Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover (Another Country), 2010
Dan Colen
The title can refer to how our reading of the picture changes once we learn that it is made with chewing gum. But the title is also a literary reference. The author James Baldwin wrote a book called Another Country, published in 1962. This has become a classic in American literary history. It describes the bohemian life style of artists, authors and musicians in Greenwich Village during the 1950s. The various references, whether taken from visual art, literature or youth culture, can be seen as paying homage to the American cultural heritage which Colen perpetuates in his visually striking works.
