Books are man-made artifacts designed to convey information. When they are inevitably invaded by forces of nature and decay, they become suggestive of an alternative literary universe. Noted photographer and collage artist Rosamond Purcell has been exploring this universe for the past thirty years, and in this extraordinarily beautiful collection, the first retrospective of her work, her images teach us to read in a new way. Here are two conjoined volumes transformed by a nesting mouse into a heap of disrupted plot and straw; a 19th century French economics text re-interpreted by foraging termites, and many other oddities from a fertile imagination. Bookworm's 125 color reproductions are imaginative evidence of those processes that render literal meaning irrelevant.
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Steadfast readers recoil from the term bookworm, not wanting to be aligned with insects that destroy the books they feed on. But artist Purcell is fascinated by the patterns paper-eating insects create. Renowned for her provocative improvisations on the collections of natural history museums and the obsessions of private collectors, Purcell makes images and collages that reveal the taboo beauty of dissolution and decay. In 125 startlingly complex works of many strata, extraordinary textures, luminous colors, and unforeseen juxtapositions, Purcell considers the vulnerability of books to the transforming powers of water, fire, gravity, organisms, and time. And she channels the aura of mystery and sanctity surrounding objects taken from tombs, shipwrecks, and abandoned buildings. Ruins were sublime to the Romantics, and Purcell concurs, achieving a Joseph Cornell-like magic, albeit more worldly. With a suitably sophisticated essay by Sven Birkerts and Purcell's own delightfully revealing introduction, this inquiry into the life cycle of objects, the metamorphosing powers of nature, and the timelessness of art is a mind-expanding experience. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
Rosamond Purcell is known for her collaborations with Stephen Jay Gould, often in conjunction with natural history museums, including Illuminations, Finders Keepers and Strange Cases. The official photographer of the Mutter Collection, her work has been exhibited at major museums nationwide, and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The National Academy of Science, and The Victoria and Albert in London, among many others.
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2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
rosamond Purcell,
By jack brook "jack" (Rotterdam, zuid-holland Netherlands) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bookworm: The Art of Rosamond Purcell (Hardcover)
The beauty of decay is sometimes surreal and mysterious. A musthave for booklovers and photographers.
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