Bownik’s “Disassembly” is an artist’s book in which a photographic project has been brought to the form of a non-standard picture album. The main role here is played by flowers, which the authors disassembles into parts using DIY tools and then reassembles in possibly unchanged form. For this purposes he uses glues, adhesive tapes, ropes, precisely measuring the distances between the leaves, noting them in pencil on the leaves themselves and photographing them. The resulting images, informed by the still-life tradition, perfectly imitate and evoke that which has been subjected to a destructive process. Hypnotizing the viewer with their deformed charm, they also create an uncomfortable sense of participating in a strange experiment. Beginning with the cover image and progressing through a series of collages and drawings, the book’s narrative culminates in the middle part and comes to a conclusion with a series of sketches.
The book comprises 120 pages of collages, drawings and photographs of over 20 flower species. Printed on two kinds of paper, bound in subtly embossed hardcover, is it a one-of-a-kind publication where every typographic and binding detail matters. Book also includes a booklet with an essay by Andrew Berardini and a conversation with Bownik. The collector’s edition is cloth-bound and includes a signed drawing, one of the several dozen reproduced in the book, and comes in an elegant, custom-made box bound in dark-green cloth. The collector’s edition is limited to 30 signed copies, in English language version only.
Disassembly
Bownik
Texts in English and Polish
Offset print, hardcover
240 x 305 mm, 120 pages
2013
