Books in A Box (from or by Scott McCarney)
“Books in a Box” is a retrospective of sorts, conceived before COVID but heightened by the isolation and social distancing necessitated by the pandemic. Patterned after Marcel Duchamp’s La Boîte en Valise, it consists of digitally printed facsimiles of my bookworks that exist as one-of-a-kind or in only a few copies. Re-presenting the books in the same media equalizes the variety of formats and materiality of the “originals,” emphasizing the conceptual relationships of the work. This is an in-process reexamination of my past, discovering throughlines of my thinking, and mapping a road ahead.
11 books housed in a vintage Merchants File Letters box manufactured for Scrantom, Wetmore & Co. in Rochester NY. Edition of 10. 2023
$500.00
[ Descriptions of contents below illustrated with pictures of original work under facsimile edition. ]
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Scott Mccarney Visual Diary (1974-1975 /
2021)
8.25 x 10.75 in., 12 pp. wire bound
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One of the few things I made in college that still exist since most of that work was destroyed in a fire at my parent’s house (story for another book). This was a visual thinking class assignment that sparked an interest in visual language, signs and symbol.
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T/HERE (1981 / 2018)
7.5 x 11 in., 14 pp. saddle stitch
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One of the first artist books I made after moving to Rochester utilizing all the DIY printmaking tricks I could think of at the time. Represents my own longing and questioning of where I’d been and where I was going.
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WALK (1981 / 2003 / 2019)
8 x 11 in., 24 pp. saddle stitch
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An early attempt at a photobook that engaged the format of a Japanese pouch book to move the reader from image to image, following my own eye on walks through Richmond VA and Rochester NY. It draws relationships between the place I’d lived for 10 years (Richmond) and the place I’d recently moved to (Rochester), complicated by my own emotional ambiguities at this intersection of my life.
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Scott Mccarney Visual Diary (1974-1975 /
2021)
8.25 x 10.75 in., 12 pp. wire bound
One of the few things I made in college that still exist since most of that work was destroyed in a fire at my parent’s house (story for another book). This was a visual thinking class assignment that sparked an interest in visual language, signs and symbol.
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T/HERE (1981 / 2018)
7.5 x 11 in., 14 pp. saddle stitch
One of the first artist books I made after moving to Rochester utilizing all the DIY printmaking tricks I could think of at the time. Represents my own longing and questioning of where I’d been and where I was going.
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WALK (1981 / 2003 / 2019)
8 x 11 in., 24 pp. saddle stitch
An early attempt at a photobook that engaged the format of a Japanese pouch book to move the reader from image to image, following my own eye on walks through Richmond VA and Rochester NY. It draws relationships between the place I’d lived for 10 years (Richmond) and the place I’d recently moved to (Rochester), complicated by my own emotional ambiguities at this intersection of my life.
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[ Buy This Multiple ]
<-- Back to Table
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Lost Horizons (2003 / 2008)
4.25 x 5 in., 48 pp. saddle stitch
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Lost Horizons is part of a series of books conceived post- 9/11/01. Sites that represent my own memories were photographed and blended together with text to create panoramic images adrift in time. The texts are drawn from sources which fuse a particular event and time to the landscape. A view of the city where I live introduces the book and closes with text citations.
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FOLD ABET BOOK (1984 / 2021)
5.5 x 8.25 in., 32 pp. wire bound
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This book is a reinterpretation rather than a strict fascimile of a folded alphabet I made in the 1980s. It reorders the alphabet and utilizes gate-folds to name the action (“FOLDING”) of both the creation of the letterforms and the revelation of them in book form by the reader.
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Alphabook 9 (1985 / 2022)
8.25 x 10.75 in., 30 pp. Wire bound
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Alplhabook 9 was conceived at the first artist residency I attended. I didn’t come with this project in mind — it grew out of taking my paperfolding activity into the darkroom. I love the eerie sense of space the photograms present, not quite 2-d, nor 3-d, but somewhere in-between (or beyond).
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Dessert Shield (1990 / 2016)
5.5 x 8.5 in., 28 pp. saddle stitch
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Created during ‘operation desert shield,’ when Sadam Hussien invaded Kuwait and G. H. W. Bush sent troops to oust him (pre Desert Storm, which was the actual war). A collection of favorite dessert recipes, many from family and friends, printed up and distributed to friends at the time.
