Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

What is a double page-spread? How do we read it? This practice-based research paper aims to bring closer the fields of the book arts, printmaking and the fine arts re-evaluating the notion of the double page spread. I claim that the double-page spread is not only a component of the book. It is also an autonomous and self-functioning entity that can or cannot be linked to a narrative sequence part of a larger piece. I consider the interpretation of the physical and material processes that configure the reading of the page, such as mirroring, reflection, echo and the fold. These elements condition the way we interpret information, and in order to investigate them, I present a new body of work as well as number of new interpretations of artist’s works that make particular use of them (including works by Dieter Roth, Anish Kapoor and Jasper Johns).I claim the distinctiveness of this concept because it embodies both an inseparable cultural background and a place to develop art practice. This notion generates a new perceived space between something familiar (the book or the page) and the illusory, predisposing the reader with a different attitude towards the perceptual reading of an artwork. I argue that the double-page generates new reading and perceptual understanding, both showing what is revealed at first sight and what it is hidden once conventions are unmasked. Challenging the attempts of reading within an image, which resonates in the way I communicate through my artworks.