Art Jazz Books ~ California
(cj grossman)

International Women's Days:
We Want Our Bread and Roses Too!
By cj grossman
Berkeley, California: Art Jazz, (2004). Open Edition.

5.5 x 7.5"; 4 pages. Flexagon book with instructions for revealing the hidden pages..

A brief history of the women's movement from the first recorded organized protest of women on March 8, 1857, to the Pro-Choice March in 2004.

Grossman created this flexagon "in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Maestrapeace mural at the San Francisco Women's Building and the 17th Anniversary of The Global Fund for Women."

Color photos in the interior pages of the flexagon are by Leanne Grossman of the Pro-Choice March in Washington D.C on April 25, 2004.
$35

Too Personal
By cj grossman
Berkeley, California: [Art Jazz Books], c 2004. One-of-a-Kind.

11 x 4.25" closed; 10 paged accordion. Each page has a smaller (3.5 x 2") book tipped on and cutout windows in which hang images of clothing (for example, boxing gloves and an athletic supporter for Lew). Red paper-covered boards with front board cut out to provide a frame for a Michelangelo's David-shaped figure composed of men's faces.

cj grossman explores the practice of meeting people through personal ads. Larry made arrangements then didn't show up. Peter dressed down for a cup of coffee date – orange cutoffs and red socks. Mikey wanted to play hide-and-seek at the mall. Lew showed up 30 minutes late because he stayed to watch the remainder of a boxing match. Allen told the same stories on the second date that he did on the first.

The book ends with this question: "Is it better to place an ad or respond to an ad? Would it be better to cold call the phone book?"
$500

Cooked Pig
By cj grossman
Berkeley, California: [Art Jazz Books], c 2002. Edition of 5.

5.8 x 4.25"; 18 pages. Laminated pages of collaged images. Narrative and commentary text colored copied. Pages top punched (with clover-shaped holes) and joined with manufactured bal -chain key-chains. Pages hang from a toy rolling pin which has been drilled with two holes for the key-chain to run through. Front page and one other page edge have scalloped edges cut with decorative scissors.

The story of a battered wife who triumphs over her batterer.

cj grossman: "My stories often deal with issues of gender and sometimes abuse. In my book, Cooked Pig, the reader is drawn into the story of the woman who tries to be the perfect wife and mother and is beaten anyway. Set to the background of a cookbook, we see that it is imperative that she triumph in order to survive."
$80