Out There In Here
Iowa City: Emily Martin and the Naughty Dog Press, 2012. Hardcover. One of 25 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Emily Martin earned an MFA degree in painting from the University of Iowa in 1979 and made her first artist’s books at that time. She joined the faculty of the University of Iowa Center for the Book in 1998 where she teaches artists books, paper engineering, and traditional bookbinding classes. Martin makes limited edition artists books, first as the Naughty Dog Press, now using her name only. She has produced over fifty artist’s books, often using movable and/or sculptural paper engineering techniques. Martin’s books are included in public and private collections throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Meermanno Museum, The Hague, Netherlands; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago; the Tate Britain, London, England, the Library of Congress and others.
Martin writes that this is a double tunnel book presenting her idea of my mother’s reality and imagined situation. "My mother had frontal lobe dementia." In the colophon, written in 2012, she notes that she "had been trying to work out a vague idea of inside and outside. When I started thinking about who might be inside and then outside and why it began to coalesce. Many mock-ups were made before this book began to take form. The text also went through a number of revisions. This is not the first book I have done involving my mother, it will probably not be the last. My mother has always been one of my biggest supporters and I thank her."
The two tunnel structures are completely separate and open to different depths to reflect her mother's imagined freedom and diminished reality. The format used is a double tunnel book of Martin's own devising. The text lines were laser printed onto Mohawk Superfine 100 lb Text paper. The color images in the left-hand tunnel were also laser printed and then toned using paste paints and her fingers. The black and white images in the right-hand tunnel were made with an ink transfer monoprinting technique. The colophon is printed on a separate sheet of paper inside the clamshell box. The book's hard covers are covered with bright yellow Duotone book cloth, with a paper title label affixed to the front cover. The book is housed in a clamshell box covered with red Japanese book cloth with paper title label to spine. In fine condition. Measures 10.75 x 10.75 inches. ARTB/111323. Fine.
Item #37911
Price: $800.00