of tiny, colorful booklets containing ambig-
uous aphorisms, not all as sweet as they
look. “If you give me a box of candy, I’m
going to wind up eating all of them, even
the ones I don’t like,” she explains. “So that
was the hook. I wanted people to open the
box, see all these irresistible pieces, and
start to interact with them. They would be
forced, in a way, to take in all of it because
they wouldn’t be able to pass it up.”
She takes a bolder, more in-your-face
approach in
Panorama
(2008), an ambitious,
5-foot-wide sculptural foldout that address-
es the possible catastrophic effects of cli-
mate change. “It got bigger and bigger as I
developed the concept,” she says. “I wanted
people to really have to deal with this, at
least while they were looking at the book.”
Reader reaction and interaction matter
to Chen, so much that she once worried her
work was becoming too self-indulgent. Her
response was the contemplative
Personal
Paradigms
(2003), which invites people to
arrange wooden shapes in combination
with various loaded phrases and words
(“the past,” “sadness,” “commitment,” for
example), then draw and write about it in a
ledger. As you discover after playing a
round, it’s a moving and strangely cathartic
exercise. Chen seems pleased to hear this
and wants to know: Did you record your
results in the ledger? Had others?
Well, no. The reality is, to alter a “Julie”
in front of librarians, even if it is tempting,
permitted, and what she wants, is a daunt-
ing line to cross. She’s disappointed, but
understands. “I knew when I designed that
piece that it was going to be a challenge.”
It’s both the quandary and mystique of
her art: the exquisite object we hesitate to
handle, but long to, and must.
+
flyingfishpress.com
W ork by Ju lie Chen is in the group exhibition
“One by One: A n Exploration o f the Book Arts ”
at the Craft in America Study Center, Los
Angeles, M ar. 3
-
M ay 14. Joyce Lovelace is
American Craft
’s contributing editor.
Top and bottom:
View,
2007
letterpress-printed
paper, cloth-covered box
6.4
x 13.6 x 4.5 in. (box size)
View
is about coming
to terms with mortality.
Two books rest inside
the box, which,
when tilted forward,
reveals a view of a
miniature world.
apr/may 11 american craft 039
