Nobody’s Darling (2011)
Altered book assemblage
by
Frank Turek
The background of the inside cover is covered with a green floral-patterned cloth. The bottom half of the cover is a diptych with the left panel from a comic book, the right panel a color illustration of one man helping another man on with his jacket. In the center of the diptych is a spinner arrow. Above this is a small box opened to the front covered with a fake wood-grain pattern. Centered inside this box is a butterscotch-colored plastic cowboy figure with a white skull head in place of the cowboy’s head. On either side of this figure are two halves of a pig. The background of this box is a color illustration of sheep grazing with a black-and-white photo of an elderly Andrew Jackson. The frame is covered with a black-and-white etching illustration of a guillotine beheading from the ‘Reign of Terror’ of the French Revolution. The framed area is divided into an upper and lower section. In the upper half is a Renaissance painting by Tintoretto depicting St. George slaying the dragon and to either side of this are mirrors. Covering the top inside is a four sentence paragraph from a children’s book. In the bottom sections the background is a 1950s painting illustration of a rocket ship flying in space. Mounted on top of this is an assemblage construction of a plastic tube, metal brackets and the base of a cathode tube. On either side of this lower section are etching illustrations of monkeys. The bottom is an illustration of a small whale and above is a color drawing depicting a type of cattle disease. In between the upper and lower section, enclosed in a glass partition, is a color illustration of sea creatures dwelling on the bottom of the ocean. On the top of the frame is an etching illustration of several drunk men. This book also contains a loose bookmark with the title “Nobody’s Darling.”
Original book cover title:
Book cover used for this piece: The Life of Andrew Jackson by Marquis James
Some elements of this assemblage. Select one to find other altered books with the same.
1950s, Andrew Jackson, cathode tube, color drawing, comic book, cowboy, diptych, dragon, fabric sample, fake wood-grain, glass shelf, green, guillotine, pig, plastic figures, Renaissance painting, rocketship, sea creatures, several drunk men, sheep, skull, St. George, Tintoretto, toy, whale