Lost Horizons (2003 / 2008)
4.25 x 5 in., 48 pp. saddle stitch
Lost Horizons is part of a series of books conceived post- 9/11/01. Sites that represent my own memories were photographed and blended together with text to create panoramic images adrift in time. The texts are drawn from sources which fuse a particular event and time to the landscape. A view of the city where I live introduces the book and closes with text citations.
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FOLD ABET BOOK (1984 / 2021)
5.5 x 8.25 in., 32 pp. wire bound
This book is a reinterpretation rather than a strict fascimile of a folded alphabet I made in the 1980s. It reorders the alphabet and utilizes gate-folds to name the action (“FOLDING”) of both the creation of the letterforms and the revelation of them in book form by the reader.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Alphabook 9 (1985 / 2022)
8.25 x 10.75 in., 30 pp. Wire bound
Alplhabook 9 was conceived at the first artist residency I attended. I didn’t come with this project in mind — it grew out of taking my paperfolding activity into the darkroom. I love the eerie sense of space the photograms present, not quite 2-d, nor 3-d, but somewhere in-between (or beyond).
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Dessert Shield (1990 / 2016)
5.5 x 8.5 in., 28 pp. saddle stitch
Created during ‘operation desert shield,’ when Sadam Hussien invaded Kuwait and G. H. W. Bush sent troops to oust him (pre Desert Storm, which was the actual war). A collection of favorite dessert recipes, many from family and friends, printed up and distributed to friends at the time.
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Natural and Logical Consequences (1998 / 2018)
7.5 x 8.5 in., 28 pp. saddle stitch
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This is a reaction to Bill Clinton’s confession of having an affair with Monica Lewinski. Created while co-teaching a summer class at Bennington College with Judy Natal.
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Prayer (2003 / 2020)
8 x 8 in., 24 pp. saddle stitch
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I made this in memory of my father whose favorite hymn was ‘The Lord’s Prayer. The letterforms are rendered as outlines indifferent colors and aligned so each word became a ’spot’. The word spots are arranged on square pages in accordance with the phrasing of the lyric. There were never more than six words per phrase, so it was easy to read each page as the face of a die. My father died of cancer at the age of 84. Cancer can be a chance operation. Faith follows.
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safe (2003 / 2018)
7.75 x 8.5 in., 40 pp. saddle stitch
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Many inspirations for this piece. The war in the Middle East; uncertainty and disillusion with the state of politics at home. Titled after a film with the same name made by Todd Haynes in 1995 starring Julianne Moore about a woman with environmental illness seeking solace in New Mexico with people with similar afflictions. My book extends this concept beyond the corporeal body into the body politic and social fabric of the early oughts.
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Saints & Sinners: Gay Pride & Straight Shame 07/16/05 (2005 / 2021)
8 x 5.5 in., extends to 44 in. Fold book
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My experience of marching in our local Pride Parade and being confronted by religious protesters on the sidelines. Utilizes a bible quote to highlight the hypocrisy of the Christianist Right.
Natural and Logical Consequences (1998 / 2018)
7.5 x 8.5 in., 28 pp. saddle stitch
This is a reaction to Bill Clinton’s confession of having an affair with Monica Lewinski. Created while co-teaching a summer class at Bennington College with Judy Natal.
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Prayer (2003 / 2020)
8 x 8 in., 24 pp. saddle stitch
I made this in memory of my father whose favorite hymn was ‘The Lord’s Prayer. The letterforms are rendered as outlines indifferent colors and aligned so each word became a ’spot’. The word spots are arranged on square pages in accordance with the phrasing of the lyric. There were never more than six words per phrase, so it was easy to read each page as the face of a die. My father died of cancer at the age of 84. Cancer can be a chance operation. Faith follows.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
safe (2003 / 2018)
7.75 x 8.5 in., 40 pp. saddle stitch
Many inspirations for this piece. The war in the Middle East; uncertainty and disillusion with the state of politics at home. Titled after a film with the same name made by Todd Haynes in 1995 starring Julianne Moore about a woman with environmental illness seeking solace in New Mexico with people with similar afflictions. My book extends this concept beyond the corporeal body into the body politic and social fabric of the early oughts.
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Saints & Sinners: Gay Pride & Straight Shame 07/16/05 (2005 / 2021)
8 x 5.5 in., extends to 44 in. Fold book
My experience of marching in our local Pride Parade and being confronted by religious protesters on the sidelines. Utilizes a bible quote to highlight the hypocrisy of the Christianist Right.