The “Transforming Hate” book was published recently. The working title was “The Proposal” almost right up until it went on the press. The work on the book evolved over an eight-year period. I want to share some of the steps that I took in order to make the book. I’m hoping that in the process I can see more clearly why a price of $50 for the book does not begin to cover the cost of producing it.
I hate to admit that I am essentially stuck in the 1980s when I saw my first artists’ books at Printed Matter below Canal Street in Manhattan. It was thought that artists’ books might become an inexpensive way to make art more accessible. Although most of my books don’t end up being inexpensive, my intention for my books is that they be produced inexpensively.
Each of my books has had its’ own process to which I have had to conform. As much as I try to control that process, the Transforming Hate book taught me, as no previous book had, that I am the book’s servant not its’ master. I ended up feeling like I had been recruited to come along for the ride.
Below begins sketches of the project’s beginning:
