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Production Narrative
by J.Drucker
Walker worked from black and white video and processed his images on an Apple to produce color. The texts were generated with a computerized program that made random combinations from a limited vocabulary of 492 words.
Critical Analysis
by J.Drucker
Design Features
typographic: A highly pixelated, low resolution screen font has been captured and used throughout.
imagery: A combination of prickly pears and Arizona landscapes.
graphical: An implied regularity of format orders the pages, but it is constantly broken and reworked with variations. The basic image size and graphical format is established in the first opening, but shifts in the placement and ordering of text and images occurs as the pages turn.
openings: The dialogue across the gutter is activated mainly through visual means, as the colors and quality of the image comments upon each other.
turnings: Few surprises in the turnings, though variation keeps up interest.
development: From the opening beautiful images the book progresses towards a darker message about the stresses in the environment.
sequence:
textual: A generated text, from a computer program and limited vocabulary.
structure:
conceptual:
intratextual:
scultpural features:
temporal features:
other features:
Critical Discussion
A well-made and tightly structured book, this small volume is polemical without being didactic. The message it contains is important, but the means of execution and the care of execution make their own argument for artistry. The prickly pear of the title, much honored in the visual imagery of this work, might also be Walker himself, unwilling to just give in to the dominant culture in its exploitative and small minded disregard for the beauty and importance of desert life. As a book, the edition is delicately made, but strong. The cloth binding has been letterpress printed with the large letter "O" and the boards used for binding are very lightweight. Their strength and thinness lets the delicate quality of the color printing register, since our eye is already calibrated to fine frequencies by the cover design. This expectation is well met by the printing and graphical features of the interior, as well as by the delicate line that the text and images walk between observation and comment and a more pointed meaning.
Detailed Analysis
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General Comments
[]
opuntia is just another name for a prickly pear
title note: []
Agents
Todd Walker
type: initiating
role:
photographer
printer
publisher
designer
typographer
binder
artist
author
nationality:
born: United States
dates:
birth: 25-09-1917
death: 13-09-1998
note: []
Todd Walker
type: initiating
role:
photographer
printer
publisher
designer
typographer
binder
artist
author
nationality:
born: United States
dates:
birth: 25-09-1917
death: 13-09-1998
note: []
Publication Information
edition type: unique
publisher: Thumbprint Press
place: Tucson, Arizona
dates:
production: 05-12-1983
publication: 05-12-1983
edition size:
note: No information about the number of copies is in the book. [J.Drucker]
Measurements
horizontal: 5.375 inches closed
vertical: 5 inches closed
depth: 0.25 inches closed
Production Information
production means:
offset (local)
binding: hand sewn (local)
substrate:
bookBlock: paper
media:
ink (local)
other materials:
Appearance
general description: Brown hardcover with a large and black "O" engraved in the front cover
format: book object (AAT)
cover: Brown hardcover with a large and black "O" engraved in the front cover
color: yes
devices:
enclosures:
item:
Content
pagination: unpaginated
numbered?: unnumbered
signed?: signed
Colophon
The pictures in this book were made with a video black and white camera, image processed on an Apple computer displayed on a video monitor in the resultant colors. The words were written from a four hundred and ninety two word vocabulary randomly ordered by the machine. But I did make the selections and give it its vocabulary, as well as invent the colors. I also printed it, bound it and did all the rest.
Exhibition Information
exhibition history:
reception history:
Related Documents
General Comments
[]