‘AUTHORIAL SPACES OF BOOK ILLUSTRATION’

‘Authorial spaces of book illustration’ is a result of my fascination with the illustrative tradition and an attempt to combine conventional techniques, which have been in use for a long time, with modern forms and tools of artistic expression. It is also a platform for me for nonverbal artistic communication, which is a reflection of my manual skills that lie at the basis of my artistic work. I intend to balance on the border between realism and abstractionism in creating a very exquisite form. I challenge the established convention and place my objects on the edge of two pages. Placing illustration there is against all the accepted rules in this respect. I combine figurative and abstract motifs in order to achieve a synthetic form. My individual and creative expression as a designer goes hand in hand with my wish to simplify the form.

The final shape of a published work, its geometry and the way it is presented is inspired by semiotics and aesthetics of the building which houses the German National Library in Leipzig. Another source of inspiration is font, which is also the element which constitutes my work. However, the starting point in the work on this project was the conversation I had with the poet Karol Maliszewski. His suggestions made me begin to look for a consistent form for his three books of poems. Besides I was thinking about some structural elements that would have an additive character and that would allow me to add new elements. The form would resemble an open module which could be freely augmented. It’s about the state of openness, awaiting new verses, pages and books. It’s an open formula that receives and presents artistic work. It gave me the idea for “The Tower of Books” where publications are kept and made available to the public.

‘The Tower of Books’ is an object which enters the realm of design and offers an opportunity to present books of poems. It’s made of plexiglas and in its shape and form resembles Vierte Erweiterung (i.e. the fourth expansion of the library) on the one hand and typesetter drawers on the other. The general and the detail, large scale and micro scale of space and the elements contained within, the typewriter, the print, the book, the word, fine arts, literature, architecture and construction, crafts – they all comprise the project which I called Authorial spaces of book illustration. Although it’s mainly about dialectics, constant motion and the transition to and fro between the general and the specific, it’s synthesis that remains the most important. In this project there’s more than just an idea, theory and concept. Its components are meant to constitute objects that can be found in virtually every house.
“The Tower of Books” serves both the aesthetic and utilitarian function.