Radio Stations in the United States (2009)
Altered book assemblage
by
Frank Turek
The inside cover is covered with a fabric sample with an abstract floral design on an ivory-colored background. Central to the cover is a color reproduction of John Sargent’s painting “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose.” Atop this and centered is a color drawing illustration of a generic medieval town. This illustration is attached on a half cylinder form. To the left side of this is a vividly colored interior decoration photo of a chair in front of a bookcase. To the right of the half-cylinder, mounted on a tile is a list of attributes pertaining to travel. The frame is covered with pages from the encyclopedia set from which this book originally came. The title of this piece, “Radio Stations of the United States,” is a section heading on these pages. The background of the upper section inside the frame is a color photo of a lighthouse and its surrounding buildings. To the left of the lighthouse is a long vertical clipping of a color photo of a farm worker on a ladder harvesting dates. Mounted in the center is a large bed spring with black feathers coming out of either end. It rests on a swatch of pink floral fabric. Extending down from the top right are two narrow radio vacuum tubes. The top panel is a color drawing of an exotic flower. On the left and right side panels are cropped black-and-white photos of bowlers demonstrating their bowling form. The bottom section is covered with a color postcard of a Florida motel courtyard with an inch-square window cut in the middle, revealing part of an etching illustration. This postcard is a flap that opens downward revealing the interior of this bottom section. In the center is the full illustration of what was partially revealed through the small square window. It is an illustration of a woman leaning out of a window holding a candle, gesturing to a man wearing a Scottish hat just below her. This illustration is on a tile which itself can be removed, revealing another interior. This interior box contains a set of collaged cards wrapped with a toy $500 bill. In the background of this central box is an etching illustration of an old woman crouched down beside a cart. There are people milling about and the old woman is looking straight out from the picture, making eye contact. To the left and right of this box are two small vials. Inside the bottom third of each vial are satellite photos of sparse clouds over the ocean. Atop these illustrations and inside the vials, pinned to a bed of cotton, are disembodied toy plastic heads. In the background of the compartment where the vials are placed are dictionary clippings from the “G” section. Mirrors are on either side of this lower compartment.
Original book cover title:
Book cover used for this piece: Source Book Encyclopedic - Vol. IV Indiana - Monmouth
Some elements of this assemblage. Select one to find other altered books with the same.
$500 bill, bedspring, black, children, disembodied head, farmers, feathers, Florida, interior decorating, ivory, John Sargent, lanterns, lighthouse, medieval town, old woman, pink, radio stations, radio vacuum tubes, satellite photographs, travel