prints overlaid with lines. Plexi slip case. Edition of one.

Text:

While working on a series of books with imagery taken from newspapers I became aware there were more pictures of men than women. After making two books that depicted men in power and men in war, I longed to see my own gender in action on the pages.

In this collection the women are identified by the titles they were given in the newspaper.

URBAN GORILLA SHOPPER SEC. of EDUCATION REFUGEE ACTIVISTS PRINCESS MODE CONVICTED FELON MUSICIAN ACTRESS TORTURER REFUGEES WIFE & DAUGHTER

ART PHILANTHROPIST ENVIRONMENTALIST OPERA SINGER FIRST LADY MOTHER WIDOW MODEL RUNAWAY ATHLETE ARTIST REFUGEE ACTIVIST