//«/photo: Bill Bachhuber
/ D o m in io n
photo: Courtesy of the artist
E X H I B I T I O N
disorderly typography and dis-
orientingly varied font sizes.
There’s even reverence for
classic, if often overlooked, genres
of books. Inge Bruggeman’s
Unable to Find Each Other, Let Alone
Ourselves
(2007) isn’t the only riff
on the illustrated characters from
vintage medical texts. Likewise,
Gaylord Schanilec’s
Sylvae
(2008)
is one of several works inspired
by old-fashioned field guides.
How pleasing to peruse books
like these, which satisfy our appe-
tites for both story and beauty.
Left:
Julie Chen
True to Life,
2005
paper, book board, book
cloth, wood, plexiglass
14.75 x 9.5 x 1 in.
Left:
Dianejacobs
Light Blue Sun Hat,
2010
woven hand-set letter-
press text on paper
5 x 20 x 19 in.
Ken Campbell
Dominion,
2002
reversed-goatskin Islamic-style
wraparound binding, polychrome
letterpress, hand-set wood and
metal type; 20.1 x 14.6 x 1 in.
With their inky imagery and
marbled papers, the best selec-
tions prey rather aggressively
on the desire to touch. Take
Julie Chen’s
True to Life (
2005):
It features a brilliant tablet-like
interface with sliding pages
attached to tiny wooden handles,
and the viewer wants desper-
ately to pull.
Michael Kuch’s
Disasters
o f Love: A Defense o f Delilah
(2006) is equally enticing. This
collection of poems, intaglios,
and lithographs is displayed
with its colorful folding box,
arranged as an easel, face-down
and partly obscured. On the
propped page, the eye travels
immediately to the lithograph
of a nude figure. After a minute
or two, the text proves even
more seductive, triggering an
almost primal need to hold the
narrative in your hands.
Alas, Kuch’s gorgeous book,
like all the others, is hands-off.
Everything here is encased in
glass, with only single spreads
exposed. Even when you stoop,
crouch or stretch your neck, you
can never fully grasp the slivers
of treasure you see (just barely)
in this roomful of fanned pages.
The show satisfies certain visual
cravings; that it leaves you with
such longing testifies to the tac-
tile appeals of letterpress and
other fine press techniques.
An e-book can’t do that. No
wonder these books are thriving.
+
Christy DeSmith is a Minneapolis-
basedfreelance writer. She covers
arts, culture, and travel.
feb/mari2 american craft 039
