The autobiographies of Bucky Fleur is an imaginative, expertly assembled catalogue for an exhibit of drawings by artist Jo Cook. It features three “autobiographies” of the metafictional Bucky Fleur by authors Yasuko Thanh, Tammy Mcgrath and Sally Ireland, interspersed with a selection of works from the visual arts/literature laboratory of Jo Cook. These works feature a panoply of collage and drawing techniques that coheres around Cook’s unique cut and paste aesthetic. On first reading each piece seems to exist on its own. However as the reader begins to notice the overlapping imagery of each piece, the individual pieces begin to function as single frames in a contiguous movie. The nature of this “movie” requires deciphering/ remixing in the readers mind to achieve coherence. It is clear from the technical proficiency of the images that they were all created with a surety of hand, an intentional gestalt. They map a set of relationships observed by the artist. The reward in reading such a text is being able to explore this territory guided by one’s own imagination, interpreting the work to develop stories for the ideas presented. For the adventuresome reader it has much of the same pleasure as staring at clouds shifting in the sunset. (Marc Ngui)
editor: Florentine Perro, Perro Verlag, 36 pages, Silkscreen cover, PO Box 60206, Fraser RPO, Vancouver, BC, V5W 4B5