Star Gazer

By Ed Hutchins
Salem, New York: Ed Hutchins, 2022. Edition of 96.
5.325 H x 3.75" W; 16 pages. Colophon on back cover interior; signed and numbered by the artist. Digitally printed on 14 pt. coated cardstock. Hand-cut. Assembled at the Editions Studio at Salem, New York. Two-color laser-cut portfolio. Custom storage box of black cardboard with title on spine and lid. Lid folds into slit and slot closure. Box interior with inset to hold the book. Book laid in a phase box: made of two pieces of lightweight stiff paper (one blue, one gold); slip and slot closure; circular cutout revealing illustration with title. Interlocking tab binding. Pop-ups.
Ed Hutchins: ""Star Gazer’, 2022 is a celestial journey through an endless universe to discover how to make sense of the future. ‘Star Gazer’ transforms into the infinite expanse of the universe against an inky backdrop, a sweeping constellation of colorful hand-cut paper stars sweeps through the book page-to-page, diving through pages, around pages, splitting into divided channels, crisscrossing top and bottom, popping off the page surface, floating above the page, and finally converging in an explosion of celestial starburst and a final question: in charting a life, are the answers upward or inward?”
Colophon: "Conceived and scripted on the road with Steve Warren during our great 2000 Mexican adventure. Reimagined and fleshed out during our February 2022 Atlanta Sojourn. Alisa Golden planted the seed for the interlocking-tab binding. Produced, polished, and published at Hawked, Salem, New York, May 2022.”