The Assignment

Fred Hagstrom
St. Paul, MN
Strong Silent Type Press

Title: Can't Win

Number of Copies in Edition: 19
Size: 15x20x1 inches closed. 30x20x1inches open.
Number of Pages: 24

Medium: Woodcut with silkscreen text. Double pamphlet binding in hard case.

Price: $700

To purchase, please contact Laura at 23 Sandy Gallery.

The Assignment

Part 1-- Go through the poems of Charles Bukowski and try to find one of his poems that is about a kind of overall human issue, rather than the drinking and sex that colors many of his poems.  (not that drinking and sex are not human, it is just that these topics in his poems seem less interesting to me).  Secure the permission to use this text.

Part 2-- Try to develop a group of portraits that fit with the text, printing them with a level of quality and visual depth.

Part 3-  Try to improve my binding craft (not a strong point for me) and to design a cover that works as a proper "entrance" for the ideas of the poem.

Artist Statement

This is based on  a text by Charles Bukowski. The woodcut portraits are intended to have a kind of an impersonal quality, fitting the text.