Chris Perry, “138 Ripples: main”

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Chris Perry (Ridgefield, CT)
chrisperrystudio.com

138 Ripples: main
2013
paper, fabric, gel acetate
Unique work
Pages: 4400
Dimensions open: 18H x 45W x 24D

I use hand-made books to impart information without the use of words or images; the books themselves are the idea, the shape of the paper the information. The Ripples series started with a love of the flip-book with the difference that instead of flipping the pages to view the movie, the blank spaces were cut away so the entire “movie” could be seen when the cover of the book was open. They now tell of water, water structures and the effect of both on other things.

These pieces represent man-made structures for handling water and/or natural water structures. They are abbreviations of the ideas presented. An ordinary book could have thousands of words describing the structures or many photographs and charts showing how the structures occur naturally or how they are made by man. These ideas instead are expressed both by the shape of the piece I’ve made and by what the viewer brings to the viewing through his knowledge of what the title means and their experience with that particular thing.

I try to convey these ideas by selecting the number and size of the volumes, by how the filaments are employed and where and what if anything happens inside the assembled mass. Frequently there are voids created within the stack of books and these may be viewed with varying degrees of clarity with the use of a mirror reflecting the light back to the viewer. Other times the interior is so filled or the opening is too small to view what is occurring so that only by lifting blocks of pages can the interior be seen; just as not all sources or ends of water systems are always readily visible.