Handmade Books
Concept
My primary photographic interest has always been the exploration and depiction of ‘landscape.’ Since it is difficult to present a ‘landscape’ in a single photographic print, I have frequently worked with groups of images, often in book format. Books have provided me with a simple way to expand images and to better present a landscape as a whole.
For me, bookmaking is an extension of the photographic process: taking the picture, making the print, and finally... editing and assembling a book. Having had little access to inexpensive commercial printing, I’ve instead used traditional photographic prints to construct small editions of books.
I consider some of the many books I have made over the years to be finished works of art. Others are exercises, experiments, or possible steps toward something else. All of the books, however, are, for me, just one aspect of the total photographic process.
History
EARLY WORK
Untitled, (folio), 1974–1977
SOUTH BRONX
Narrative, 1982–1984
Ledger, 1982–1984
Ledger (reprint), 2005–2007
Untitled (Xerox/Silver), 2007
Broken Glass, 2007
Broken Glass (miniature), 2007
Various Commercially mad South Bronx Maquettes, 2007–2010 and 2018
EGYPT
Egypt, 1989–1990
Egypt (reprint), 2006
NATURAL LANDSCAPE
Three Walks, 1993
Summer is a Gift, 1995–1996
Last Winter, 1996
Nine from Delaware, Sixteen from Rhode Island, 1997
Weeds (photo), 1999
Weeds (xerox), 1999
Rocks, 2002–2003
Rocks (Notebook), 2003
Cedars, 2003
The Sea and The Sky, 2005–2006
The Sea and The Sky (albums), 2005–2006
MEADOWLAND
Meadowland Walks, 2000–2001
Elizabethport, Perth Amboy, 2001
Meadowland Untitled Accordion Book, 2002
Grounds of Former Auto Salvage Yard, Jersey City, 2002
Construction Site/Wittpenn Bridge, 2002
A Resting Place, 2004
Hunts Point (Bronx), 2006
The Field, The Junk, and The Skyway, 2007
Two Days of Fog in January, 2007
Etrocenter, 2007
Meadowland, Untitled Diptychs, 2007
40x50 (images) & (variations), 2011 (2002)
Meadowland Journal, 2000–2010
OTHER
Rackstraw Downes Painting, 2003
Morocco By Car, 2006
The Tree and The Joel Shapiro, 2014
Six Catalogues, 2017
NEW YORK CITY
Fort Tryon Park, 2018
Two NYC Panorama Studies, 2018
New York Panoramic Maquettes, 2018
Work Prints 2014–2017, 2019
Work Prints 2013, 2020