Avalon (2011)
Altered book assemblage
by
Frank Turek
The inside cover is covered with a color photo of an arial view of more than two dozen small tropical islands as they extend into the horizon. At the very bottom of the cover is a clipping of a medieval drawing of sea creatures. Just above this is a rectangular silver clasp locket. When opened it reveals clippings from sepia toned reproductions of Victorian era paintings on King Arthur — mostly from Burne-Jones’ “The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon.” The frame is covered with a wallpaper sample featuring an abstract floral pattern on a dusty pink background. The interior of the frame is in two sections. A large open section on the bottom and an enclosed section with a door on the top third. The door of the top section is of blue tinted glass with an image of a lyre bird showing through. The door is opened by pulling on a piece of ribbon on the right side. The inside of this cabinet reveals three upright dominos in a row, each with a scene from the same set of paintings as are in the locket mentioned above. The dominoes are set floating inside the compartment which is lined with red felt. There are mirrors on either side of this compartment. The main compartment’s background is a color reproduction of a painting of Sir Walter Raleigh in armor by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger . All we can see is part of the breastplate and part of the left arm. In front of this is a cylinder cover with an anatomical etching of the internal organs with the word ‘uterus’ hand-written across it. A red stick with a large green bead extends up out of this cylinder to the top of this section. Mounted on the top of the right panel is orange rubber lion head. A thick red bootlace extends out of the mouth of the lion, coils down to the floor of the compartment, and disappears under a 5 Millionen German postage stamp. A small game die sits in the bottom left corner. The bottom panel is covered with an etching illustration featuring men in a church with many empty pews. On the left and right side panels are a pair of sparsely drawn etchings featuring a carcass in the desert being eaten by vultures and an alligator walking by in the foreground. The top panel of this lower section is an underwater color photo of an outcropping of coral. There is a strip text curved in front of this top section which reads, “they were all so tired that soon they were fast asleep.”
This piece is titled, signed and dated on the bottom left of the frame.
Original book cover title:
Book cover used for this piece: Raintree County by Ross Lockridge Jr.
Some elements of this assemblage. Select one to find other altered books with the same.