B O O K S

ARTISTS BOOKS

Contingency book, takes literally Duchamp's dictum from his essay The Creative Act, that it is the viewer who finishes any work of art. Bradshaw applied wax, varnish, and silver to sheets of linen paper, then sand-wiched them between other chemically active works leaving them to oxidize, buried in her studio, untouched, for two years. The resulting book of the bound pages, epic in size and imposingly archaic-like as if it was a medieval, mystical tome, contains the writings and drawings of chemistry from the bleedings of her other works onto these pages. There exudes a strong whiff of alchemy here, though in reverse, especially in the way the silver turns gold briefly during its first oxidation before becoming black. On display, the book continues to change; the open pages oxidize, the closed pages bleed. A viewer’s breath or a page-turner’s fingers affect and, in the Duchampian sense, “finish” the work.

Mark Swed
Dove Bradshaw 
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1998




Indeterminacy / Contingency I, 1990
Dedicated to John Cage, five unique books, self-published
Seven leaves bound with a silver clasp
Housed in a silver over copper box: 22 1/4 x 27  ¾ x  ¾ inches
Silver, liver of sulfur, varnish, beeswax on linen paper, open: 26 3/8 x 42 3/4inches		  

Contingency Book II, 1995
Activated March 1995; photographed May 1998
Silver, liver of sulfur, varnish, beeswax on linen paper; Seven sheets bound with steel clips housed in steel box
stamped with the artist’s name, box and table designed by the artist; Paper: 26 ¼ x 42 ¼ inches; Collection of the artist

Half the silvered pages were sandwiched between previously treated works; the other half were stored facing one another. After two years they were bound together. When the book is closed the pages that had absorbed the chemistry print onto the untreated pages; when opened the silver oxidizes; when turned, fingers leave prints, and the pages leave marks one against the other.

  

Contingency Book II, 1995: cover inside steel box designed by the artis



Contingency Book II, 1995: third page

Contingency Book II, 1995: fourth page

Contingency Book II, 1995: fifth page of seven

 

Contingency Book II, 1995: 7th page of seven

 

Indeterminacy / Equivalents I, 1992
Dedicated to John Cage, Five unique books, self-published
Riverstone, Equinox, Equivalents, Contingency, Removal                                   
Encased in a silver over copper box: 22 ¼ x 27  ¾ x  ¾ inches


  

Indeterminacy / Equinox, 1992
Dedicated to John Cage, five unique books, self-published
Folio, silver, liver of sulfur, varnish, beeswax on linen paper, open: 20 1/8 x 27 inches

  

Indeterminacy / Riverstone, 1991
Dedicated to John Cage, five unique books, self-published
Eight pages with a hand sewn binding, each page a frottage of a sedimentary rock from a riverbottom                                   
Graphite on cotton-abaca paper, open: 17 1/8 x 44 inches; cover: Japanese Kozu paper    

  

Indeterminacy /Equivalents [Book] II, 1992
Dedicated to John Cage,five unique books [Equinox, Equivalents, Contingency, Removal], self-published
Activated April 1992; photographed March 2011;silver, liver of sulfur, varnish, beeswax on linen paper; three opening, hand sewn binding
Opening: 22 ¼ x 27  ¾ x  ¾ inches; collection of the artist

Six pages with a hand sewn binding, six Contingency works each paired on opposing pages with one of each pair treated with liver of sulfur.
Over time the chemically treated square affects its opposing square.

 

 

  

Indeterminacy /Equivalents [Book] II, 1992: page one

Indeterminacy /Equivalents [Book] II, 1992: page two

Indeterminacy /Equivalents [Book] II, 1992: page three