Karen Hawkins

“My work is an archeological exploration into the structure and content of the book. In these works, my goal is to transform how a book functions, to remove it from its familiar construction and reinterpret it as new and visually meaningful. The journey begins by changing the book’s structure, challenging its physical boundaries. Each book transforms into an object, not of literature or science or history any longer, but an object of art. As the meaning of each book is subjugated to this objectification process, a shifting beauty transpires. As the type transforms, from a recognizable symbol to a simple visual mark, it no longer references a known cue, but introduces a new visual language. The process of accreting, accumulating, gathering and re-contextualizing these installations allows a conceptual landscape to emerge. These sculptures are created using discarded and deaccessioned books, which the viewer will recognize for their functional virtue, but which may otherwise have gone unnoticed in their traditional setting.”

- Karen Hawkins