True to Life

Chen, Julie

[Berkeley, Calif.] : Flying Fish Press, c2004.

2005

Memory

Artists' Books

About the subtle yet powerful influence that memory has on daily life. Personal history, while seemingly rooted in fact, may contain more meaning as narrative than it does as documentation of truth. In the form of a tablet with sliding pages, True to Life offers an innovative physical structure which corresponds to the shifting nature of memory, allowing the reader to create different combinations of text and image and thus alter the content of the piece, deliberately or by chance, with each reading.

"Written, designed, and produced by Julie Chen ... letter-press printed on various papers using photopolymer plates...produced in an edition of 100 copies." 9.75 x 15" case with tray for book and prop to showcase book. The hinged floor lifts to support the book in an upright position at an angle. Letterpress printed using a combination of pressure plates, woodblocks, and photopolymer plates. The image that appears on each page is one section of a long, continuous visual timeline that can never be viewed all at once. The page shows through a plexiglass window. There are twelve views of the "page" that are accessed by pushing upward on wooden handles. Sections of the next page will slowly slide into view over the previous page.--Vamp and Tramp website. Includes operating instructions. Library has copy no. 9, signed by the artist. Issued as a rotating wheel in a silk-covered box.

English

9.75 x 15"

The tablet, with wooden handles and plexiglass window, measures 9 1/2 inches by 14 3/4 inches by 1 inch thick. The box contains a lifting floor with a built-in prop and can hold the tablet in an upright position for reading and display. The box dimensions are 10 inches by 15 inches by 2 1/2 inches. True to Life was letterpress printed and produced in an edition of 100 copies.

Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.