Without a view of the cover or spine, the book becomes anonymous as to its contents.
What it may hide? – Is it images or text? – Will the reader be surprised, disappointed, confused?
The pandemic is similarly mysterious; specifics are vague, symptoms shifting. The carrier is within the greater crowd, within the covers of society.A white, featureless book.
Outside appearance is anonymous; a blank white cover with no information, asymptomatic. Contact carries risk, but bears results; in bending the fore-edge language is revealed.
This builds to legibility from abstract printed shapes now visible inside page surfaces.
Deeper handling – flicking through – reveals the iconic virus structure, drifting discretely in print and cut-out on the pages. Appearing out of the spine to again disappear – as we hope it will.
In early February 2020 I was invited to make a proposal for the themed AMBruno's 2020 project. In April of 2020 my proposal was accepted by AMBruno and project selector, Clive Phillpot. The theme was a photograph titled: One and many pages.
An image of the fore-edge of an anonymous paperback slightly dog-eared, so probably read. Stood upright on a wooden table with a black background. A substantially thick book – no text or image to be seen – so the content could be anything.
Home use ONLY is the result of my accepted proposal submitted on March 15th. The day before Matt Hancock told the House of Commons that all unnecessary social contact should cease. Little did we know how big an impact the virus would have on the world at that moment.
Printed and perfect bound on demand by Blurb.co.uk
Hand-cut by artist
Softcover, 150 pages
Stock: Mohawk Fine Papers – Proline Uncoated, 148gsm. Archival-quality with eggshell-textured finish.
Cover size: 17.1 x 16.8 x 1.65 cm
Language: English
Edition of 19
Published July 2020
In the public collections of: Tate Britain, Manchester Metropolitan University Library All Saints, Winchester School of Art Library: Special Collections, Bodleian Rare Books and Manuscripts, the Bavarian State Library: Manuscripts and Rare Books, Munich, Germany, Göteborgs universitet: Humanistiska biblioteket, Sweden and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Library, Edinburgh.
Also in the private collection of Pascal Fouché, France: http://www.flipbook.info/index_en.php
The complete collection of One and many pages are in the collections of: Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) Baltimore – USA and The British Library.
AMBruno – One and many pages has been shown at:
- 'Intervals' with AMBruno – an afternoon of display and discussions on contemporary art books in the Reading Rooms at Tate Britain, London 18.10.2024
- Volumes Art Publishing Days, Zürich, Switzerland 26-27.11.2022
- Small Publishers Fair 2022, Conway Hall, Red Lion Sq. London, UK 28-29.10.2022
- Printed Matter Store, New York, USA 28.06-24.07.2022
- 'Miss Read' – Berlin Art Book Festival, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany 29.04-01.05.2022
- Bristol Artists Book Event (BABE), UWE Bower Ashton, Bristol, UK, 23-24.04.2022
- Printed Matter Virtual Art Book Fair – www.pmvabf.org / @printedmatter_artbookfairs / ambruno.pmvabf.org, (PMVABF), New York, USA 24-28.02.2021
