Rollo Wants

By Tyler Starr
Tokyo / Iowa City / New Haven: Wobble Press, 2011.
16 pages; 5.75” x 8.25". Offset printed. Pamphlet. Saddle stitch stapled binding. Signed by the artist.
Tyler Starr: "'Tyler Starr's experience of living in Tokyo colors 'Rollo Wants'. After the Tohoku Earthquake, events in the city revealed areas of opposition between embattled local issues and centralized authority.
"This artist's booklet was developed as part of Starr's installation 'Burning Wants' at the Haas Family Library at Yale based on the library's archives and free associations that came from the process of exploring the library both digitally and in person. The artist's booklet is especially inspired by the Rollo Peters' collection of stage designs on hotel stationery at the Haas Family Library. Key parts of the imagery come from Peters' performance in 'The Age of Innocence' as Newland Archer, a character that yearns to run off to Japan with his illicit love.
"Additional imagery comes from: the Yanaka Five-Storied Pagoda Double-Suicide Arson Case that occurred in the Tokyo neighborhood where Starr lived, the red-light districts outside of U.S. military bases in Japan, and Yale's Paul Rudolph Hall where a mysterious fire occurred in 1969 during protests for social justice.
"'Rollo Wants' reflects the train of associations and rapid discoveries made possible by digital dissemination of library materials. The booklet is a collaboration with the quirks of search engine results, the librarians' choices of uploaded images, and the artist's agendas."