Book•Work

Here's a visual listing of OOAK, limited & other editions. I like to know my collectors. Give me a shout via email when you find an art

piece or artist codex you would like to own, or to talk commission.

Exhibit E / Burdensome Keychain

+ the ones we can't forget

OOAK 6x7x1"

It has occurred to me that we all carry some

form of keychain around with us on a day to day basis.

The object itself takes on different forms, having to do with need, want, and what happened to be our last fob gift. The object itself notwithstanding, the emotional and physiological weight of the keychain is often heavy duty.

This is what I need to carry in my pocket: a charm of subtle nagging, and the simple, yet unforgettable people met along the way.

Some of My Best Friends

OOAK 10.5x7x1"

80 pgs altered Hymn book of abbreviated bios.

This work was inspired by an adventure, a personal trip into an

abandoned asylum in Massachusetts, in 1993.

I broke into a defunct asylum in the Northeast years ago and what I experienced there has remained with me. The theme cycles in my work.

What struck me the most, outside of the inmate’s letters and artwork that were strewn throughout ghostly rooms, were the telescoped life stories reported by the psychoanalysts and interns. After each patient’s death, their life was duly summed up in a few abbreviated lines typed on the bottom of each yellow page. This is all that remained of each life. An epitaph of sorts. A cc left to decay inside a shoebox, in the records room, awaiting the bulldozer and final burial.

The door is open between a fun house and the insane asylum, and the human condition runs maniacally and deep through the halls.

Who are your people?

Metta - Loving Kindness Illuminated

OOAK 8 x 5.5 x 1.5

This work is inspired by antiquated manuscripts. Animals from land, air and sea were used as models and overlaid with sacred geometry. The words penned are the Metta Sutra, best known as the loving-kindness meditation and chant. I chose through eight different translations to get the wording to its simplest essence and universal meaning. There are inner pages inside each leaf; while reading the sutra and lifting the smaller pages the pictures are revealed. The aging of this book exhibits it's character - how it is handled, and how often. A book well thumbed and lent from hand to hand.

There are different layers to this work, as each look-see

can offer another angle of interest.

Experiencing this bricolage is getting lost in the moment

to find yourself again illuminated page.

When Sword Swallowing Does Not Impress

together with the unrealized inventions of man Vol. II

with notes on the impatience of man

thoughout written history

9.5 x 6 x 2.5 - 100 pages

This is an artist's book. A coptic book built of antique ephemera collaged, machine and hand stitched and then worked over day-to-day with musings and drawings and more stitching. The challenge was to use words and imagery to sculpt a story, forcing meaning into a primarily non-sequitur work.

Book of Days

7 x 7 x 1.5"

Book of Days is a board book of textural work, visually and informationally. A trophy of divine portraits based

on holy women, latin pleas, and out-of-context

commentary on the way to spend your days.

This line up was inspired by the illuminated

manuscripts and work based in opening paths of living. Lew Carroll, Chosu, Buddha, Einstein, Nijinsky, Mother Teresa and the Oracle at Delphi all have their say

in the creation of everyday mythology. Latin sounds ominus even when saying simply: I am still learning.

This language adds weight to the pages, before

knowing the messages they impart.

Ode to Crow

6.5 x 6 x 1.5

This book is an illustrated codex. The ten pages are worked over with mixed media, then prose & illustration play on top. The rag paper is stitched onto muslin, concertina

folded and coptic stitched into a wood puzzle piece

cover with antique findings.

Ode to Crow is written in first person/crow who speaks on

the different dark forms he takes. He is the doubler who

is both carcass and greedy feeder. As it is read, we see

the human condition play throughout, and the line

between bird and human is blurred.

I enjoy being near the edge of disastrous creating, where

the art begins to take on a life of its own - even though

I am wrangling in the work through process,

I am always surprised with the outcome.

Harnett • Hargrove

Illustration / Book • Work / Costume

Book•Work

Book•Work

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