It Can't Happen Here Sculpture

In 1935, Sinclair Lewis wrote It Can't Happen Here, a novel about freedom of the press in the USA under a totalitarian demagogue who is elected President by acting like a populist buffoon. All laws were made to benefit corporations. Vermont Vigilance is a pamphlet published by the New Underground resistance on "an old hand printing-press" stolen from the basement of the newspaper office where the protagonist was editor, using 8 point type stolen a pocketful at a time. One way of distributing the pamphlets was to surreptitiously insert them into other publications. My binding is alum-tawed goatskin with a 22K gold title on the spine, and a panel of artist's blood, acrylic paint and lead type on a reification of the fictional pamphlet, which I printed on the same Albion hand printing press that William Morris used for the Kelmscott Chaucer. Vermont Vigilance is not a reproduction, since the original never existed as a real artifact. It is set in typefaces that were popular at the time the story takes place (1938): Old English for the masthead, 8 point Times New Roman for the body, and Goudy Sans for the headlines. This sculptural bookwork represents what happens when the location of the press is discovered. The floor is covered in copies of the pamphlet, pied type, ink and blood. I used some of my own blood, which is spattered on the spine and cover, and matched the color of the fresh blood with acrylic paint for most of the panel. The blood has, of course, turned brownish over time, so the acrylic maintains the illusion of immediacy.

Sculpture:Leather on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:5.8 W x 8.1 H x 1.9 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.