Künstlerbuch | Artists‘ book: Sam Lewitt. Template (2014, Three Star Books)

ƎTA⅃ꟼMƎT is a book whose information emerges under programmatic erasure. Or perhaps it is better said that the book is one form for a program that recursively thins reading material. The protocol for these pages is a reversal of the printing process. Here’s how the script runs:

1 – Give a commercial offset printer one sheaf of standard B1 poster paper for ‘make-readies’ (the results of preparing ink levels and impression strength for the jobs that pass through the press).
2 – Turn each printed sheet into a template for stripping areas of its ink-saturated surface using a UV coating.
3 – Erase the uncoated areas with paint thinner.
4 – Fold, bind, chop etc.

Soccer stadiums, children’s books, tour guides, the coast of Spain, etc., are wiped down to the white of the pages that bear their layered images. City stuff and bedside matter receive the same treatment.  Each particular instance becomes its own rule: every sheet of paper cannibalizes the content it supports, yet the tooth of the page lights up the peculiar details that flood it. (source: Three Star Books.com)

Sam Lewitt. Template (Book), 2014