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Daniel Essig ~ North Carolina
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Major Works by Leading Artists, Masters Book Arts: "Blurring boundaries and defying categorization, Daniel Essig is a sculptor, painter, and woodworker whose allegiance as an artist lies with the book. Like artifacts from antiquity, Essig's works feel monumental in their complexity. To make his remarkable assemblages, he incorporates a multitude of components, including mica, nails, shells, old gears, and thorns. These comprise what Essig calls visual diaries — collections of found objects, and totems of memory that ultimately honor the importance of the book.
"Nuanced with shallow textures, carved, painted, and layered, Essig's sublime surfaces appear softened by time. His unforgettable pieces challenge traditional ideas abut the medium as they straddle the line between book and sculpture." |
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Album Chain Book
By Daniel Essig
Asheville, North Carolina: Daniel Essig, 2011. One-of-a-kind.
4 x 6 x 2"; 128 leaves. Endpapers of walnut-stained handmade flax paper. Other materials: mahogany, milk paint, Italian handmade paper, linen thread, brass, leather, mica, found metal, photographs. Leather strap closure.
1 x 1.5 x .5" miniature book with 60 leaves of paper handmade by Essig is attached by a chain to the front cover. It slips into a notched recess and sits on a metal shelf. Within the recess back wall is a photo presented in an oval frame of two people (one of which is obscured) holding a book. Endpapers recycled book pages with French text. Exposed coptic binding with wooden boards. Small window in front board covered with mica contains tiny shells.
On the outside of the back cover of the host book is an old photograph (c. late 19th-century) of four women with open books in hand. On the inside of the back cover in the corresponding position is a mica-covered recess containing a rock with a simple botanical drawing.
Daniel Essig: "Until fairly recently all books were prized possessions — medieval libraries chained books to the shelves to prevent theft. In those days each volume was crafted with precision, elaborately decorated and embellished with precious stones and metals. I aim to make my books just as precious as those medieval manuscripts."
$2,500 |
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Horn Book - Fisher
By Daniel Essig
Asheville, North Carolina: 2008, Daniel Essig. One-of-a-kind.
20 x 7 x 5" assemblage with miniature book on chain. To be wall mounted. Materials: mahogany, cherry, handmade paper, antique text paper, milk paint, nails, mica, shells. Processes: carving, burning, painting. Ethiopian binding.
American Style Magazine, December 2007: "You will not find any of Daniel Essig’s books on the shelves of a library. These wordless works of art are sewn, woven, and carved into magnificent artists’ books and sculptures. Formerly a photographer, Essig is inspired by found objects that he comes across every day. A self-described hoarder, he will incorporate these items—fossils, shells, coins and old nails—into his artwork"
Horn Book – Fisher is a combination horn book (with its allusions to law and learning) and n'kisi nkondi (a Central African nail fetish which in Essig's iconography connotes protection) with overtones of the import and at risk nature of the book. There is a paddle on which is collaged a page of found text (excerpt from an uncited French text on literature); there is a 3-dimensonal Fisher bird of painted wood about a foot tall, it's body pierced with nails and screws; there is miniature book with Ethiopian binding chained to the bird's body and resting in a cavity of its belly. This assemblage brings together several of Essig's inspirations — ancient binding, history, N'kisi nkondi nail figures, chained books, and cabinets of curiosity. Fetish? Totem? Art? Yes, we think.
$3,500 |
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N'Kisi Bricolage- Trout
By Daniel Essig
Asheville, North Carolina: 2008, Daniel Essig. One-of-a-kind.
12 x 16 x 3.5" assemblage with metal stand. Materials: mahogany, handmade paper, milk paint, mica, nails, fossils, and bones. Carved. Ethiopian binding.
A sculptural book in the form of a life-sized trout. Shaped much like Captain Nemo's Nautilus, this trout has portholes allowing glimpses of seemingly sacred objects. A collection of charms hangs from the body. A chained miniature book bound in an ancient style fits snuggly in the trout's forehead.
Daniel Essig, interview in Express Milwaukee.com: "Often my figures and books have miniature windows in them, covered with natural mica, that contain bones or natural objects I have collected for years. These resemble reliquaries, and may even have more miniature books inside them, or around the sculpture, or in the animal’s mouth, and then could be chained to the sculpture. Historically, books were chained to library shelves, and I do this to relate how precious books are. I use Irish waxed linen and steel needles to do the bindings. The sculptures ... may be titled Bricolage, a collage of ideas with what you have on hand."
$6,500 |
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Bower Bird
By Daniel Essig
Asheville, North Carolina: 2009, Daniel Essig. One-of-a-kind.
9 x 9 x 2.5" structure with miniature books and miniature scrolls. Materials: yew, mahogany, handmade paper, milk paint, nails, mica, tin. Accordion and Ethiopian bindings.
Daniel Essig: "N'kisi nkondi nail figures – wooden sculptures made by the Kongo peoples of central Africa – served to protect villages, cure illnesses, and settle disputes. In my interpretations of these figures, I see the nails as a form of defense – they protect the tiny book at the center of the sculpture."
The composure of this serene bird – miniature book in its beak, body pierced by rusty nails, heart a reliquary of tiny books and scrolls – combines mystery, power, and threat.
(SOLD) |
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Centipede Binding
By Daniel Essig
Asheville, North Carolina: Daniel Essig, 2003. One-of-a-kind.
5 x 4 x 2.5", 132 leaves. Materials: mahogany, milk paint, walnut-stained handmade flax paper, Italian handmade paper, linen thread, brass, leather, mica, fossils. Endpages of walnut-stained handmade flax paper. Greek and centipede exposed binding. Four-pane shadow box insert in front cover. Leather strap closure.
A blank book with handmade paper and a unique binding. The centipede binding is an Essig invention.
Daniel Essig, The Penland Book of Handmade Books: "Some people use my books as journals and fill them up with words. I don't write in my books. For me, the books themselves are journals — visual records of my life and work. I am interested in traces of the past — ancient binding styles, altered books, distressed finishes, and found objects. I've developed my style of bookmaking by learning from mentors and absorbing the influence of treasured objects from other cultures and other times. ...
"Since I was six or seven years old, I've been collecting small objects. I have seashells that I collected at the beach on childhood vacations, dried sea horses, starfish, and mineral collections that I bought at gift shops. ... I keep my collection of objects in various cabinets, drawers, bottles, and boxes within a single small room in my house. The space has the feel of a German Wunderkammern, a 'cabinet of curiosity.' I sit in the room and scan my collection for just the right object for each of my books and sculptures."
(SOLD)
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Page last update: 05.04.12
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