Cock: Indian Firework Art

""In India images are loaded, they explode with meaning... they have great potential,"" writes Peter Nagy, former director of New York's Nature Morte gallery, in his introduction to Cock: Indian Firework Art. Firework packaging labels sporting bright, multicolored images of Krishna, Vishnu, Ganesh and other Hindu deities emblazon this concertina picture book for adults. In India, fireworks play a role in the Festival of Lights, a religious holiday illuminated by thousands of candles and fireworks, which has developed also into ""frenzied nights of partying and gambling,"" a suitable starting point for this eye-catching pop-cultural treatment assembled by packaging expert Luigi Giannuzzi and Gavin Aldred and printed on glossy, thick card stock of a commercialized religious aesthetic. The title word refers to a popular brand of Indian fireworks. (May)