Artwork 01 / Artist work
Slothful
Slothful
Óscar Molero Sanjuán
Medium
Watercolour picture book
Format
32-page object-book
Slothful is a 32-page picture book conceived as an object-book: a physical narrative in which the form of the book becomes part of the story. Its logarithmic spiral gradually expands from a wrinkled slug in bed into a warm, watercoloured house with rooms, thresholds and shifting points of view.
Slothful is a 32-page picture book conceived as an object-book: a physical narrative in which the form of the book becomes part of the story. Its logarithmic spiral gradually expands from a wrinkled slug in bed into a warm, watercoloured house with rooms, thresholds and shifting points of view.
Three movements
The book asks the reader to move with it.
01 / Proximity
01 / Proximity
The narrative begins close-up: a wrinkled slug lying in bed fills the page. Each turn expands the view, revealing new rooms and gradually exposing the architecture of the shell-house.
The narrative begins close-up: a wrinkled slug lying in bed fills the page. Each turn expands the view, revealing new rooms and gradually exposing the architecture of the shell-house.
02 / Orientation
02 / Orientation
As the character travels around the spiral, gravity turns with him. The reader’s perspective rotates throughout the sequence and the text signals the direction in which each page should be read.
As the character travels around the spiral, gravity turns with him. The reader’s perspective rotates throughout the sequence and the text signals the direction in which each page should be read.
03 / Character & movement
03 / Character & movement
Small necessities lead the snail out of bed: cold sends him to the stove, smoke to the kitchen, and steam toward open doors and windows. The character slowly gains energy until fresh green shoots draw him outside for breakfast.
Small necessities lead the snail out of bed: cold sends him to the stove, smoke to the kitchen, and steam toward open doors and windows. The character slowly gains energy until fresh green shoots draw him outside for breakfast.
Slothful transforms the material structure of the book into a form of participation. The reader does not simply observe the character’s journey: they zoom out, rotate, reorient and reinterpret the work with every turn.
Slothful transforms the material structure of the book into a form of participation. The reader does not simply observe the character’s journey: they zoom out, rotate, reorient and reinterpret the work with every turn.
