By Moonlight (2018)
Altered book assemblage
by
Frank Turek
The inside cover is lined with a fabric sample patterned with blue floral elements on an antique white background. Taking up the whole width of the cover are two images, one above the other, next to an accompanying text. Both images are black-and-white lithograph illustrations of characters critical of the French Revolution. The texts are lists of positive affirmations in the style of fortune cookie fortunes. The framed section of this book is covered with a high-definition black-and-white photograph of the moon. A box cover fits snugly inside the frame. The cover is collaged with text from a story about 1930s popular music and topped with the center part of the same photo of the moon from the frame. The crater Copernicus is in the center of this cover, and a hole of the same circumference is cut out, allowing one to place a finger inside and pull the lid out of the frame. The inside of the frame lid is a color drawing of various animal groups and humans with a diagram of the hearing frequency ranges of the respective animals. The inside sides of the lid are lined with black-and-white images of coal miners and their equipment. The main framed compartment contains only one image, an etching illustrating a profile view of a chicken skeleton. This picture lies behind a piece of amber glass which is mounted on posts topped with sequins. The whole compartment is lined with orange-tan suede leather.
Original book cover title:
Book cover used for this piece: Hans Breitmann’s Ballads by Charles G. Leland
Some elements of this assemblage. Select one to find other altered books with the same.
bat, bird, chart, chicken, colored glass, crater, French Revolution, frequency, hearing, leather, lists, lizard, miners, monkey, moon, music, skeleton