heart sutra, remix book
heart sutra, remix

By Josh Hockensmith
Pittsboro, North Carolina: Blue Bluer Books, 2015. Edition of 100.

3 x 4"; 16 pages. Accordion fold. Printed with an Epson SureColor P600 on Hiromi kozo paper treated for archival inkjet printing. Embellished with burns. Laid in reused clear plastic cassette case.

Josh Hockensmith: "heart sutra, remix is a handmade, accordion-fold artist's book inspired by one of the central texts of Mahayana Buddhism. It features digital collage and a poem presented in brush calligraphy. Each copy is inkjet printed, finished with unique burns through the pages, allowing it to fit snugly into a reused cassette case.

"I composed the text for heart sutra, remix almost 20 years ago as an oral poem when I was first learning about the Heart Sutra. For this book version, I performed the calligraphy for each page spread ten times. After finishing the calligraphy, I scanned my favorite version of each page spread and used it as the basis for digital collage.

"My poem and this book aren't meant to be a commentary or an expansion on the Heart Sutra, but rather an homage, an example of the long history of chanting and copying it in calligraphy as a devotional act."
$45