Venice Studio View 

Alice Austin 

2012 CE, Venice, Italy and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA 

Tunnel book, etching, hand-painted paper 

N7433.4.A87 V46 2012 artists book 

The tunnel book is a historic book structure that became popular during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries because of the trick that the book plays on our eyes. The artist can create the illusion of deep space by layering pieces of paper and suspending them within a binding structure that expands and contracts, much like an accordion. Contemporary Philadelphia-based artist Alice Austin plays with that book structure while depicting the view from her workspace in Venice, Italy. By cutting away pieces of the same print, Austin creates a convincing sense of foreground, middle-ground, and background. 

Emma P. Holter