Gregory Colbert, Ashes and Snow, 2005 with Soundtrack and exhibit catalog, FINE

 Colbert, Gregory, Flying Elephants Press, 2005. Fine, 8vo, 7" x 10 1/2", unpaginated

 Brown handmade Nepalese paper wrappers sealed with beeswax, closed flap, and tea-stained string binding. Orange bead on string closure. Original black-and-white, sepia-toned photographic illustration tipped in on front. No lettering to covers or spine. Covers have minimal wear, else pristine and intact, binding tight. Almost exclusively printed photographs with no captions. Brief text in front and back. Unpaginated, 130 pp., including illustrations. A compilation of sepia-toned printed photographs that depict harmony between people, animals, and the natural world. Published on the occasion of the Ashes and Snow exhibition at the Santa Monica Pier in California from January 14-May 14, 2006. Included is an oblong Fine staplebound catalog from the same leg of the exhibition with photographs and bios on Colbert and architect Shigeru Ban. Also included is a CD of the accompanying music in raw waxed paper folder with beaded tie closure with mini-accordion book of photos from the exhibit. Laid in loose is an admission ticket from the Santa Monica pier. 

Ashes and Snow is a traveling exhibition that features the artwork of Gregory Colbert (b. 1960), a Canadian photographer and filmmaker. Ashes and Snow is a sweeping project that encompasses over fifty mixed-media photographic artworks, three art films, and letter fragments from a fictional man who writes to his wife over the course of a year. Colbert's exhibition has traveled internationally, housed and presented in a unique temporary structure called the Nomadic Museum. Colbert intends his show to continue in perpetuity with each destination simply being a "port of call." To date, Ashes and Snow has seen over ten million visitors, making it the most visited exhibition by a living artist in history. An extraordinary collection of images in near flawless condition.