Ber Lazarus

Materials: book (History of Painting Vol. II 1898), found objects, images, ground glass, brass, plywood, Plexiglass, lamp

Dimensions: Book: 10 x 7.5 x 1.75in / 25 x 19 x 4.5cmFull installation: 48 x 30 x 12in / 122 x 75 x 30cm

October 2020

Materials: book (History of Painting Vol. I 1898) found objects, images, ground glass, judas, plywood, brass hardware, stain, acrylic sheet, lamp.

Book Dimensions: 10 x 7.5 x 2in / 25 x 18.75 x 2cm
Full Installation: 48 x 30 x 12in / 120 x 75 x 30cm

2017

For Prints on Canvas: Prints on Canvas

11. ָָָAnd it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will once again show His hand, to acquire the remnant of His people, who will have remained, from Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Cush and from Elam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.

12. He will raise a banner for the nations, and assemble the castaways of Israel; and He will gather in the dispersed ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

Isaiah 11:11, 12
___________

Materials: book (History of the Jews Vol II, Graetz) found objects, images, judas, ground glass, acrylic sheet, plywood, stain, brass hardware, lamp.

Book Dimensions: 22.5 x 16.25 x 6.25cm / 9 x 6.5 x 2.5in
Full Dimensions: 120 x 60 x 30cm/ 48 x 24 x 12in

2015

Materials: book, found objects, ground glass, mirror, viewer, brass hardware, plywood, lamp

Book dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 2.5 in / 22.5 x 16.25 x 6.25cm
Full installation: 48 x 30 x 12 / 120 x 75 x 30cm

2015

les Rouges et les Bleus

To this day and virtually from its beginnings Quebec’s politics and culture has been divided between the more radical nationalists - les Rouges and the more conservative federalists - les Bleues. Social and legal struggles over language, religion and ‘le patrimoine’ continue to plague the province.

Materials: book (Les Statuts Refondus de la Province du Quebec, 1909), found objects, ground glass, mirror, judas,  brass hardware, plywood, stain, lamp

Book dimensions: 10 x 7 x 2in / 25 x 17.5 x 5cm
Full installation: 48 x 30 x 12 / 120 x 75 x 30cm 

2015

Jaqueline Susann’s novel, published in 1966, was a runaway bestseller in its day although panned by the usual intellectual snobs of the time. The ‘dolls’, of course, are pills - Reds, Greens and Yellows - used and abused in the climb to the top in the fashion biz. By 1974 it had sold 17 million copies and was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the best selling novel in publishing history. At present, 2019, it has sold more than 30 million copies world wide.

Materials: book (Valley of the Dolls, Jaqueline Susann), mirror, judas, found objects, ground glass, plywood, stain, acrylic sheet, brass hardware, lamp.

Book Dimensions: 17.5 x 11.5 x 10cm / 7 x 4.5 x 4in

Full Dimensions: 120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x 12in

2013

For many years I supported myself as an immigrant and refugee aid worker, facilitating the resettlement of hundreds of families to Canada.

As a result of that work I found that virtually every immigrant had made of themselves in a way an Exile of their native lands. Many would never have made the difficult journey if only their native lands had been a bit more hospitable.

There is deep sense of displacement and alienation that most immigrants feel once the initial euphoria of arrival in a strange new land has worn off. New identities are formed against the realities of adaptation and integration into a foreign culture.

Materials: book (Canadian Immigration and Refugee Law Practice, Waldman, 2005), mirror, judas, found objects, ground glass, plywood, stain, acrylic sheet, brass hardware, lamp.

Book Dimensions: 
23 x 15.6 x 5.6cm / 9 x 6 x 2in
Installation Dimensions: 
120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x 12in

2010

“Those U.F.O.s that either cure or kill us“

(for my mother who loved this work like no other)
Materials: book (U.F.O.s & Extra-terrestrials), mirrors, judas, found objects, plywood, stain, acrylic sheet, brass hardware, lamp.
Book Dimensions: 17.5 x 11.5 x 10cm / 7 x 4.5 x 4in
Full Dimensions: 120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x 12in

2008

"The Aleph?" I echoed.
"Yes, the place where all the places of the world meet without mingling, beheld from every possible angle at once…." I tried to make sense of it.
"But isn't the cellar very dark?"
"Truth never penetrates an unwilling mind. If all the places of the earth are in the Aleph, then all sources of illumination, all lamps, all veins of light are there."
"I shall go and look at once."
(J.L. Borges, El Aleph, quoted in Millennium)

Materials: book (Millennium, Filipe Fernandez-Arnesto, 1996), mirrors, frosted glass, judas, found objects, photos, plywood, stain, brass hardware, lamp.

