Tell me about Jesus
CA: 1998. Hardcover. This is a unique altered book by Lisa Kokin, and signed by her. She is a noted book artist who also creates art with sewing and alterations, as well as with button work and assemblage. She also is known for acting as a mentor and coach to people in the arts.
With this provocative work, Lisa has used a children's book titled 'Tell Me About Jesus,' written by Mary Alice Jones, illustrated by Pelagie Doane, and published by Rand McNally in the late 1960s. In the book, young Bobby learns through worship, personal relations, nature, and play the factors that make Jesus seem real. Lisa has altered both the illustrations and text by adding seemingly discrepant images to the illustrations and by collaging text in various fonts and sizes to alter the meaning of the text sentences. For example, on one page Bobby (now) says to his sister "'I am saved. I have a semi-automatic to do God's way. Did you know that?' Mary did not understand. But she could tell that Bobby was going to smite opposition, so she laughed happily" and so forth, creating a completely different meaning to the messages of the book.
Kokin says about her altered books: "I alter, appropriate, and combine text from books about religion, history, self-help, business and sociopolitical ideology. I am fascinated by the random juxtapositions of words that occur when parts of text are removed to create other stories, or when texts from two sources such as business and religion are combined. It gives me great pleasure to subvert the original meanings of books which were written to keep people in their place, and to do it with humor and levity."
Bound in the original orange cloth covers with blue titling to spine and front cover, which also has the outlined image of a little boy. Illustrated pastedowns and free endpapers. Measures 8 x 10.25 inches. Some pages from the original removed, leaving about 40 pages with many full page illustrations. ARTB/102824. Very Good.
Item #37563
Price: $3,750.00