The hard cover book is a six-sided rectangular object. Three sides – front, back and spine – are opaque, hiding the book’s internal life. The three other sides – top-, fore-, and tail edge – reveal the subtle texture of the fine parallel lines created by the individual pages, and the weight of the casing. The fore-edge appears secretive, yet simultaneously invites opening and exploring the book.
The used hard cover book is an object with an uncertain future. Visits to second-hand bookstores, with row after row of books, many untouched for years, raise questions about their fate. Is this the last chapter of their lives? Can they assume a new purpose?
“Book Ends” explore both the material and philosophical aspects of the hard cover book. The central element is a lateral slice from a book’s fore-edge, including the cloth-finish front and back cover. Each book is selected because of its age, provenance, size, paper quality and color, and binding materials, not for its content.
The geometric forms, suggesting multiple layers, create visual depth and act as the intermediaries between the two-dimensional surface of the painting and the three-dimensional form of the book.
“Book Ends” are a symbiosis of book and painting. While the book is integral to the painting, the painting’s composition and color give an unexpected new life to the book.