ROSS BLECKNER: PAGE THREE: PHOTOGRAPHS - Rare Pristine Copy of The Limited Slipcased Edition: Signed by Ross Bleckner - ONLY COPY ONLINE

Bleckner, Ross

ISBN 10: 0944092594 / ISBN 13: 9780944092590

Published by Santa Fe, NM: Twin Palms Publishers, 1998, 1998

About this Item

1st Printing. Signed. 124 pages. Published in 1998. Artist Book. Limited Slipcased Edition of 150 numbered and signed copies. Precedes and should not be confused with the regular Limited Edition of 3000 copies. The Limited Slipcased Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Ross Bleckner and Jack Woody: Oversize-volume format. The elongated shape captures on the page the mural dimensions characteristic of Bleckner's art. Black cloth boards with metallic-black art reproduction embossed on cover and titles embossed on spine, as issued. Photographs by Ross Bleckner. There is no text. Matching black cloth slipcase. Printed in gravure on pristine-white, thick uncoated stock paper in Tokyo, Japan to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is outstanding in every respect. In pictorial DJ with white titles on the spine, as issued. Presents Ross Bleckner's "Page Three: Photographs". The first and only collection of photographs by the artist/painter. It is a pictorial autobiography-of-sorts and an ambitious (if also ambiguous) commentary on larger contemporary issues at the same time. It is surely more than interesting that all, not just some, of the greatest late-modern American artists (Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns, to name only four of them) are homosexual. Except for Warhol, none of them has explored the subject of sexuality in their work in any significant way, and they all stubbornly refuse to self-identify as "gay", a personal decision that has been bitterly criticized by some, but must surely be respected by everyone else who values a human being's, not just an artist's, now-beleaguered right to privacy. Bleckner is openly and proudly gay, and insists, not just suggests, that it is the central element of his art. His collection consists of original as well as appropriated images juxtaposed to dramatize, not just visualize, the extreme contrasts of the world that we live in today: Privacy versus public-ity, wealth versus poverty, peace versus war, health versus illness, pleasure versus pain, love versus hate, Life versus Death. There are many explicit photographs of his lover's penis, photographed in extreme closeups and in an unusual, imaginative, and erotic way. "Travels over the intimate contours of a lover's body and the pages of his daily newspaper [hence the title]. Collaged, blurred, inverted, enlarged, and cropped, the artist juxtaposes paragraphs of newspaper type with pictures that suggest his intent, but stop short of revealing a true purpose. At times, even when we are sure of what is before us, succeeding and opposing images intimate that all is not as it appears to be. An effort by the artist to suggest that all we reach out to and all we touch is the mirror that becomes us" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Ross Bleckner collectors. This is a copy of the Limited Slipcased Edition of 150 numbered and signed copies, indicated/numbered as such on the Back Limitation Page. It is very boldly and beautifully signed in metallic-silver pen-marker on the title page by Ross Bleckner. This title is a contemporary art photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Limited Edition available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Should NOT be confused with the regular edition of 3000 copies. A rare signed copy thus. 95 sheetfed gravure plates. One of the most brilliant American artists of our time. A fine collectible copy. ISBN 0944092594. Seller Inventory # 16229

Bibliographic Details

Title: ROSS BLECKNER: PAGE THREE: PHOTOGRAPHS - ...

Publisher: Santa Fe, NM: Twin Palms Publishers, 1998

Publication Date: 1998

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: As New

Dust Jacket Condition: As New

Signed: Signed by Author

Edition: 1st Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

Ross Bleckner's deeply personal camera work travels over the intimate contours of a lover s body and the pages of his daily newspaper.The enigmatic and absurd landslide of images that inundate our daily lives falls across the pages of this book and is mounted like so many strange butterflies on every page. Perhaps the images are a cumulative autobiography an effort by the artist to suggest that all we reach out to and all we touch are the mirror that becomes us.