22/02/2007

'Minushka' - isbn 1-894897-21-8














" Opera is beautiful because it's the only world where a person can actually be lucky enough to die from a broken heart." - Malcolm Douglas Chaplin

I survived a broken heart, and I used it as keen fuel to publish this exquisite collection of Russian Dolls. This is a photograph of all of them, a multicultural family, Sold in sets of five. These nesting dolls are in fact a novel form of book, a hand painted manuscript if you will. Each set of dolls has an ISBN, and contains a story, the outside doll is the cover and each nesting doll is a page, concluding with the last doll; on which is painted the last word. The story is a love poem , which would melt the panties off of Leonard Cohen *. I composed this work and painted the words on each doll. As a Publisher, I reserve the right to work with other talent and so the faces were painted by the incomparable Andrea Tucker, whom I retained to illustrate this work. There are eleven of copies of this manuscript in existence, each is an original work of art. I've sold through these, however; if you are a librarian or curator, with at taste for livre d'artiste, I will gladly connect you to one of my collectors .

* Just kidding about the Panties, Leonard Cohen is Canada's poet laureate. He has been appointed by popular consensus and will hold this designation for life.

Photography credit: Lauralee Gordon

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the whole idea of this. Beautiful!

Tamla

Anonymous said...

Lovely piece, as usual Rob!
Say, I am looking to rent studio space in town, nothing huge, but big and light enough to paint and draw, and take some photos. Do you know of any such space for rent? I have been looking everywhere! Thanks for any info, Leslie Rogers.

Anonymous said...

So, you're better than Leonard Cohen, is that what you're saying?

Robert Chaplin rca said...

I'm not saying that I'm better than Leonard Cohen. I like Leonard Cohen and respect his work...its more than poetry. And thats the deal.