Metamorphosis 4
Cairo, Egypt: Islam Aly, 2018. Number 21 of 30 copies, signed by the artist. According to the artist: "In the Metamorphoses series, I am focusing on Islamic art and design. I want to reveal how patterns develop and morph in a book that makes the viewer experience their beauty, elegance, harmony, intricacy, and complexity."
A coptic binding with engraved and laser cut wooden boards with title on front board. The interior is laser cut mould-made Johannot paper featuring simple shapes that ultimately form more intricate patterns and designs referencing those found in traditional Islamic art. The edges of the textblock are green with laser cut designs. Size: 3.5 x 3.5 x 4.5 inches. Unpaginated.
Islam Aly is an Egyptian-born book artist and teacher based in Cairo, who studied book arts and art education at the University of Iowa. His books explore the possibilities of historical bindings in contemporary book art practices They have appeared in international exhibitions in the United States and abroad, and in private and public collections including the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Library of Chile, Yale University, and Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In an artist's statement he writes: "When I make a historical book structure, I go through a learning process. I learn the history as well as the different physical aspects of the binding such as how a book form is constructed in a specific sequence. I learn about the use of different materials such as paper, wood, leather and dyes. I learn to make choices in selecting and replacing traditional materials that I don’t have access to. I use these different experiences to enhance my work in making artists’ books and to use historical and cultural references from these structures in the actual content. In essence, I wish to explore new ways to use the rich structures of historical books in contemporary artists’ book practice and incorporate contemporary content into strictly historical structures." ARTB/022525. Fine.
Item #37831
Price: $700.00