Production Narrative

by J.Drucker

My guess is that this book was produced from collages that were photographed in a copy camera and used to make offset plates for inexpensive offset production.

Critical Analysis

by J.Drucker

Design Features

typographic: Most of the typographic elements are collaged from found type.

imagery: Eclectic, photographic, illustrational, and collaged into striking, disturbing, juxtapositions.

graphical: The book is organized in a grid. Each page has an upper and lower band, separated by a stroke of dark rule. The bands are clearly segmented into three or four graphical units, each of which reads as an element of the rebus.

openings: Each page is distinct, so the dialogue across openings is not striking.

turnings: The turnings simply follow the sequence of the alphabet.

development: None in particular.The alphabet organizes the book.

sequence: From A to Z.

textual:

structure:

conceptual:

intratextual:

scultpural features:

temporal features:

other features:

Critical Discussion

Gary Richman's sensibility is dark, surreal, but more journalistic than cartoonish. That is to say that he is genuinely interested in the vision of the contemporary world that comes through these images. The work reminds me of Bern Porter's found visual poems, with their wit, but their relentless willingness to look at the full range of human foibles. Richman's "take" on the world seems fairly consistent across the body of his work. He does not tell tales so much as offer snippets and snapshots from a particular point of view. The book is an expression of a sensibility more than a communication of information or ideas or stories.

Detailed Analysis

General Comments

[]

Index of the Alphabetic Rebus

title note: The book is indeed a rebus. [J.Drucker]

Agents

Gary Richman

type: initiating

role:
artist
publisher
author

nationality:
citizenship: US

location:

note: []

Gary Richman

type: initiating

role:
artist
publisher
author

nationality:
citizenship: US

location:

note: []

Publication Information

edition type: editioned

publisher: Gary Richman

place: Kingston, Rhode Island

dates:
publication: 1984-00-00

edition size: 100 copies

note: []

Measurements

horizontal: 11 inches closed

vertical: 8.5 inches closed

depth: 0.05 inches closed

Production Information

production means:
offset (local)

binding: other stapled

substrate:
bookBlock: paper

media:
ink (local)

other materials:

Appearance

general description: The book is wrapped in blue paper with images in black ink. The production values are fairly low, and the overall appearance is unpretentious.

format: book object (AAT)

cover: Blue cardboard paper with black images photocopied on the front side.

color: no

devices:

enclosures:
item:

Content

pagination: unpaginated

numbered?: numbered

signed?: signed

Colophon

Of a limited edition of one hundred copies of The Index of the Alphabetic Rebus this is copy number 27.

Exhibition Information

exhibition history:

reception history:

Related Documents

General Comments

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