Books

The Unreadable Word (Peat covered book - the artist's own jointly authored work 'Managers Divided')
The Unreadable Word (Peat covered book - the artist's own jointly authored work 'Managers Divided')
Preserved Words (artists books in olive oil)
Preserved Words (artists books in olive oil)
Books: the Buried Word (Working Class Struggles in Italy) (Books, string, peatbog)
Books: the Buried Word (Working Class Struggles in Italy) (Books, string, peatbog)

This was a small collection of 'artist's books' I made whilst studying at Sheffield Hallam University's Fine Art department as a part-time student. 

 

I had recently published a book in my 'other life' as an academic researcher at UMIST's School of Management (click here to see it). One of my responses to this event was to take a copy of the book and cover each page in a mix of wet peat. 

 

Other parts of the Books project consisted in burying a set of books in a peat bog in the Peak District and recovering them six months later and creating a series of tiny books made out of hand-made paper to be preserved in a jar of olive oil. 

 

I still have the books in olive oil.  The others disappeared a long time ago. 

 

The drypoint print was made at the same time.  I had nine pieces of aluminium on which I had scored a grid.  On a walk along Stanage Edge in the Peak District I would stop at certain predetermined intervals and smash the plates into the earth's surface with a lump hammer. It was sort of Richard Long meets Sol Le Witt and the Boyle Family.

Detail from Nine Steps: Lump Hammer Interaction (Drypoint)
Detail from Nine Steps: Lump Hammer Interaction (Drypoint)