Contemporary Art Books & New York Public Library, 2023
Video, 3 minutes
Edition of 5, 2 Aps
The video produced in 2023 features a black and white historical photograph of the New York Public Library, with the book from the paintings coming to life in the animation overlay. It starts as a slow pace, and transforms over 3:00 min on a seamless loop, and goes wild with books flying off the shelves into a life of their own.
The project in turn deals with the life of the books, a personification of objects, the meaning and feeling of the books, and how the history is static (the photograph) but the books continue to fluctuate based on their content. It began as a personal project relating to a private collection of Contemporary Art books but has evolved into a relatable portrait of the context of archives as a type of portraiture.
Wall Text in Exhibition:/ Archive:
“The archive is an incredible source of knowledge and material, and I have always been drawn to the act of searching and discovering information. I love looking through old books and seeing how different the times were and it informs my ability to see how different the time is that we live in today. I am interested in the solitude and possibility of spending time in libraries. They are frozen in time which is an ongoing interest of mine. The contemporary art books in this video belonged to a good friend of mine who passed away. Painting her books was like painting her portrait, bringing this aspect of her to life.”
