This Man Is Drilling a Well
artist book
Terry A. Ratzlaff
108 pgs
Full Color/Cyanotype Accordion Structure
First Edition of 50 + 5 Special + 2 AP
Drawing on the parallels between dreaming and collecting, This Man is Drilling a Well is sourced from a single drawer found in horologist Greg Arp’s clock shop. The book tumbles illogically through a constellation of fragmented images that reflect a junk drawer, a fold in spacetime where all ephemera accumulate in disorder: schematics, patterns, magazine pages, furniture ads, wood grain samples, paper, paperclips, wood scraps, photographs, letters, and various odds and ends. The ephemera––collected for forty years––recollects a modern narrative of movement, construction, and fragmentation, where the refutation of obsolescence resists the authority of time; everything is recycled, reused, and reappropriated for a renewed life.
Made in collaboration with Greg, This Man is Drilling a Well was conceptualized as a tangential collection of images connected to the larger context of The Marches: a photographic labyrinth of time, memory, and absence. The work aims, in part, to understand better how humans attempt to construct and control the experience of time while carving out the infinite depths of Arp Clock and Wood Shop.
This Man is Drilling a Well
(Unresolved unique book)
NFS
2022-present
Double Accordion, sewn signatures
Cyanotype, Gum Birchromate, Digital Inkjet Prints.
172 pgs
The Good Citizen, Benjamin Rasmussen
2022
Published by Gost Books
Special Edition of 25 +5 Artist Proofs + 2 Binder Proofs
(5 Exclusion, 5 Violence, 5 Archetype, 5 Beauty, 5 Surveillance, representing 5 chapters within the book)
Each box includes unique objects, 2 polaroids, a portfolio containg 1 archival press photograph, 1 archival inkjet photograph, and The Good Citizen book.
12.5x16x2.5”
Book board, Ratchford cloth
Between Past and Future
2022
Archival Drawer Box
Commissioned on the occasion for Joseph Kolean and Steph Holmbo’s 5th wedding anniversary.
2 photo drawers, 1 long top box, 3 internal stacking boxes
Book board, duo tone cloth, Ratchford cloth
BWS #13
2022
unique object
7.75x3x8.75
book board, cialux cloth
BWS #11
2021
unique object
8x10.25x2.25”
book board, cialux cloth, colored paper
BWS #06, 07, 08, 09
2021
slip case and drawer set
8x8x1.25”
book board, cialux cloth
BWS #12
2021
unique object
8.25x8.25x1.55”
book board, cialux cloth
The Watcher
2019
edition of 11 +2AP
118pgs, accordion fold with 7 sewn signatures, tipped in print
5.75x8.75”
3 copies available)basementwindowbindery(at)gmail.com
The Watcher
2018
unique book
365 pgs
8.5x11x4”
Miscellaneous clamshells and portfolios
2018-2019
All 11x14”
Client: Ed Strickland
2018
Custom Clamshell
Japanese Stab Bound Book
8.5x11”
Tengujo Antique Conservation paper for preserving plant pressings and archival images
Keepsake drawer with with silk ribbon for easy removal, Asahi Japanese Cloth
Client: Nish Nalbandian
Special Edition Box for 2 books
A Handful of Dust, A Whole World Blind
Custom box with 2 shelves and a window for prints, silk ribbon for easy removal
10x12”
2018
Client: Brad Torchia
2018
unique maquette
8.5x11”
Client: Benjamin Rasmussen
2018
unique maquette
8x10”
screw-post portfolio and slip case
11x14”
Client: David Kasnic
2018
maquette
8.5x11”
edition of 2
But The Eyes Are Blind One Must Look With The Heart
2018
box of archival inkjet prints, including digital appropriations, outtakes and text cards.
Inkjet transfer on White and Burgundy Cialux cloth.
11x14”
Edition of 3
But The Eyes Are Blind One Must Look With The Heart
2018
176pgs
68 Images
8 Digital Appropriations
Inkjet transfer on Cialux Cloth.
7.5x9.5”
Edition of 10
Blank Journals
5.5x8.5”