Jennifer Moon x The Fire Monkey for Hammer Museum

Artist Jennifer Moon and bookbinder George Busby of The Fire Monkey have collaborated on a book project, a part of the “Made in LA” exhibition at Hammer Museum!

This is an especially interesting collaboration for Hiromi Paper as well, because when Jennifer had been searching for a local bookbinder, we were the ones that first recommended George at The Fire Monkey; whom we’ve had a close relationship with for many years. We are so glad this collaboration worked out, and together they created such a wonderful book!

The book itself is a half leather-binding with a gold leaf pressed emblem on the front, a logo that Jennifer had made especially for this show.
Inside papers are inkjet prints on all Amate Solid Natural.

Jennifer’s statement:

The book that George so beautifully and masterfully bound is called the Book of Eros and it is one of five pieces in my installation, Phoenix Rising, Part 2: Eros vs. Agape, which will be part of Made in L.A. 2014 <http://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/detail/exhibition_id/251>  at the Hammer Museum. The Book of Eros is a play off of the D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) Monster Manual. It is essentially a chronological compendium of all the people I’ve ever obsessed over, crushed on, made out with, had sex with, tried to have sex with, and entered into a romantic relationship since I made this deal with a cosmic entity in 1993 (to forfeit all romantic relations in order for my art career to flourish) through 2013. It mimics the D&D Monster Manual layout so each person’s entry page contains a lore (written in the Elven script of Tengwar) and a statistics block. The entire installation is about my attempt to merge eros with agape in order to realize love as a political concept.  (Jennifer Moon, 2014)

About The Fire Monkey/George Busby:

With her experience working at bookbinderies and background in paper conservation, George Busby started The Fire Monkey almost 30 years ago.
Since then, she has worked on numerous projects, varying from personal to commercial requests, not only bookbinding but restoration, box-making and even making props for movie work.
George is a go-to person if you are looking for someone to collaborate on a unique, one-of-a-kind project, offering pin-point suggestions and ideas.

An old book that she restored, and made a custom box for (Left paper is our Bhutan Shawa!)

George’s workspace

The Hammer’s biennial exhibition Made in L.A. 2014 features works by 35 Los Angeles artists with an emphasis on emerging and under recognized artists. It debuts recent work and new painting, installation, video, sculpture, photography, and performances created specifically for the exhibition. The show is up from June 15, 2014 – September 7, 2014