home    gallery    artists in residence    catalogues  


Book arts: artist's books


Walter Battiss  Gail Behrmann  Christine Dixie  Stephan Erasmus  Alice Goldin  Eugene Hön  Mark Kannemeyer/Lorcan White  Judith Mason  Fiona Pole  Jonah Sack  Steven Sack  Ruth Sacks  and others

25 October – 15 November 2014
Please join us for the opening on Saturday 25 October at 14:00

The artist’s book has always occupied an invidious position in the pecking order of the arts, because of its interdisciplinary nature, straddling both art and literature. Although a legitimate art form with a long and interesting history, some people still question its autonomy as primary means of artistic expression. The origins of the artist’s book as it is known today can convincingly be traced back to the illuminated manuscript in the Middle Ages. Since then it has evolved from a form of illumination, to illustration (especially in the 19th century); from illustration to experimentation (especially in the 20th century); and from experimentation to installation, as is evident from many contemporary book art exhibitions. Some theorists consider the artist’s book as the form of modernist artistic expression, pointing out that every major movement in art and literature, and within all the many avant-garde, experimental movements and independent groups whose contributions have defined the shape of modernist artistic activity, has yielded phenomenal artists’ books. These include such artists as Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Joan Miro, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, and many more. They laid the foundation of the conceptual and thematic richness that is nowadays associated with artists’ books.

An artist’s book (or often also referred to as livre d’artiste) is defined as a book, or book-like object in which an artist has had a major input beyond illustration or authorship, where the final appearance of the book owes much to an artist’s interference and/or participation, where the book is the manifestation of the artist’s creativity, where the book is an original work of art in itself. The term livre d’artiste, however, is often used to refer to large-sized format, elaborately produced and hand-coloured books, made from rare materials, with virtuoso printing and fine binding, targeting a sophisticated, elite market.

An exhibition of artists’ books at GALLERY AOP questions these notions and definitions of this unusual form of art: What is an original? Does it have to be unique or can the artist also edition the book so that it is essentially a /multiple? Who is the maker of an artist’s book: the artist who has the idea, or those who produce the book? What kind of production means can be included in this definition? Is an artist’s book restricted to the codex form (the bound shape, in other words)? What about scrolls? Tablets? Reeds?

The clutch of books at GALLERY AOP engages with these questions in an interesting way. Some of the artists’ books, for example those by Judith Mason and Alice Goldin, use unique illustrations to accompany written texts. Others, by such artists as Ruth Sacks, alter the words of a well-known text into visual, not only verbal, representations. Yet other books, like those by Gail Behrmann, Christine Dixie, Mark Kannemeyer / Lorcan White and Jonah Sack are primarily visual, with no verbal reference whatsoever. Walter Battiss made book sculptural objects from ordinary books. So does Stephan Erasmus, a contemporary book artist. Steven Sack, in turn, takes the notion of the artist’s book to a new level with his bamboo diaries; the various segments of long pieces of reeds form the basis of a weekly or monthly diary entry consisting of written and painted elements, as well as of found objects. These reeds, horizontally displayed, or ‘installed’, form the chapters of an autobiography. Eugene Hön contributes an interactive artist’s book. Small wonder some critics refer to artists’ books as a form of “intermedia”!


Page 1   1 |  2 |  3 |  4 | 
Click the image for a view of: Skoelapperheuwel Skoelappervrou: A poem by Wilma Stockenstrom with illustrations by Judith Mason  1988/bound and reworked 2010
Skoelapperheuwel Skoelappervrou: A poem by Wilma Stockenstrom with illustrations by Judith Mason 1988/bound and reworked 2010
Click the image for a view of: Skoelapperheuwel Skoelappervrou: A poem by Wilma Stockenstrom with illustrations by Judith Mason  1988/bound and reworked 2010
Skoelapperheuwel Skoelappervrou: A poem by Wilma Stockenstrom with illustrations by Judith Mason 1988/bound and reworked 2010
Click the image for a view of: Fiona Pole. Alphabet book S. Linocut
Fiona Pole. Alphabet book S. Linocut
Click the image for a view of: Fiona Pole. Alphabet books installation view
Fiona Pole. Alphabet books installation view
Click the image for a view of: Steven Sack. DAYS. Mixed media on bamboo and reed
Steven Sack. DAYS. Mixed media on bamboo and reed
Click the image for a view of: Steven Sack. DAYS detail
Steven Sack. DAYS detail
Click the image for a view of: Steven Sack. DAYS detail
Steven Sack. DAYS detail
Click the image for a view of: Walter Battiss. Book sculptural object (installation view). Found book, oil paint, string
Walter Battiss. Book sculptural object (installation view). Found book, oil paint, string
Click the image for a view of: Judith Mason. A Dante Bestiary. A guide in offset lithographs and an essay by Judith Mason. 1989. Published by Ombondi Editions, New York. Edition 100
Judith Mason. A Dante Bestiary. A guide in offset lithographs and an essay by Judith Mason. 1989. Published by Ombondi Editions, New York. Edition 100
Click the image for a view of: Judith Mason. A Dante Bestiary. A guide in offset lithography and an essay by Judith Mason. 1989. Published by Ombondi Editions, New York. Edition 100
Judith Mason. A Dante Bestiary. A guide in offset lithography and an essay by Judith Mason. 1989. Published by Ombondi Editions, New York. Edition 100
Posted: 2014/10/23 (10:06:37)


Copyright © 2007-2019 GALLERY AOP