Artists books are works of art realised as books usually created in small editions or even one-of-a-kinds called uniques. It is seen as a late 20th Century movement but the origins date back to William Blake, who produced his own books along with his wife. After world war 2 artists books were seen as a way of communicating between countries to continue art.
In probably the most famous artist’s book, Ed Ruscha’s 26 Gasoline Stations, the artist travelled along a highway in America and took pictures of all the gas stations he passed. The book was sold in the gas stations as supposed to in art galleries or traditional art “shops.” This disestablished the artist from the artworld, and its something I would very much like to imitate in my work. I will therefore only hand my book through sources on the hill or the hermitage beside the hill.
I have chosen to create my artist’s book in leaflet format to mirror the way the hill is represented to the public and to blend in with the other leaflets it would be presented beside.
Other famous books include:
Sol Lewitt’s “Shadows on a Brick Wall” which documents the shadows on a brick wall over a period.
Kozlowski’s “Reality” which looks at one of Kant’s theories but deconstructs it so that the words are gone and only the punctuation remains.
Another idea which intrigued me was the pioneering ideas of Laurie Anderson who chooses to document her artist’s books in the form of CD-Rom or DVD-Rom. This is a very up-to-date idea which works in ways that video can be shown. Internet blogging sites would work as well for this and I should consider this as well.
Here is a draft for the leaflet:
So yeah, there’s another bit.
