UNMASKING CONVENTIONS: A re-evaluation of the notion of the double page spread within fine art practice.

This practice-based investigation originated with a number of questions that have arisen from my fine art practice. The enquiry focuses on identifying which elements are bonded to the symbolic image of the opened book and how these can be unmasked to become a discursive space and material support to express visual ideas within a fine art context.

By asking why conventions associated with the page generate such an impact on the way we engage and read an opened book, my research developed to investigate how the illusion of mirroring and echo, the fold and the suggestion of text, generate a fundamental shift in the perception and reading of the double page. I have explored the limits of the page through my own practice, questioning the role of perception and how powerful connotations are associated to the symbolism of the book. The fundamental subject of enquiry of this investigation has arisen as a direct result of the use of the printed image and the dual form of the page within my art practice.

Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem Un Coup de Dés (1914) marks the historical context of this investigation. This poem questioned the nature of the page by suggesting not only a new approach to reading, but also unmasked some of the conventions associated with the structure of the book.

Theoretical and critical context to the research is considered through the discussion of visual elements that compose the material presence of the double-page as an independent piece of art itself as they play a crucial role in the way we perceive it. I studied the notions of opening, duality, mirroring, echo and fold both through my own work as well as through the work of artists such as Jasper Johns, Dieter Roth and Anish Kapoor. Umberto Eco’s theories about mirrors also frame a questioning of the experience and perception of reading as a semiotic phenomenon as well as Deleuze’s essay The Fold and Adorno’s Minima Moralia contextualise the notion of fold. These ideas connect with my interpretation of the ‘perception’ of the page as articulated thought through the notion of connotation.