Julie Chen (born 1963) is an is an internationally known book artist who has been publishing limited edition artists' books under the Flying Fish Press imprint for 30 years. Her books combine text and image with innovative book structures to create reading experiences that engage the reader in interactions that go beyond the simple turning of a page. Her work can be found in numerous collections worldwide including the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland, NZ.[1] In 2009 she was a featured artist in the PBS television series Craft in America.
Chen has achieved prominence by creating conceptually sophisticated works that combine traditional techniques, such as letterpress printing and hand bookbinding, with more modern technologies such as photopolymer plates and laser cutting.[5] She is known for pushing the structural boundaries of the artist's book with a range of architectural and sculptural approaches.[3] At the same time, her work is praised for its high standard of production and emphasis on the artist's book as a tactile experience.[6][7][8] Victoria Steele, the former Brooke Russell Astor Director of Collection Strategy for New York Public Library, remarked that the "physical form" of Chen's work "reinforces the concept and text." Chen investigates the "complex experience" of book arts through her work as an artist and educator.[9]
During her time as a student at Mills College, Chen founded Flying Fish Press, publishing limited-edition artists' books. Chen typically works independently but has also produced books collaboratively with fiber artistNance O'Banion and book artists Barbara Tetenbaum and Clifton Meador.[9]
Chen's 1992 book, Octopus, features a tunnel-like, pop-up element known in the book trade as a "peep show" and includes text written by poet Elizabeth McDevitt.[10] It offers a three-dimensional underwater scene with the tentacles of an octopus extending behind the words, creating a physical analogue of the poem, which speaks of concealment, disguise, and distance.[11]
In 1994, Chen collaborated with fellow book artist, Ed Hutchins, on River of Stars, a small book, only three by three inches that was released in an edition of 100.[12]
Bon Bon Mots (1998), a meditation on the fleeting sweetness of life, takes the form of a box of chocolates, each of which, on being unwrapped, reveals itself as a tiny book. Each of the five 'chocolate box' books is folded differently and illustrate the range of approaches Chen brings to each project. "Social Graces" is a lotus-fold type, "Life Cycle" is a tetra-tetra flexagon, "Elegy" is a concertina with leaf-shaped pages in a clay cover, "Labyrinth" is ball-in-a-maze type of puzzle in a paper slipcase, and "Either/Or" is a "magic wallet".[13][14] Chen has also worked with the volvelle or wheel chart, which is a set of stacked paper disks of varying sizes, sometimes with windows.[15]
Chen's books reflect her current interests, current events, and her own personal experiences. In 2002, she released The Veil, a work created in the time leading up to the Iraq War; Chen explains that the book "presents personal reflections inspired by the current political situation in the Middle East and the world" and is in a carousel format.[16]
Julie Chen began Flying Fish Press in 1987 as a graduate student in Book Art at Mills College in Oakland, California.[17] Though mostly a personal press for books by Julie Chen, she has also collaborated on artist’s book projects with other artists including Lois Morrison, Barbara Tetenbaum and Clifton Meador.
2005, The Artist Turns to the Book, Getty Center, Los Angeles
2006, The Book as Art: Twenty Years of Artists’ Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
^Amos, Tom, and Samanta Cairo. "Special Selections: The J. Whirler and Jean Tyler Pop-Up Books Collections". Friends of the University Libraries, Western Michigan University, 2002, p. 2.
^Strizever, Michelle. "The Unique Apparition of a Distance: Aura in Julie Chen and Elizabeth McDevitt's Octopus." Openings: Studies in Book Art 1:1, 2012.
^Seigel, Caroline L.; Chen, Julie (2002). "A Conversation with Book Artist Julie Chen at Her Studio, Berkeley, California, January 11, 2000". Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America. 21 (1): 30–35. doi:10.1086/adx.21.1.27949177. ISSN0730-7187. S2CID194486410.
