origin beginning book
origin
beginning

By Seiko Tachibana
Oakland, California: Seiko Tachibana, 2007. Edition of 20.

8 x 16.25 x 1.25"; 16 pages. Accordion structure extending from back pastedown. Seven intaglio prints. Text letterpress printed in Baskerville font on Arches cover paper. Bound in bookcloth with titles in gilt on front cover. Housed in matching black bookcloth covered clamshell box with title on cover. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Seiko Tachibana: "Each of our actions must have a meaning, therefore each of my lines and dots have reasons why they are created just so. All of our instincts are encoded in our DNA at the time we are conceived; our inheritance and our legacy, through the generations, continuing forever. All possibilities for human experience and survival are contained within the memory of our genetic material. I am interested in finding and exploring this memory by searching within myself and letting my discoveries manifest themselves in my work. My marks often employ circles and bars as metaphors for rain and water. Rain is about hope. It gives life to all creatures on Earth. It is an essential element in the cycle of life. The circle represents the natural duality of the infinite whole, and suggests the constant balancing forces of Yin and Yang.

"In living our daily lives, we are confronted with an almost incomprehensible deluge of images, and our understanding of the world around us – our reality – is largely dependent upon which of these images we choose to inform us and which we reject. We are, therefore, simultaneously enlightened and deceived about the true nature of our universe.

"The accumulation of every day life becomes history. History is the trace of time. All of my actions immediately become the past. I draw marks, and the marks become history right after I draw them. The marks are a trace of time: They are evidence of my existence."
$2,000