FINE PRINT: Book bombing First Friday

The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.

options

FINE PRINT: Book bombing First Friday

POSTED: Thursday, March 11, 2010, 6:30 PM

Filed Under: Arts | Arts Events Visual Art

Photos | Emily Currier

In a chilly basement in West Philly, Mary Tasillo is crouched by a space heater, trying to warm up chilled ink. This is the other side of Philagrafika: Tucked away in a basement, artists Mary Tasillo and Michelle Wilson are the pioneers behind Book Bombs, one of Philagrafika's independent projects, and they'll be making prints on an old-fashioned letterpress for the next seven hours.

lightletters "You have to intensely love the process to bother with it," comments Tasillo, who met Wilson during their graduate Book Arts program at University of the Arts. About two hours have elapsed by the time the two are done coating the ink rollers and tweaking the woodcut's placement on the press. They are employing paper handmade from mugwort, a weed to some but also a medicinal herb used in China to evoke dreaming. Using recycled and natural materials adds to the overall exhibit's aim to examine Philadelphia's community through printmaking; receiving no funding from Philagrafika, Tasillo and Wilson pour grant money into their vision.

When they pitched Book Bombs to Philagrafika, the two artists were nervous that a street art project wouldn't seem "official" enough. But displaying their prints around the city, open to the elements, is an integral source of commentary on issues of public space and, in particular, homelessness. "We asked ourselves, how can this project occupy the same territory as something public?" says Wilson. Neither artist has experienced homelessness, but both think the issue is too often, and too easily, overlooked by the public.

printbike For their third and final printing session, Tasillo and Wilson have carved two woodblocks, one with the Philadelphia cityscape and the other with a long, thin sapling. When the two images overlap, it appears as if the sapling is growing out of the city, up into the sky. Combined with the organic quality of the paper it's printed on, this image has a handmade look that will encourage passers-by, who are saturated daily with mass-produced images and fliers, to really take notice.

After the painstaking process, the artists let go of their lovingly made prints, stringing them in trees, on benches and lampposts, in parks around the city. On leaving their prints exposed to the elements, Wilson says, "We're making commentary on what gets neglected in the city and what gets taken care of." At about 40 degrees, Friday, March 5, is the warmest night Tasillo and Wilson have ever undertaken a book-bombing operation. On previous nights, they've contended with freezing temperatures and one of Philadelphia's many recent snowstorms. While the missions have been more than uncomfortable, the two are able to cope knowing they have warm places to go home to.

twoprints While Center City on a Friday night isn't the height of discretion, no one from the passing crowds stops to ask Tasillo and Wilson what exactly they're doing. Meandering from Rittenhouse Square to Kahn Park, then on to Christ Church, Tasillo and Wilson mainly focus on hitting parks but also leave their marks on various fences along the way. The two use the same care and diligence from their printing process for hanging the prints. They aren't hurried in their actions and, clad in thick, warm knits, the two look anything but criminal. Still, Old City First Friday attendees only stare, perhaps afraid or indifferent about engaging as they shuffle along to the next open bar.

In the four hours spent hanging, only one person approaches the artists, as they sit at a picnic table stringing prints. "What are you girls doing?" the toothless, homeless man asks amiably. After briefly explaining their mission, Wilson hands the man with a print and, among the three of us, we come up with 80 cents for him to get a hot dog.

For more information about the Book Bombs project, visit bookbombing.blogspot.com.

RELATED >> Kaleidoscope, March 4, 2010

Katie Baldwin

Posted 2010-03-12 20:15:17

Such a cool project!

Posted by Emily Currier @ 6:30 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Comments (0)

Q&A with SHARI SOLANIS: "The goal isn't pornography"
NOW SEE THIS: Transit cop arrests marijuana activist for alleged disorderly conduct.
SEXY TIME Q&A: I've never had an orgasm during sex with a man — and I'm 30!
CONCERT REVIEW: Primus (3D & quadraphonic sound) @ The Tower 10/17
What we're trying to do this weekend
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Indian fare rules, Dunder Mifflin lives on, Tom Jones is a god
Q&A with Tony Goldwyn: "Life is gray, and relationships are, too"
Bradley Cooper promises he's not an asshole
CITY PAPER WRITING CONTEST 2013: Send stories! Send poetry!
SWIMMING HOLES: Some of our favorite places to get wet

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

May
April
March

February
January

Past Archives: