[Cleanskins].

Bury 1.jpg
Bury 2.jpg

Creator

Stevie Deas.

Title

[Cleanskins].

Publisher

[London]: Piece of Paper Press,

Date

2007.

Description

Edition of 150.

Each book in Tony White’s Piece of Paper Press series consists of a single A4 sheet, photocopied or desktop printed on both sides. The sheets are then folded to make a sixteen-page booklet, stapled and trimmed by hand. The edition is not distributed commercially.

Cleanskins refer to terrorist suspects unknown to the intelligence services, including Hasib Hussain, who blew up a No. 30 bus in the July 2005 London bombings. With a pen held directly against a sheet of paper, Deas records the motions of a journey on the same bus route (Marble Arch to Hackney Wick).

My primary collecting interest is artists’ books, i.e., books where the artist has had a major say over their final appearance. My collection ranges from 1963 to today. In many respects Cleanskins is atypical of my collection, but it fascinates me. All Piece of Paper Press books show how books are made and that anyone can make a book. But in this case, the artist has also interrogated what narrative is or can be—a journey, usually described in text or photograph, is reduced/elevated to the random movements of a pen.

Source

Stephen Bury