Burning: il cuore aperto

Peter Sramek
Burning: il cuore aperto
Double-sided concertina book in a St-Armand paper wrapper with blind tooled and incised decoration; text and images digitally printed using Epson pigment inks; text, photography, and binding are by the artist.
9 x 6 x 0.75 cm

Text in book:

Burning: il cuore aperto

le Désir
Burning
il cuore aperto

I sit,
The morning sun stretching
Over the treetops
le soleil
mi coraz
ón
My heart open
Full with desire
qui br
ûle
Only an ache,
a burning
To break
il desiderio
Until you
with your darkness
Descend
Si o no.
And Then?
I cannot fathom
My hope
Only my desire

mi pasi
ón
And the fire in my breast
Burns so
That I cannot remain
Impenetrable.
el deseo
What is this desire?
Pure illusion?
est-ce pour toi?
It ebbs and floods like the sea,
A burning.
I can
t deny it.
I look away
and there it is again.
Come il mare


And is it for you? Or her?
Or yet again her?
Evito mirar
C
est vraiment mon obsession
One face crowds my vision
La tua faccia
But is that not mere
Obsession?

Tu ser brilla
en tus ojos obscuros
Your being shines
In your dark eyes,
Les mouvements de ta t
ête
The movements of your head,
le tue ditta
Your fingers
Cause me to tremble.
me h
ácen temblar
Sus trenzas negras
Hair
The colour of coal,
Held in long hands
Les cheveux longs
Abbassi la voce
Strands folded and formed
El pelo torci
ó en sus manos
Floto
I float somewhere
Flottant entre le ciel et le vide
entre el cielo y el desolation
Between heaven
and desolation
In mezzo.

Text by Peter Sramek

Artist's Statement: il cuore aperto is a multilingual adaptation of an earlier work by the artist and utilizes the four languages as interwoven threads to express the multi-layered nature of desire.

Peter Sramek has taught photography at the Ontario College of Art & Design since 1976, including two book-related courses within the programme. He has also held a variety of administrative positions including Associate Dean and Coordinator of the OCAD Programme in Florence.
Sramek's work covers a wide range of media and his interest in sequenced imagery led to his involvement with handbinding and he has been making limited and varied-edition books for over 25 years. The use of digital image technologies has been central to his bookworks since the early 1980s when he began to digitize his photographic images and lay out text on computers. Recent exhibitions include Bibliotheca at the Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto, in which his bookworks were featured, and Ether Navigation, a video installation which was exhibited as part of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's New Creations Festival 2005. His bookworks have been shown in group exhibitions in Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United States and are included in various collections, notably the National Library of Canada and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He maintains The Book°Sequence Gallery, a virtual space at www.sramek.ca, where his work may seen online.



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