Oculus (2012)
Altered book assemblage
by
Frank Turek
The top two thirds of the inside cover is a black-and-white photograph of four standing men seen from the waist down. The two middle figures are handcuffed together. The lower third of the inside cover is a colored etching illustration of a forearm with surgical incisions exposing the veins and arteries. A small plastic box is attached to the inside cover. The box contains six compartments, each containing illustrations from a children’s story. On the inside cover of the box is an eight-line poem. Glued on top of the plastic box is a cardboard tile covered with a landscape illustration of a stream coming from a cave. The frame is covered with a green underwater photograph of the ocean floor. The background of the lower two thirds of this altered book is an etching illustration of a classical theater as seen from the back of the audience. On top of this is a small vial containing a color illustration of a man looking through a sextant. Coming out of the vial is a screw stem attached to a broken metal measuring device. At the end of this device is a chain which drapes down to an extended plastic arm which holds the other end. The side panels are mirrors. The top section is a box covered with a Renaissance period landscape. In the center of this box is a hole through which one can see a ceramic figurine of a woman lying on her side. The title, signature, and date are on the bottom of the inside frame.
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