Friday, November 7 from 8-11pm,

CODEX, a solo show featuring new artist's books by Elizabeth Isakson.

CODEX is a series of work based on the idea of a palimpsest, an ancient manuscript that has been unbound, erased, rewritten and rebound into another book. The artist's books Isakson has made are essentially journals that deal with language as code, texture and design, and use stylized script, Braille, html, translated texts, runes, and other imagined or borrowed texts, like the ancient Chinese women's language of Nushu.

Isakson works with materials that invoke memory, the preciousness of handwritten and finely decorated illuminated manuscripts, the strength and fragility of paper, copper etching plates, and delicate, aged library books. In CODEX, the sculptures, drawings and paintings that Isakson refers to as palimpsests are often written in white, black, and copper ink on Japanese paper, bound in precarious book forms, and dripped with encaustic wax. Isakson also draws on the history of copper in her work, from its importance in alchemy, to its use as a conductor, as currency and as mirrors in antiquity. The CODEX series is filled with other materials, such as glass, leaves, tree bark, LED lights and cast shadows, all meant to imbue the narrative with magic and the elements of earth, air, fire and water.

CODEX begins with an opening reception on November 7th from 8-11pm, and is followed by a gallery party on Saturday, November 8th at 9:30pm, with performances by The Interior Project and Isakson's band, Liz & Abbey. Both nights are free and open to the public, with donations for beverages. CODEX will be in the gallery until November 13th, and can be viewed by appointment only. 4731 Gallery is located at 4731 Grand River Ave., between Warren and Forest, in Detroit, MI.

For more information, please visit myspace.com/elizabethisakson, www.4731.com, or email lizlelia@live.com. For a gallery appointment, please call 734.972.7280.

---

4731 Grand River Ave, Detroit, 48208, 313-894-4731