What are you afraid of my love? (2018)
Altered book assemblage
by
Frank Turek
The inside cover is lined with ivory-colored fabric with a red, line-drawn floral pattern. Pasted onto of this is an entire page with a description of how to make a bow and arrow. On top of this page is a tile covered with a section from a painting by Tintoretto of a running woman in a flowing dress. Tucked behind this tile is a sleeve containing a small black-and-white photograph of a woman and a girl standing side by side on a rock wall. Just above this tile is a caption, “Warm Days And Cold Days.” Below this tile, pasted over the bow-and-arrow text is a snippet from an English-language primer, and pasted below that is a set of two Italian postage stamps. A map of the Chesapeake Bay region covers the frame of this piece. The inside of the frame is divided horizontally by a trough which is covered with an etched illustration of a large fly flying above a marsh. The background of the top section is a black-and-white reproduction of a painting of women on a deck by the ocean dressed in early twentieth-century bathing suits. A thin, painted metal rod hangs horizontally across the upper part of this section. Clipped to the rod is a jeweled clasp chain with the other end clasped to an actual bird wing. In the trough are a few small seashells and pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The background of the bottom section of this piece is an etched illustration of a cow skeleton. Glued to the bottom of this section is a grimy perfume bottle topped with a doll’s eyeball. The inside walls of the frame are covered with sections of the same map that covers the outside, except for the top inside panel which is covered with text describing a tumor.
Original book cover title:
Book cover used for this piece: Penrod - His Complete Story by Booth Tarkington












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