Vermont
Campion Tillbrook
Altered Book:
De Profundis, Oscar Wilde (1905)
Collage with found photos, documents, and engravings.
Artist Statement
I have always liked Oscar Wilde, maybe even have liked his quotes more than his work. He certainly has left a long-standing imprint on art culture. At one point, I did read all of the works of Oscar Wilde, including the plays. About twenty years ago, De Profundis fell into my hands at a small bookshop on the green in Chester, along with E. M Forster's Maurice. I found De Profundis to be very moving (and I had at some point seen the movie Wilde with Stephen Fry and Jude Law, which dealt with their relationship). Writing De Profundis was both a heroic act and one that most likely kept Wilde alive while in Reading Gaol, after the defamation trial against his lover's father. It should be noted that the lover abandoned Wilde when shit got real (he had also pushed Wilde to sue his father). De Profundis is a letter to Bosie (the former lover) and it lays open all the issues. Art, as usual, wins out and remains long after the rest has been forgotten.
Short Bio
Campion Tillbrook is a collage artist who utilizes old ephemera as his primary creative force. He has been doing this for the past twenty-five plus years, telling stories through the usage of words and images. He never knows exactly where the story is going, from when he begins until it ends: it's an unfolding.