The Zax and The Bookreader

Some time ago I posted about a Mysterious Bookreader I had been noticing in the park, always facing the same direction, reading the same book, day after day. At the time, I thought it might make for an interesting photo journal. I’m beginning to think that it really will.

Progress continues even when Dr. Seuss's Zax creatures refuse to budge.

Right now the image of Dr. Seuss’s The Zax comes to mind, where two creatures refuse to budge and progress takes place around and over them. These days, The Mysterious Bookreader continues his daily ritual even as preparations are made for the annual Holiday Market in the park. He has had to move slightly from his usual post, but he continues close by… still facing the same direction, and in a close vicinity to his original position.

The Mysterious Bookreader moves from his usual post as Holiday Market Booths (as seen in foreground) are beginning to be assembled.

And later, after the booths are assembled…

Once the Holiday Market booths are assembled, the Mysterious Bookreader moves closer to his original position, always facing the same direction.

Even more than Seuss’s The Zax, I am reminded of a fantastic Brodsky and Utkin exhibition I saw many years ago at the Ronald Feldman Gallery. This exhibition was one of the most impressive I have seen in NYC. Anyway, it featured some etchings that included images of a fictitious great city, that was built around the house of a hermit. The result was a development around the hermit’s house that formed an eye (the house being in the pupil) in the center of a towering and bustling city. [My weak description doesn't do the work justice].