The midnight blackness increased tenfold as the shimmering, silver moon disappeared behind the low (2022)
Altered book assemblage
by
Frank Turek
The background of the inside cover is wallpaper of neutral beige stripes. Covering most of this is an etching depicting a couple in ancient Grecian dress in the foyer of the Vienna Burgtheater. Float-mounted above this illustration is a rectangle of lavender-tinted glass mounted on four round wooden game pieces. Round cutouts of a pink-tinted etching of the human brain are pasted over the game pieces. Below this illustration, acting as a caption is a long incomplete descriptive sentence, which also supplies the title for this piece. The frame is covered with the self-portrait painting, The Artist in His Studio by James Whistler. The background of the framed section is a color photograph of the corner of a field of wildflowers with an old rail fence against a blue sky with clouds and lit as if in a film set. Across the top of the framed box is a ball keychain supported on either side with red triangular blocks and holding a key ring of four padlock keys. The floor of this section is covered with blue-dyed synthetic fur and in the center is a lead casting of a soldier drummer. To the left of the drummer is a square bottle that sits in a gap in the fur lining. Inside the bottle is a medical etching illustration of a side view of the human mouth and larynx area. Capping the bottle is an incandescent light bulb from an automobile light, the base of which is collaged with the text, “Duties of Government.” This base is extended with an attached short vial containing plastic gem-like pieces. The top inside panel of the frame is mirrored glass and the side panels are collaged with sections of an eighteenth-century painting by Pietro Longhi, The Dentist.
Original book cover title:
Book cover used for this piece: The Story of Evolution by Benjamin C. Gruenberg


















Some elements of this assemblage. Select one to find other altered books with the same.