Beyond the 6th Extinction: A Fifth Millennium Bestiary

[Chicago]: Paperboy Press, 2007. Artist's book, one of 15 copies only, all on handmade cotton / abaca paper, book board, and Arches watercolor board and linen thread, each numbered and signed in pencil by the artist, Shawn Sheehy, on the colophon. Page size: 6-7/8 x 10 inches; 22pp; one of which is colophon and one front pastedown. Bound by the artist: this copy tan paper over boards, tan re-purposed leather spine (variations in leather from copy to copy) with green paper strip marking join (variations in paper from copy to copy); pages hinged with tabs, endpages glued to boards to accommodate extremely thick pages with the popups. There are 8 remarkable pop-ups of mythical creatures in their mythical habitat; the names of the creatures are lettered in cut-out along the last quarter of each recto. The creatures in this fantasy bestiary (although based on actual organisms that are known survivors) are: Rex Roach, Clam Fungus, Dreadhead, Peteybug, Brownfield Pigeon, Bloomworm, Snapdragon, and Rotrap.
The artist tells us that in Richard Leakey's book, THE SIXTH EXTINCTION, the five major catastrophes in Earth's history are delineated. Leakey theorizes that the sixth major extinction has begun, and it is human authored. Mr. Sheehy has used this as the starting point of BEYOND THE 6TH EXTINCTION, postulating a look at existing creatures in the year 4297 - which are phenomenally large and reproduced here in smaller size - using the ubiquitous polymer-based digital storage unit (CD) on each page to establish size. The text is set digitally in Joanna and printed from polymer plates. The papers used to construct these creatures are in tans, grays, whites, and subdued blues and greens. They are spiky, scaly, and creepy. They are certainly ingenious representations of the sort of creature that might actually survive the chaos created by humankind. This is a book of fabulous creatures - ingeniously constructed - to give the reader / viewer cause to worry about the future of planet Earth and its inhabitants.