Art Inspired by Childhood Favorites

I grew up in a home surrounded by books and spent countless hours in libraries.  One of many childhood favorites was Dan Greenburg’s Porno-Graphics (1969).  It’s a tongue-in-cheek art book where the nudes have been covered up.  Readers can remove the layers of acetate with painted on clothing or manipulate the pop-up pages to reveal the original, well-known works of art.  As a little kid who was taken to art museums, this was hilarious.  Many of the books I grew up with have ended up on my shelves in San Francisco decades later.  Alas, our family’s copy of Porno-Graphics was lost (I believe it was a casualty of a burst pipe incident that flooded a bookshelf). Recently a friend generously gave me his copy – I have my replacement heirloom.

Revisiting the book sheds new light on the Geo Graphic Mail Art Series I started in 2012.  My desire to “censor” art with maps is starting to make a little more sense.