Initially, Revolver grew out of the desire to create a series of paintbrushes, actual brushes that could be used in the act of painting. Having used commercially available brushes made from a variety of natural bristles, animal hairs, and synthetic materials, I was curious how a brush made from human hair would carry and distribute various paints and inks. Would a paintbrush made from human hair hold media differently, and would it delineate with precision or let flow over the paper or canvas much differently than say, squirrel, sable, horse or other source material?
I was discussing this idea with an artist I know who also happened to be a hair stylist. After she finished cutting my hair she said hold on a sec, and disappeared behind her curtain, into the next room. When she returned, she brought, cradled in her arms, several examples of long hair that had been shorn from customers who had transformed their appearance and left behind dramatic locks. She offered me the choice of one sample from her collection.
I selected the blackest hair, thinking to the future of black on black, ink stained strands of hair and what trails of ink they would depart to a page. When I got the bundle of hair to the studio and began to study it in preparation for a brush, I became fascinated with the mystery it contained. All I knew was where I had received it, but from whom it came, I had not a clue. The strangeness of having something so personal yet anonymous became more mysterious the more time I studied it. I unraveled it in preparation for a brush, or what could be several brushes as indeed they were long strands of silky black hair. The hair was delicate and would be more suitable to using with water-based materials; and with this delicacy and intimacy, my curiosity about who had given this up, what had prompted their transformation, began transforming my initial idea. Rather than turning it into a depersonalized implement, I decided to give it a new life in the form of a special book, with a secret space, cut away into the interior of a black book, a safe place, hidden deep within a pocket specially designed to protect and preserve, yet surprise a viewer who may one day open this book in a library, with curiosity, delight, and mystery.
Who among us has not come across something left in a book, perhaps a bookmark that marked a place left off, to be returned to, or a list, note, or letter perhaps? And books come to mind that were used to hide or smuggle various items, hidden in a seemingly harmless book, that is, depending on what the content of the writing is. Add to this genre, Revolver, in a black, linen bound sketch book, that when opened begins with a minimalist aesthetic that unfolds with a few pages to open to the translucent pages of a pocket to reveal…..
Black linen bound sketchbook of acid free paper with non-adhesive pocket; overall dimensions: 12 ¼” x 9 ¼” x 1 1/8”
