Three Star Books (Paris) and Westreich Wagner Publications (New York) are very pleased to present a new work from Blake Rayne’s ‘a’ line, an ongoing investigation by the artist.

What the generation of Robert Morris and Joseph Beuys did with felt takes on a whole new twist in the work of Blake Rayne. His first publication for Three Star Books and Westreich/Wagner publications is a book is a sculpture is a program. Its title, Almanac comes from what the artist calls his ‘a’ line, a spoof on the idea that there are any hierarchies (or “a,” “b,” and “c,” lines) in an artist’s work. And just as a mega sculpture can be a minor work, so this mini sculpture is a major piece in the artist’s arsenal.  As with Rayne’s other  ‘a’ works, this project can be (the artist writes) “seen as a distillation of ideas, processes and techniques inherent within different formats of cultural production.”

What does that mean? That a book is no longer a book but a proposition.  With technical virtuosity in the making, this curvy, floppy, spill of a book is about as close to reading as a dress is to looking at. Books are proposals for ways to work, ways to approach color, form, material, smell, and all the senses, locked into one (sort of) neat package.

The artist says that his ‘a’ line project originates from a file generated in screen space, which is then output into different display formats (i.e. painting, book, stool…). Without bothering to dwell on the use of felt by his predecessors, including more recent interpreters such as Thomas Gruenfeld or a load of Austrian artists, Rayne blithethly uses felt for (he says) “its inherent tacto-texto-experiential interactivity.”

A book that was conceived in the virtual world, and then physically cut, arranged, and draped with a tailor’s precision, this work completes a “circuit of translation,” that is emblematic of communication in our modern world.  This one ‘a’ file, the artist writes, is now complete.

Blake Rayne
Almanac, 2013
Edition of 10 + 3 AP + 6 HC
20.1 x 13.2 x 3 inches (51 x 33.5 x 7.5 cm)
Eight felt double page spreads with ‘a’ line cut
White felt end pages
Hard cover, hand-bound
Price upon request