Book 17  The ABC  of Appropriate Behavior.  Penn, C. (2009) (Fig 15).  The ABC  of Appropriate Behavior.  Unique artists book.  Accordion bound, 15 appropriated and altered exhibition Invitations, bond paper, thread, mixed media.  21cm x 2m.  Book 17. Collection: Cheryl Penn.

This book came about as a result of going through a file in which I keep invitations to past exhibitions.  The title refers to the thought process that led to the development of the book’s form and content.  As artists choose their best images for their invitations, the  cards were very beautiful.  There are also piles of invitations that are thrown away after an exhibition is ended.  This led me to researching the origins of invitations in the form of the Victorian Calling Card.  There was strict etiquette attached to the cards and I thought it a good idea to relate this history on the calling card progeny, the exhibition invitation.

The other issue which comes into play is the concept of appropriation.  There are no rules, or any sort of etiquette, regarding this postmodern art form.  Anything goes;  however,  the history of invitation cards and the rules governing their use, is in sharp contrast to my appropriation of them. The book was an accordion bound format which was folded the length of the sheet.  This created a pocket into which the invitations were inserted.

Dairy note: January 2009;  “Victorian behavior, manners and standards  were the topic under discussion during  the appropriation (appropriate) of discarded invitations to the openings of exhibitions by other artists.  The question of appropriation;  the correctness of it, its role and use  in artistic expression in postmodernism is the first narrative of the book contrasted with appropriate manners during the Victorian Era”.