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Book Reviews
Elvis-Personal Archives
(Jeff Scott)
Reviewed by Elvis News
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This
book is made by one (graphic) artist about one (musical and movie)
artist. Is one plus one three?
Design
The book is a real glossy book on real glossy items (Elvis'
belongings). A hardcover book with a well designed modern look
showing �old stuff� (pre-1977). The foreword is written by renowned
art historian, E.A. Carmean, Jr. It is a big book , dimensions: 12.3
x 8.9 x 0.7 inches.
Jeff Scott is known for his dramatic imagery of America�s historic
and cultural landscape and his work is in the permanent collections
of the Dallas Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, Disneyland, Ralph
Lauren, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Content
Over the past years EPE cooperated with a number of writers and
artists on book publications. Most of these publications have a few
things in common. Usually the books are big coffee table books (with
Joe Piazza�s �The King� almost being a coffee table on its own) with
very little text and a lot of pictures of personal belongings of
Elvis.
Presenting numerous personal belongings the artist gives us a view
in a more personal side of Elvis. What did he buy, what was his
taste? Most items fit the taste of the King (of �Bling�) and all
items may have a story of their own, partly because they once
belonged to Elvis.
This book partly takes a different direction due to the craftmanship
of Jeff Scott. Being a graphic artist he created visual artworks of
Elvis� belongings. Some of those featured in the book were already
published before by Jeff Scott, but in this book you find them all
and new ones.
Jeff summarizes it perfectly in the introduction:� my goal was to
use the tactile connection of Elvis� personal artefacts and relate
them to our own sense of identity � a subtle way to strip down the
image of celebrity and to humanize Elvis�
In his work �Object of Authority� the pairing of the narcotics badge
Elvis received from President Nixon with one of Elvis guns shows the
paradox of Elvis� rebellion and his obsession with authoritative
symbols. This shows who and what Elvis was behind closed doors. The
result: an interesting view on the entertainer who became larger
than life with a gold bedside telephone to show it.
This book contains many personal items and items with a �touch of
Jeff Scott� making it more interesting than the other books which
mainly show �plain� Elvis artefacts.
Conclusion
A very nice �art� book on the person Elvis Presley.
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