Research Catalog

Title

Family tree / Julie Chen.

Author

Chen, Julie

Publication

[Berkeley, California] : Flying Fish Press, 2013.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Flying Fish Press, publisher.

Description

16 wooden cubes : color illustrations; 52 x 52 x 52 mm, in box (23 x 24 x 7 cm)

Summary

"'Family Tree' is a piece about the idea of personal identity as framed by one's family history and family relationships. The piece consists of 16 wooden blocks with visual and written content on all 6 sides. When the blocks are placed in 4 rows of 4 blocks each, a continuous image with corresponding text is revealed. Each of the rows can be turned in order to reveal new content, or the blocks can be jumbled to allow the readers to create their own permutations of text and image ... My original plan was to create a deck of cards, but as my ideas for the project progressed, I became more and more interested in the idea of random access of content that was afforded by creating something that was unbound. This eventually led me to the idea of creating a set of blocks so that each individual block in the set would have six possible sides of content that could be mixed and matched with the six possible sides of all the other blocks. The theme for the piece was based on work that I was already involved with on the theme of family history and personal identity. As is often the case with my process, my structure ideas turned out to inform my content ideas in unexpected, but meaningful ways"--Artist's statement at the Vamp & Tramp Booksellers' website, viewed on May 18, 2015.

Subjects

• Artists' books
• Identity (Psychology) in art
• Families in art
• Artists' books > Specimens
• Artists' books > United States > 21st century
• Specimens
• Trees in art

Genre/Form

• Specimens.
• Artists' books – United States – 21st century.

Note

• Title from inside box lid.
• Limited edition of 50 copies.
• "'Family tree' was written and designed by Julie Chen and assembled with assistance from Faith Hale and Kendyll Pappas Dittman. Some surfaces were digitally printed and others were laser engraved"--Colophon.
• "Created using Artist Book Ideation Cards for an Ideation show at the Abecedarian Gallery in the fall of 2013. Technique: unfamiliar. Layout: centered on the page. Paper: neutral. Text: none (thrown back); Text second draw: self-generated. Image: extracted from a single image. Color: favorite. Structure: unbound (set of cards, series of prints). Adjectives: quiet or subtle, mystical or spiritual, futuristic, non-sequential, and formal"--Vamp & Tramp Booksellers' website, viewed on May 18, 2015.
• "The set of sixteen blocks presents six variations based on a single image, and can be rearranged by the reader in a myriad of different combinations"--Colophon.
• "Cloth-covered drop spine ... box containing 16 two-inch cubes. Digital prints on mulberry paper laminated onto maple wood blocks. Paper title illustration on lid"---Vamp & Tramp Booksellers' website, viewed on May 18, 2015.

Binding (note)

• Issued in cloth-covered clamshell box.

Call Number

Spencer Coll. Amer. 2013 17-2559

LCCN

2015657530

OCLC

903222794

Author

Chen, Julie, book artist.

Title

Family tree / Julie Chen.

Publisher

[Berkeley, California] : Flying Fish Press, 2013.

Type of Content

three-dimensional form

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

object

Local Note

Library has copy no. 6, signed and numbered by the artist.

Binding

Issued in cloth-covered clamshell box.

Added Author

Flying Fish Press, publisher.

Research Call Number

Spencer Coll. Amer. 2013 17-2559