Fritz Best
Trans, 1998
Berlin: John Gerard
One of twenty copies. Signed by Best.
1420
Quarto. (14)pp, accordion fold. Seven tableaux by Best explore the etymological force of 'trans,' and what it can mean to 'cross.' The project is one of awareness and naturalization. The...
Quarto. (14)pp, accordion fold. Seven tableaux by Best explore the etymological force of "trans," and what it can mean to "cross." The project is one of awareness and naturalization. The third spread shows a trans person, and Best makes the deliberate choice to include her in a contextualized, and, dare we say, normal, artistic environment, across from nicely plated dinner entrees and just after an image of a journey to Italy. Best also makes his point materially, layering together a range of media and techniques into an single, embodied form; included are pulp painting, offset and stone lithography, and etching in relief and not. Notably, the pulp painting oscillates between light pink and light blue - the trans flag would make its debut a year later, but the common, unconscious sensibility suggests exactly the sort of natural instinct Best seeks to convey. In each sheet is a watermarked word bearing the titular prefix: Transport, Transit, Transvest, Transmit, Translate, Transform, Transition. Also on each sheet are cliches from advertising, which the publisher, Gerard, explains as commentary "about our desires and the misinterpretations of the transferal of ideas." Bound in full black cloth over boards with rectangle cut-out in front board, throughout the pulped title shows. Fine.