Cataloged Soap and Gum

Description 1 picture album in case ; 12 x 16 cm. + 6 bars of soap


Note Title from case

Edition of 200 copies

Typeface for silkscreen and lithograph in Stone Sans and Stone Serif. Cover embossing and lithograph printing by Stamperia Valdonega of Verona. Linen from Gori Tessuti of Prato, soap from Saponificio A. Gori of Arezzo

Both case and soap are wrapped and tied as indicated in the summary note

Summary "This artists's book tells the story of a young woman in Calabria, Italy during the 1950's, whose real life reads like a fairy tale, or a soap opera, in six installments. In order to give lasting form to this oral history, the reader must release the text, silk-screened on linen pages, from six tiny bars of soap, with numbers imprinted with lead type. After hanging to dry, ironing optional, the rags slot into six acid-free pages with oval die-cuts, through which the text remains visible. The pages are bound with a linen rag into a handmade, cloth-covered album, with the title embossed into a raised oval on the front cover. The book is housed in a matching cloth-covered box, lined with rags and sealed with a color-lithographed soap label."--From the soap bars wrapper

Note Library has two copies, no. 184 of 200 and letter "P" of 200, both signed by the artist

Copy 1 is an intact, pre-performance set, the linen pages still encased in 6 bars of soap and not yet inserted into cloth-covered album. Copy 2 is a performance set, used by the artist to demonstrate how to assemble the book. Copy 2 includes fragments of soap used in demonstration at Coburn Gallery, Colorado College, Nov. 2, 2006

Includes explanatory 5-page "Soap story recap," written by the artist

Angela Lorenz was a visitor to CC as part of the show "Book as object: an international survey of sculptural bookworks," November 2006

Subject Artists' books -- Italy

Link to: Soap Record
 
Description 4 sticks of gum ; 2 x 8 cm


Note Cover title

Four sticks of chewing gum, each in inner and outer wrappers, the whole in printed wrapper with pull string (dental floss)

A "performance book," with aphorisms from Chuang Tzu, Lao Tzu, and the I Ching printed on both sides of sticks of gum, to be read, chewed, and reflected upon

Includes gum chewed by the artist at Coburn Gallery opening, November 2, 2006

Includes author's explanatory statement, and text of words that appear on chewing gum

"First edition of 50 copies"--Laid-in description

Angela Lorenz was a visitor to CC as part of the show "Book as object: an international survey of sculptural bookworks," November 2006

Subject Artists' books -- Italy

Link to Chewing Gum Book Record