Linguini Franca
Altered Artist's Book
8" x 6" x 6", 2003

Hunger For Knowledge: Linguini Franca was included in the show titled Words On Fire: People of the Book at the Perkins Gallery in Stoughton, MA, March, 2003

Three classic philosophical books are glued together, with Aristotle's On Man In The Universe on top. Upon opening the top cover page and the title page the altered book is revealed. A two inch diameter hole was drilled through all three books and filled with "Linguini" cut Hebrew text. On either side of the hole, are a miniature silver fork and spoon glued to the page.

The hunger for knowledge especially the hunger for understanding why we are and who we are was the inspiration for this altered book. As I thought about ways to communicate this idea visually, the phrase "Lingua Franca" came to mind. Lingua Franca as defined by Websters dictionary is "any hybrid language used for communication between different peoples." Hunger, eat my words, and then my thoughts turned to pasta and Lingua became Linguini. How much easier it would be to learn if we could ingest all the knowledge that has passed been passed down through the centuries every time we sat down for a meal. Feast on Socratic methodology, nibble at Plato's Republic, gorge on Homer.Excluding Proust and Wittgenstein, we would be a leaner, smarter culture. As for spiritual development, let us devour the sacred texts of the Talmud and the Sanscrit teachings of the great Himalayan masters, the illuminated words of the Quoran and to cleanse the palette a few bites of Lao Tsu. For dessert, Shakespeare's sonnets flamed over Rilke's poems. After all, you are what you eat."

*Click on image to enlarge.

No Reproductions without written permission from the Artist.