Production Narrative

by T. Shaw

This book was produced during a residency at Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY.

Critical Analysis

by J. Drucker

Design Features

typographic: Handwritten throughout in a cartoon-type style that adds to the comic effect.

imagery: Graphic, crudely drawn, and comic.

graphical: Good sense of black and white or other high contrast, including patterns and textures. The compositions are busy and crowded so that the pages feel full and active. Nothing elegant about this, it is all energetic.

openings: The openings are complicated in this book by the way the pages are folded. The first opening is only half as deep as the full sheet and works as a continuous spread. The second is a full spread with a booklet tucked into a slot pocket. The third includes a foldout page with another insert. The fourth is another half opening.

turnings: A good sense of timing and contrast of density activates the turnings.

development: Not exactly a narrative, the book's development moves towards thematic richness rather than a story resolution.

sequence: The inclusion of inserts and foldouts gives variety to the sequences.

textual: The texts are short, punchy, in the vernacular, and by being rendered in handwriting, have a wonderful punch to them.

structure: Foldouts, enclosures, and cuts create quite a range of structural variation within this short book.

conceptual:

intratextual: Word and image relations are reinforced by the graphic treatment.

scultpural features: Foldouts and cuts, combined with the stiff paper, make this a book that can stand as well as lie open or be read.

temporal features:

other features:

Critical Discussion

A classic artist's book -- realized on in the book format and taking advantage of the features of compression, duration, and contrast that are imposed by a quasi-codex structure. If the text were rendered in nice polite type (imagine a statement like "The Last dog that shit on my lawn," a handwritten under a cartoon image of a crucified pup, rendered in Centaur -- it just wouldn't hold up) the text would never have the humor that it has. The density of the book is created by the subdivisions of spaces within the pages. A vignette of cars surrounds an image of a man driving, holding his dog at bay, smoking a joint, drinking coffee, and screaming. The effect is chaotic, and aptly so. This isn't an effect that needs to be sustained indefinitely, and the brevity of the book is part of its success. The integration of an outrageous, grrrl black humor sensibility, and an in-your-face production style are what make the overall project such a successful work. That, combined with a sensitivity to the possibilities of the book form, so that the work shifts between smaller and more extensive spaces, and different degrees of density within them, are also crucial to the way the book works with its design and production parameters.

Edition 1

How to Humiliate Your Peeping Tom

Agents

Susan Baker

type: initiating

role:
artist
author
designer

Visual Studies Workshop Press

type: initiating

role:
publisher

Publication Information

edition type: editioned

dates:
publication: 1989

note: Precious little publication information is on this book, e.g., not even the publication date. [J. Drucker]

Measurements

vertical: 10.5 inches closed

horizontal: 8.25 inches closed

Production Information

production means:
offset (local)

binding: saddle stitching (AAT)

substrate:
bookBlock: paper

media:
ink (local)

Appearance

format: codex (AAT) includes a fold out, a gatefold page and die cuts

cover: paper

color: yes black, blue and red

enclosures:
item: a small, saddle-stitched book in a die-cut pocket

Content

pagination: unpaginated 41

numbered?: unnumbered

signed?: unsigned