names name no lasting name is a one-of-a-kind artist's book exploring the Taoist idea of the slipperiness of language, which informs a lot of my work. Each page-spread features a word in large brush calligraphy on the verso page, which I've burned away with an incense stick. The recto of each spread is a thick sumi ink wash, with flecks of gold ink handpainted to fill in the white gaps in the brush strokes. Each page also features a hidden printed image, nested inside the french-folded paper.

The theme of the inadequacy of language and its willful misuse seems to become more vital every day. To get a randomized cross section of words that were in the air when I was creating the book, I selected one word for each page by taking the first noun from a sequence of reader comments on the New York Times website. I created the hidden prints by doing a Google image search on each of the words, downloading the first result, and digitally manipulating it into a new image and print. Parts of the prints show through on each page where the words have been burned away.

2016
13” x 16.25”
8 pp.
Brush calligraphy and sumi ink wash with gold ink detail, on heavy mulberry paper
$620

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-- only available from Vamp & Tramp Booksellers