Kunsthaefte Nr. 14

Fotoband des Dänischen Künstlers Jesper Fabricius.

Fabricius publishes small handmade artist booklets that range from 8 pages to 20 pages in length under theimprint Space Poetry. One ongoing series of books called Kunsthaefte is currently 14 books strong and counting.

Using snippets from existing printed images from magazines he emphasizes relationships of color and texture while giving hints to the original image’s content. For instance, many of the crudely cut snippets seem to have derived from porn magazines or books published in the late 1970’s and 1980’s so after Jesper’s scissors are through, an image might draw your attention incidental details like to part of someone’s face and a painting hanging on the wall behind them instead of the act of sex.

Kunsthaefte nr. 14 shows individual images of women’s breasts and torsos bound by different configurations of rope like a ready-made and casual look. They probably are labored over by Jesper in their creation but they have an un-precious and disposable feel that suits the imagery. Jesper is one of many artists that uses material at his disposal to re-contexualize the image and divert our attention away from the original intention. As we look, he may be challenging us to pull our mind away from its primal instinct of voyeurism and push our thoughts elsewhere. As we try to evaluate each photo as a new work of art that is complete in its own way, our imaginations and instinct try to expand those boundaries far past what he has presented. This tug and pull is what makes many of these booklets interesting.