Hi Five! is an artist book documenting Béatrice Coron’s site-specific installation for the New-York Historical Society’s exhibition In Profile: A Look at Silhouettes. Ms. Coron’s hand-cut panoramic silhouettes of the five boroughs of New York City are faithfully crafted in miniature in these numbered books from an edition of only 100 handmade by the artist. Each book includes a negative of the original papercut. In this piece, the artist used one of her favorite media that departs from the traditional media of silhouette: Tyvek.
After briefly studying art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Lyon, and Mandarin Chinese at the Université of Lyon III, Coron experienced life with a series of odd jobs. She has been a shepherdess, truck driver, factory worker, cleaning lady and 15 years as a New York City tour guide. Coron has lived in her native France, Egypt, Mexico, and China before she moved to New York in 1985 where she reinvented herself as an artist (all while giving tours).
Coron's oeuvre includes illustration, book arts, fine art and public art. She cuts her characteristic silhouette designs in paper and Tyvek. She also creates works in stone, glass, metal, rubber, stained glass and digital media.
What is a artist book? Unlike an art book, catalog or monograph that tends to showcase artworks created in another medium, the term ‘artists’ books’ refers to publications that have been conceived as artworks in their own right Much like any act of reading, an artists’ book is a physical experience that allows a connection with the medium that is individual and personal. The interplay of text and images, as well as considerations of printing processes, oftimes hand manufacture, and the design of the book, allows for many exciting possibilities within narrative, media, and meaning that are specific to the artists’ book alone.
