Holden Caulfield Folio
This folio of prints is the result of a series of visual investigations exploring my interpretation of the book The Catcher in the Rye. There are a number of important words in the book that encapsulate overarching themes of the story, such as mummy/memory, catch/meet, and Holden/hold on. I used these words as content to build typography using a range of physical materials and processes. I chose materials carefully in order to mix words from the text with materials that reinforce the concepts attached to the words, creating very specific intersections between the two. The materials both form and inform the words, amplifying their connotations exponentially.
There are 16 prints, each 12 x 18 inches. Each print is the edited result of an explorative imagemaking process, emphasizing analog processes and tools. Some methods include using clay to form letters, mixing and pouring free-form plaster, molding rubber, casting concrete, folding paper, and using a knife to draw with cuts on cardboard. Links to some process images can be found on the Index page under the heading "Catcher in the Rye." Next, I brought the handmade objects into the computer using scanning and photography and then manipulated the images digitally. This switch from analog to digital flattens the work into two dimensions and makes it possible to reproduce the results. I used my digital tools to open up and overcome the limits of the physical materials (such as color, transparency, scale).
The 16 prints are held inside a concrete folio – two slabs of concrete with screws embedded seamlessly in the base, and four small holes drilled in the cover so that wing nuts can open and close the folio. The initials "HC" are cast in a contrasting shade of concrete and embedded in the cover. The folio is a real, material object with a smell and texture that echoes the illusion of materiality represented in the prints inside (some of which are photographs of concrete letterforms).
Click on the images to enlarge:
