LAURA HOLLAND:
Altered and Abstracted:
Artist Books and Other Works
 

April 2 -  27
Reception; Sunday, April 2, 2 PM - 4 PM

Artist Statement
 
I aim to stretch the fold-up accordion book structure in several directions, working larger scale than previously. Subject matter includes scenes of a family apartment one day before it was stripped down for renovations and staged for sale, and images of urban street art deteriorating over time or decorating buildings that are slated for destruction. But the content, distinct from the subject matter, is how various individual images combine, both in sequence and out of context, to show and tell a new story. Underlying the work is a sense of pulling, or abstracting, a lingering image from something that is about to vanish.
 
In “The Library of Lost Possibilities,” a related series of small, hand-stitched books, I start by “harvesting” posters and placards announcing events I will never attend. (Wrong time, wrong place, or just not interested.) One self-imposed rule is to wait until after the event; a reality-imposed necessity is to collect the posters immediately afterwards, before they disappear into the trash or under more layers of posted papers. I cut and fold the posters into eight-page booklets, alter them with collage elements, and stitch them together using Coptic binding.