Art book and photo books have been occupying my thoughts a
fair bit over the past few weeks. The Guardian this weekend had two
interesting articles and a photo gallery which seems based in large part on some of
material from the Guardian Photobook Masterclass that I attended back in
February. One of the small galleries in Winchester has just staged a small (but
perfectly formed) exhibition of artists’ books, and I’m waiting for a Blurb
book that I created from a
small body of work created this Easter.
For the viewer or reader, there
are few art forms that are as tactile as a book. For many forms of visual art
you are encouraged to stand back, walk around and appreciate, but please do not
touch. Sculptures may be made of durable materials such as rock or metal, but
plinths pedestals and barriers exalt us to keep our hands to ourselves. Paintings,
tapestries, photos are mounted on the wall, often behind glass to keep away
sticky fingers. We understand and accept this because the work is unique,
crafted and often delicate.
Books in contrast are designed to
be touched, held, turned.
A book is
intimate, and a well-crafted book is a pleasure to handle and to own.
Oftentimes, and particularly with photography, it is the book that is the
artwork, the finished article. Frank’s
The
Americans and Klein’s
Life Is Good & Good for You in New York
were first and foremost books and not gallery shows. Indeed,
Christina de Middel
is nominated for this year’s
Deutsche Börse Prize on account of her book
The Afronauts as
was
Rinko Kawauchi in 2012 for
Illuminance. One of the joys of the Afronauts was the feel of the
book. From the stiff, buff cardboard covers, the matte paper, and the
onion-skin diagrams and ‘handwritten’ letters interleaved between the photos,
the book informed through the fingertips as much as by eye.
 |
| The Afronauts by Christina De Middel |
For these reasons it was a
pleasure to take in a small exhibition
Books by Artists at the City Space, a small gallery that is part of Winchester’s
Discovery Centre. This is a wonderful display of just some of the handmade
artists’ books from the Artists’ Books Collection belonging to the University
of Southampton, and housed at the Winchester School of Art. There are
concertina books, hand-sewn books, pop-up construction, books with heavy wooden
covers, photobooks and amazing feats of paper engineering. All of them were
delightful and inspirational. The exhibition of about 50 works was divided up
into several sections – fabric and textiles, text based, 3D and sculptural
approaches, connections with the land or locale and so on. Most of the books
presented were handmade one-offs or from very small runs, showing a very high
level of craft skills. A great deal of imagination had gone into many of the
works shown, by artist who were clearly thing ‘out of the book’. By necessity
all the books were enclosed in glass cabinets. However, for an exhibition
intended to inspire it did seem rather unnecessary though to deny the taking
photographs as an aide memoire.
One of my very favourite services
to come out of the digital age is the advent of the online book publishing
services such as
Blurb. With little effort one can create very attractive very
short run books, something I’ve done
several times myself. The results do vary,
but in general it is a good way to create finish off a photo project. Now,
after seeing the Artists Books exhibition I’m left wondering how I can
create something that it a little more unique, a little more tactile and a
little more special than a Blurb book.
The
Books by Artists show has now closed, but for those that were unable to visit, the WSA Artists’ Book Collection
is supported by some useful
online resources about artists’ books. A nice booklet
describing the WSA Library’s Artists’ Books Collection accompanied the
exhibition, which can be
downloaded as a PDF.