Book Dimensions: 24 x 16 x 6cm / 9.5 x 6 x 2in
Full Dimensions: 120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x 12in

2006

Materials: book (Engineering News 1920), found objects, mirror, judas, ground glass, plywood, stain, brass hardware, lamp.

Book Dimensions: 30 x 24 x 4.5cm / 12 x 9.5 x 1.75in
Full installation: 120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x 12in

2005

Materials: book (Les Illusions Perdues, Honoré de Balzac), found objects, mirror, judas, frosted glass, plywood, stain, brass hardware, lamp
Book Dimensions: 21.25 x 13.8 x 5.5cm / 8.5 x 5.5 x 2.25in
Full installation: 120 x 75 x30cm / 48 x 30 x12in

2004

Materials: book (Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 12 Hydroz to Jerem), mirrors, judas, found objects, plywood, stain, acrylic sheet, brass hardware, lamp.

Book Dimensions: 28 x 4 x 21.5cm / 11 x 8.5 x 1.5in

Full Dimensions: 120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x 12in

2003

Materials: Book (Biochimie, Lehninger), found objects, mirror, judas, acrylic sheet, plywood, stain, brass hardware, ground glass, lamp

Book Dimensions: 20 x 13 x 4.3cm / 8 x 5 x 2in
Full Dimensions: 120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x12in

2002

La Vida, by Oscar Lewis, is a study of Puerto Rican poverty in San Juan, Puerto Rico and New York. The sub-title, a chapter heading in the book, refers to the move a family makes, at the urging of a social worker, from a slum dwelling to a housing project, the caserío in Villa Hermosa. The mother talks about how much worse it is for her in the caserío. Housing projects the world over are notorious for being incubators of social unrest, ongoing poverty and crime. A trap, a prison, a dead end. Dios mio! Get me out of here! 

Materials: book (La Vida, Oscar Lewis), mirror, padlocks, judas, plastic lens, found objects, plywood, stain, brass hardware, lamp.

Book Dimensions: 5.6 x 23.75 x 15.6cm / 9.5 x 6.25 x 2.25in
Full installation: 120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x 12in

2001

Materials: book (Statuts de Québec 1950-1951), mirrors, judas, found objects, plywood, stain, brass hardware, lamp.

Book Dimensions: 24.5 x 20 x 4.5cm / 9.75 x 8 x 1.75in
Full Installation: 120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x 12in

2000

Materials: book (Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 11 Gunn to Hydrox), found objects, mirrors, frosted glass, judas, wood, plywood, stain, brass hardware, lamp.

Book Dimensions: 28 x 4 x 21.5cm / 11.2 x 1.6 x 8.6in
Full installation: 120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x 1

1999

Materials: encyclopaedia (The Illustrated Home Library Encyclopaedia), found objects, acrylic sheet, judas(2), mirrors, plastic lens, lamp. 

Dimensions: 55 x 14.4 x 21.5cm (22 x 5.75 x 8.6po)

1999

She had remarkable eyes. Clear powder blue with a touch of melancholy. They were not quite innocent yet not piercingly knowing or wise.

To the public, Diana Princess of Wales, was a princess of the fairy tale variety, the object of every projection, male and female alike. In private she was a tortured soul struggling with many demons. Her public life was a constant round of duty and paparazzi.

She became the spokeswoman for the movement to ban landmines. There is a classic photo of her with a black African child whose one leg had been blown off by a left over land mine. Hounded and abused by the press and the royal family, it seemed only a matter of time before she would be driven to self-destruction.

Despite her privileged social status one could not help but feel certain empathy for her. But she was different.

When she was killed in the awful crash in the tunnel in Paris running from the media eye, the outpouring of grief was stupendous. There had never been anything like it before, or since, to match the public display of raw emotion. It was epic in and of itself. The death of a real live fairy tale princess was apparently very hard to receive.

When she died I had just begun to develop the Ex Libris idea. I came across Susan Howatch pulp novel The Rich are Different in a used bookstore. I thought the title quite apt bringing a double reference to the fact that Diana was rich and lived the lifestyle of the rich and famous and to the infamously misquoted quote between Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Looking through the viewer you see directly in front of you and to the left, a hand reflected in the mirror representing the royal "wave". More to the centre a black doll with one leg is the boy from Diana's involvement with the anti-mine movement. In the far right corner in the background is the red doll of her demons. The light coming through the mirror on the left is the flash of paparazzi cameras. On the ceiling are the words The Rich. Above the words are her lips. And finally in the background are her pale blue fairly tale princess eyes. Di's Eyes.

Materials: book, mirrors, viewer, found objects, penlight.
Book dimensions: 22.5 x 14.4 x 6.25cm / 9 x 5.75 x 2.5in
Full installation: 120 x 75 x 30cm / 48 x 30 x 12in

1997