Stunning recreation of Gary Goldstein sketchbook tells the story of his parents' wartime experiences

Meticulously scanned, designed and reproduced by Tal Solomon Vardy, the founder and CEO of Uncoated Magazine, Bunker is a colourful and chaotic recreation of work that Gary originally made during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the pages of Bunker, readers are presented with a heady mix of Pop art, almost comic-book-style imagery of boxers, children and flaming skulls. Unified with an original poem by Goldstein, it makes for a moving and powerful document of his parent's experiences of war and how it has continued to affect him in the years since.

"At 18, I left home," says Gary. "My desire. I intended to flee and save myself from my parents. I grew up in a home with two people filled with trauma and horrible memories.

"At 73, thousands of miles and continents from my childhood home, I find myself locked in a small room. A bunker with my parents. My father spoke very little, actually, not at all about his experiences in the war. Yet, in any interaction, in any question, I could see the looks of horror on his face, in his eyes.

"This sketchbook, the images, and the prose poem deal with the feelings and memories of those feelings. From then and now."

Red hardcover book titled Bunker by Gary Goldstein displayed at an angle, with an open copy below showing colorful artwork featuring a stylised face with yellow and red features on a blue and black background

Hands holding open the red and black cover of Bunker book, showing white text and abstract imagery against a bright blue background

Open sketchbook pages with black and white ink drawings including diagonal line patterns, a skull with crossed bones, and a white teardrop shape against a blue background

Open sketchbook showing abstract black and white geometric pattern on left page and orange and red illustration of a boxer on right page

Speaking to Creative Boom, Gary says Bunker came about thanks to the lockdown restrictions because he suddenly found life very circumscribed, limited, and filled with great uncertainty. "It was a journal. A sketchbook," he explains with his characteristically clipped prose.

"Like all of my works, I grew up in the United States with two parents who were Jews in Poland during the Second World War. They were incarcerated in ghettos, concentration camps and slave labour camps for six years during the war.

"They were people who were traumatised. The experience of living with them daily, with their nightly screams. During their dreams. Their sleep. The outbursts. The constant terror in their reactions. Their expressions. The experience of growing up in that house. With them. Fuelled and motivated the book Bunker."

An open red-bound book showing an abstract diagonal striped pattern on the left page and two illustrated children in colourful clothing holding hands on the right page

Open pages of Gary Goldstein's Bunker sketchbook showing dense text patterns and a stylised skull with flaming yellow eyes on a bold red and orange background

Hands holding open Bunker book showing red and black geometric patterns with white rectangular shapes and brick motif on inside pages against blue background

Hands holding open Gary Goldstein's Bunker sketchbook displaying bold red and black expressive artwork with textured patterns, eyes and abstract figurative forms against a blue background

The original sketchbook that would eventually become Bunker was a conventional leather-bound affair. Still, for the reproduction designer, Tal opted for a powerful red hardback cover adorned with an illustration on the reverse. As well as creating the book's overall look, it was also her task to scan and reproduce the imagery.

"It took several hours to scan the book in high resolution in the Tel Aviv Museum library, and I had to match the colours of the print with the colours in the book to reveal the texture of the markers, pens, and office stickers used on the pages," she explains.

"Moreover, the bleeds had to be made out of nothing but another 3 mm on all sides of the book, so in essence, I became a 'digital art restorer'. I was inspired by Tom Hingston's recreation of [Nick Cave's sketchbook]."

Open pages of Gary Goldstein's Bunker sketchbook showing geometric shapes in cream on red left page and a black mask face with orange flame motif on right page

Hands holding open the Bunker book showing left page with black and white geometric line patterns and right page with red background featuring a stylised eye with teardrop

Red cover of Bunker sketchbook held open to reveal colourful pop art imagery including a flaming skull with yellow and red flames on black background

An open sketchbook with a red spine showing geometric line patterns on the left page and a striking red face with a large eye on the right page

Speaking of Nick Cave, an AI recording of the renowned musician reading the prose poem accompanies the book. It's a moving addition to the already impactful title and further helps to communicate the story of Gary's parents and the level of care that has gone into Bunker.

"All the images in the book were scanned from a single sketchbook made by Gary Goldstein, and their order remained the same," adds Tal.

"Including the small original size of the book, it is a one-to-one reconstruction of the existing sketchbook. Since there are no machines here to sew and bind books of this size, all 300 copies were made by hand at the Codaf printing house in Tel Aviv."