Chicago Project-Laurie Rubin

My book collecting habit began in childhood, driven by the goal to complete the entire set of Nancy Drew hardcovers and the delight found in fancy boxed gift sets by favorite authors. I continue to acquire books not only for their content or prose, but also for their sensual and aesthetic qualities. My collection includes other people's diaries, scrapbooks, sketchbooks and photo albums. I am drawn to books that reveal a stranger's experiences and memories. These books are a physical means of connecting to another person or another time. Nowadays, relocating and dodging piles of books is a daily domestic occurrence, one that my family has grown comfortably accustomed to. The Book Series is an exploration of relationships between these piles of books. The arrangements are intended to spark recognition, ignite memory or invoke a presence. Some compositions are designed to celebrate the books’ sculptural qualities, in which the books never quite reveal their original purpose. Other times the narrative, such as “French Guidebooks” or “Summer Reading”, groups a collection. Once the books are shelved, the relationships are broken.

The Box Series began as a visual accounting of a friend's box collection and later evolved into a study of my own collection of discarded packaging. I am fascinated by the ephemera that most people throw out without a second thought, including the boxes and bags and wrapping that are subservient to the items they contains. Some of these photographs can be read as arrangements of pure form, turning everyday vessels into objects of contemplation. I have made a practice of searching for the heroic in the mundane and for beauty in the ordinary. Additionally, I am intrigued by packages that have become iconic -- Tiffany’s blue boxes, Hermes’s orange boxes and Cartier’s red boxes. Since my vocational life often involves seducing the consumer, I take perverse pleasure in transforming the original intention of these items.

Atwater Diary 2 (2007)	Atwater Diary (2007)	Atwater Diary 3 (2007)
The French Guide's (2007)	Spiral bound books (2007)	Summer Reading (2007)
Rolled Books (2007)	Books in a Box (2007)	Stacked Books (2007)
Three Green Boxes (2006)	Black Still Life with Red Compote (2006)	Two Red Bags (2006)
Silver Boxes (2006)	Tiffany Boxes and Round Hermes Box (2006)	Two Green Boxes (2006)

My book collecting habit began in childhood, driven by the goal to complete the entire set of Nancy Drew hardcovers and the delight found in fancy boxed gift sets by favorite authors. I continue to acquire books not only for their content or prose, but also for their sensual and aesthetic qualities. My collection includes other people's diaries, scrapbooks, sketchbooks and photo albums. I am drawn to books that reveal a stranger's experiences and memories. These books are a physical means of connecting to another person or another time. Nowadays, relocating and dodging piles of books is a daily domestic occurrence, one that my family has grown comfortably accustomed to. The Book Series is an exploration of relationships between these piles of books. The arrangements are intended to spark recognition, ignite memory or invoke a presence. Some compositions are designed to celebrate the books’ sculptural qualities, in which the books never quite reveal their original purpose. Other times the narrative, such as “French Guidebooks” or “Summer Reading”, groups a collection. Once the books are shelved, the relationships are broken. The Box Series began as a visual accounting of a friend's box collection and later evolved into a study of my own collection of discarded packaging. I am fascinated by the ephemera that most people throw out without a second thought, including the boxes and bags and wrapping that are subservient to the items they contains. Some of these photographs can be read as arrangements of pure form, turning everyday vessels into objects of contemplation. I have made a practice of searching for the heroic in the mundane and for beauty in the ordinary. Additionally, I am intrigued by packages that have become iconic -- Tiffany’s blue boxes, Hermes’s orange boxes and Cartier’s red boxes. Since my vocational life often involves seducing the consumer, I take perverse pleasure in transforming the original intention of these items.
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