Project Statement

by J. Drucker

from _The Century of Artists' Books_: "Zelevansky also exploits the structures and conventions of book form to their fullest: the momentum of the narrative is interrupted and fleshed out with other information, visual material, jokes, puns, a rich array of graphic elements which continually expand the world which Zelevansky is creating in the book. On the one hand, these are closed systems, ones in which the significance and meaning of the elements is generated entirely from their relations to each other. On the other hand, as Zelevansky says of his work 'the edges of the page' are 'the proscenium which contains the play' but 'the screen is porous between us.' 7 ...Shadow Architecture contains an equally developed cosmos, but shifted into a more apocalyptic frame -- a sense of dark urgency permeates the book, a sense of a world gone awry, at the 'crossroads' which cries out for attention. In all of Zelevansky's work the book becomes an entire place, a universe of meaning produced from interlocking signs. The books are parallel universes structured according to the rules of a symbolic language. They are continually referencing books as metaphors as well as using the conventions of the book to elaborate their significance" (319-320).

The Shadow Architecture at the Crossroads Annual 19__.

Paul Zelevansky

title note: []

Agents

Paul Zelevansky

type: initiating

role:
artist
author

Publication Information

publisher: CNC

dates:
publication: 1988-00-00

publication history: The book follows up on two earlier Zelevansky books, _The Book of Takes_ (Zartscorp, 1976) and _The Case for the Burial of Ancestors_ (Zartscorp and Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1981). [E. Rettberg]

Aesthetic Profile

movement:
unknown

subject:
artists' books (LCSH)

themes: []

content form:
collage (local)
experimental text (local)

publication tradition:
unknown

inspiration: []

related works: []

other influences: []

community: []

note: []

Exhibition Information

exhibition history:

reception history:

General Comments

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