149 Business Cards has great meaning to me as it attempts to do several things at once. First, it functions as a kind of self-portrait or autobiography through the people I’ve met and places I have visited.
Though, it must be noted only a certain type of people and merchants create & carry buisness cards. I have met or visited almost everyone or buisnesses in this book except maybe one or two. So in this way it is a kind of time line or map to my past. It is very honest. In a more obvious way it serves as an address book. If I need someones adress I can just pick up the book. In this case each card triggers specific memory more so than a normal address book written in ones own handwriting. Some of these people and buisness have moved on, noteably Loeffler Intercoms (card on page 19). Its a place I visited over a decade ago and with a full dose of forshadowing is now the famous Printed Matter, book shop which distributes this very book (!) as well as other onestar press publications.
Lastly as a piece of conceptual art it works just fine though not quite as perfect as the book which inspired it: namely Ed Ruscha’s book entitled Business Cards.
J.T