Created specifically for The Print Center, disorder, by Philadelphia artist Susan White, includes collaged print works as well as altered books.  White’s installation is an extended meditation on what makes up a book.  In her work the book is deconstructed into its individual parts-words, pages, covers, as well as being subverted for other uses.  In earlier works, books became beehives and vessels for honey.  Throughout, the book is seen as something that can be changed; content and components become fluid. In disorder, the parts of a book are exploded to a huge scale.  The patterns of marbleized paper used for book covers take over the walls of the gallery, resembling microscopic view of cancerous cells.  Words lifted from the books take on a life of their own, as they form clusters and new sentences.  Books are also attached directly to the wall, their covers and pages burrowed through as if by insects, revealing words and phrases within.  Instead of being static tomes of facts and knowledge, in White’s hands books become opportunities for improvisation and poetry.

John Caperton, curator

The Print Center