Poster Series: Bound Volumes
- Date: 2023–present
- Media: Inkjet prints on archival paper
- Size: various
This ongoing body of work combines data, algorithmic processes, and color to explore my previous career in academic publishing. The data I collect consists of unique strings of text that correspond to material published in academic journals. I then use a variety of algorithmic processes to translate the data into colored timelines of the journals, often covering the course of dozens of years and thousands of articles. Each article is represented by a unique color, those articles are combined into issues, and the issues into volumes. When viewed as a whole, patterns emerge, then fade; all the while a variety of interpretations are possible from the abstraction of data that is presented. The text I add provides clues of what is being portrayed while leaving plenty of ambiguity for speculation. When I worked in publishing, each year we would create bound volumes of that year’s issues by cutting their bindings and repackaging them as a set. Those bound volumes went on a shelf for preservation. Here, I use data, some simple mathematics, a digital drawing program, a high-quality commercial inkjet printer, and fine art paper to create physical representations of digital bound volumes.
A collection of bound volumes posters in the Matthis Gallery at UW-Parkside.
ITS v1–v26 in the Anderson Gallery, Kenosha WI.
SCER v1–v28 hot off the printer before framing.
SCER v1–v28 in the Freeport Art Museum, Freeport IL, with exhibition curator Aristotle Norris and an unidentifed member of the museum staff.
WP v1–v56
Individual images of Bound Volumes posters