FLF is a portfolio and book which contains my thesis work in printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design. It is an illustrated creation myth about the artist’s own philosophy towards art making. This book is written from the point of view of a man named Kevinator in the invented language of Rungish. It works as a posthumous account of Kevinator’s final months after a large explosion traps him in his place of employment. He deals with his own issues of fear, originality, and inspiration while battling his new caged environment. Symbolically, it is a parafictional, metaphorical, and exaggerated account of Mark Rice’s two years of graduate school at the Rhode Island School of Design.
“FLF” is a portfolio of thirty-six prints, with three separately printed appendices, with a total print count of eight-eight. Copper and wood engravings that documented previous projects in drawing, sculpture, print, installation and music illuminate the story. Influenced by a study of early book projects like the Nuremberg Chronicle and the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, the size and scope of the project is intentionally vast.
The invented English dialect of Rungish accompanies the illustrations in this text. This dialect of English was created for those with a distrust of language’s inherent ability to disseminate and demystify. This language demands an empathetic collaboration that bears a striking similarity to the relationship sought by this artist in speaking through images.
Pictured below is the portfolio of prints in chronological order and the packaging of the portfolio. This is followed by documentation of the digitally-printed book.
Goatmother Industrial 