The bank book is similar in concept to The passport

and The labour book, published two years earlier. As

with these books, this book is an enlargement of an

official document in a 30 copy edition. The artist’s text

is printed in Russian and English on top of the official

pages using silkscreen. These pages have official

stamps and the author’s commentaries in pen and ink

have been added. There are no illustrations. By adding

his own text to these accurately reproduced official

features, the artist turns the document into a platform

of lyrical statements, thus defeating Soviet totalitarian

officialdom.