that could easily be the definition of all fine art. it’s how zak smith introduces his extremely impressive gravity’s rainbow illustration project in which he created an illustration for every single page of pynchon’s door stopper. that amounts to a staggering 760 illustrations, all of which were evidently included in the whitney’s 2004 biennial, though this is the first i’ve heard of it (via growabrain). i love this project. i imagine it’s the sort of endeavor any artist would nod knowingly about (if not cringe at, with a heartfelt: “damn, wish i’d thought of that!”) it’s a great project from the artists perspective because it is foolproof in 3 ways. 1) the framework is concrete enough to keep you moving along without need of much angst (i mean there is a literal script to draw from) but that framework is also elastic enough to encompass all manner of noodling. 2) the act of completing a project of this scope can impress regardless of the quality of each individual piece. 3) the choice of “gravity’s rainbow” offers ample gristle for the intellectual art set to sink their bloodless dentu-grip affixed teeth into for days. in point of fact any even somewhat interesting collection of words would serve just as well from the artistic standpoint, but the choice of a dense conceptual darling adds some extra fat to the bone. just see the piece by Creon Upton linked at zak’s page for proof of concept. anyhow add to all that the fact that the illustrations are really very good, and you’ve got a winner me thinks.