'Art Books': Design #1 'Book of Matches'

Although I bought a number of second-hand books, with the intention that ideas would incidently occur looking through available materials, one idea already developed through a simple thought regarding the wordplay shown in this post's title. It was only from this idea I even asked for and received clarification that the term 'book of matches' was referring to the type of packaging that was originally used for matches in hotels and/or bars.

via Photobucket: source



 

The overall idea for the design also became straightforward. Using pages from a book, I could cut them into columns to be stuck together as if matches inside the 'packaging' which will double as the binding for the book.

 

 

 

A major influence on how the aesthetic elements took shape were based on the works of Claes Oldenburg. Possibly best described as a Pop Art sculptor, Oldenburg most notably took basic everyday objects and took them out of their original practical contexts. Two recognisable series to his works are the minimal but large-scaled sculptures as well as his 'soft' sculptures, collapsable objects constructed from canvas and foam.

 

One of the foremost proponents of Pop art, Claes Oldenburg is credited as the creator of soft sculpture. Throughout the 1960s, he made oversized hamburgers and pieces of cake in vinyl stuffed with kapok, and miniature, collapsible canvas objects such as drum sets, which offer wry commentary on the dominance of fast food and mass culture. Oldenburg’s work marries the Surrealists’ absurdist disregard for scale and functionality with a Pop art fixation on the crassness of consumerism. His objects and sculptures are often issued in editions, thus echoing the mass production of the original items.

- Soft Sculpture, article from National Gallery of Australia (2009)

 

Interestingly enough, Oldenburg had too produced a sculptural piece (Mistos, Match Cover) not too dissimilar to the book of mathes concept I decided to work on. Also, not unlike some of Oldenburg's works, I plan to produce Book of Matches as a voluminal piece. This all too prefectly models itself after his focus on Pop Art and its relationship with items of mass production and consumerism.