EXHIBITION “ARTISTS’ BOOKS” -Art Museum Wooster Education

Artists' books have a long history yet are perhaps one of the more difficult of the fine art genres to define. While Marcel Duchamp stated, “ An artist's book is what an artist calls a book,” noted critic and author Lucy Lippard posited that they are “neither an art book (collected reproductions of separate works) nor a book on art. The artist's book is a work of art on its own, conceived specifically for the book form and often published by the artist him/herself.”[1] The genesis of the artist's book can be traced to the British poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake (1757–1827), who developed new printing methods to allow for the integration of image and text.

In general, an artist’s book is conceived as a project in book form and the structure of the book is an integrated aspect of the overall concept. Some of the structural considerations may include, but are not limited to, the binding or lack of binding, the way the pages fold or may be kept loose in a portfolio box or slipcover, the use of a scroll in lieu of pages, a lack of text or a manipulation of text into imagery, or the use of traditional or non-traditional materials and formats.

Combinations of image, text, and the book form by artists, however, are considered to be primarily a 20th-century development. Unlike the late-19th century French gallerists high-end publishing ventures of the livre d'artiste (“artist book”)[2], the contemporary artist book derives from the conceptual experiments of the 1960s Fluxus movement, the West Coast painter Ed Ruscha's early books, and the work of German/Swiss artist Dieter Roth, who is represented in this exhibition[3]. By redefining the terms of the book visually, textually, and structurally, artists in the 1960s sought to create a more inclusive and democratic approach to the book arts by stepping outside its conventional boundaries.

The exhibition is loosely divided into four groups, and begins with a facsimile edition of William Blake's Book of Job (1927) and two examples of Arts and Crafts books. Included are examples of scroll books and an illuminated Koran, and a group of 1970s-era works by well-known British artists. The remainder of the exhibition features books by five Ohio-based artists who complete this brief overview of the book arts.

SELECTIONS FROM THE EXHIBITION

Kate Kern, Cincinnati, OH
August B. Fan, 1999
ink and pencil on paper, brass, silk ribbon
15 h x 24 w inches (open)
Courtesy of the artist
1999 © Kate Kern




Ellen Sheffield, Gambier, Ohio
Susan Stewart, Princeton, New Jersey
Zero, 2004
edition of four
ink jet printed front cover, target paper back cover, flag book format,
accordion bound with pages/flags of text on ink jet
printed transparencies, ink jet printed inside covers
6 h x 5 w inches (closed)
From the Kenyon Review Poets Series
Courtesy of the artist
2004 © Ellen Sheffield and Susan Stewart




This book is a visual poem by the artist that weaves together the story of a historic legal case (c. 1896) establishing riparian, or water rights, with a visit to the Kokosing River in Knox County, Ohio, by a group of Tibetan monks in 2001. The poem is a hybrid of concrete poetry, traditional case law briefing as taught in law school, and lyrical poetry


Kate Kern, Cincinnati, Ohio
Keep Your Distance, 2004
ink and pencil on paper, rag board, cloth
Courtesy of the artist
1 h x 10 w inches (open)
2004 © Kate Kernhttp




Richard Wilson (British, b. 1953)
Wind Instrument, 1980
69/125
Published by Coracle Press, London
Wood, paper, metal, lithography
24 h x 16 w inches (closed), sculptures variable
The College of Wooster Art Museum 2004.9
1980 © Richard Wilson

The small paper and wire sculptures displayed in the adjacent sculpture stand are the “text” of this book, and the pages in the book are molded to accept the flattened version of each “wind instrument.” The chestnut box is the book’s “cover.”


scroll book, c. 19th century
palm wood, palm leaf sheets, cord, metal coin
2 h x 20 w inches (closed)
The College of Wooster Art Museum 1930.148
Gift of William Kelly
© The College of Wooster

The writing in this scroll book has been incised into palm leaf sheets, with powdered ink rubbed into the grooves. The book contains Buddhist writings, and the script on the discolored leaf is written in Pali.

Stored in a compressed form between two wood pieces, the scroll book is read by loosening the cord(s) and lifting the sheets out, much like a venetian blind. This example is displayed pivoted on a fixed point as the cording on both sides has disintegrated over time.



Scroll of the Lohans, Chinese,
late-19th century copy of a Ming Dynasty (1368–1644)
original by Ting Yün-peng (1584–1618)
silk on paper
16 h x 60 w inches (partially open)
The College of Wooster Art Museum 1964.266
Gift of C.E. Loehr
© The College of Wooster


This narrative scroll reads from right to left and features twelve groupings whose character’s focus looks toward the conclusion of this scroll; a representation of the Kuan-yin Bodhisattva, or Goddess of Mercy, floating in clouds and seated on a lotus flower. The subject of all the scenes is the Lohan, a worthy Buddhist ascetic disciple who has achieved Nirvana in this life, with his disciples and admirers.



Willow Legge (British)
An African Folktale, 1979
intaglio, screenprint
20 h x 14 w inches
94/200, 20 APs
Published by Circle Press, Surrey England
The College of Wooster Art Museum 2004.14
1979 © Willow Legge

LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION ON THE HISTORY OF ARTISTS’ BOOKS, ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE OHIO-BASED ARTISTS FEATURED IN THE EXHIBITION “ARTISTS’ BOOKS,” AND AN EASY, FIVE-STITCH BOOKBINDING METHOD
http://www.library.yale.edu/aob/abhistory.html
Concise overview of artists’ books and books in general.
http://www.katekern.com/bookworkshome/bookworkshome.htm
Kate Kern’s website of bookworks. Kate Kern is one of the featured artists in “Artists’ Books.”
http://www.bookfest.com/sheffield.html
2005 Bookfest site—click on the various artists to see different types of book arts. Ellen Sheffield if one of the featured artists in “Artists’ Books.” Click on the image on this page to see more works by Sheffield.
http://www.idlewildpress.com/pages/prospectus.html
This site provides detail about Holly Morrison and Carolyn Fraster’s “The Extinguishing of Stars” exhibited in “Artists’ Books.”
http://www.zumgaligali.com/projects/bookbinding/book_5st_1.html
This is a link to an easy-to-follow five-stitch bookbinding instructions. The author states that this is a 15 to 30 minute project.
[1] Lucy Lippard, “The Artist's Book Goes Public,” in Artists' Books: A Critical Anthology and Sourcebook, ed. by Joan Lyons (Rochester, NY: Visual Studies Workshop, 1985), 45-48.
[2] Considered deluxe editions, a livre d'artiste consists of fine binding and original prints by well-known artists illustrating classic texts. An unbound example of a livre d'artiste by Henry Matisse has been included in this exhibition.
[3] Fluxus was a loosely organized international group of avant-garde artists. Other precursors of the 1960s exploration of the book as art object include innovations in typography by Bauhaus artists, the political art of the Russian Constructivists, and Dadaism

Don't Cry, scream a bold poem - vp by LS

Yes BUT

I cant scream and cry so loud as I want to

& Nobody knows that

Fluxus Poetry Blog

Fluxus Heidelberg Center

Fluxlist Europe

Fluxlist Asia

Fluxlist North America

Fluxlist USA

Fluxlist South America

Fluxlist Africa

Fluxlist Australia

Fluxlist Oceania

&

Nobody,s Flux

statement

Writing a X-ray post poetic poem on the computer following the X-ray Fluxus score instructions from Nobody

Here you can see Nobody alias Litsa Spathi while she is writing on the computer a digltalpost poetic poem for
1.Fluxlist Europe
2.Luxlist Asia
3.Fluxlist Africa
4.Fluxlist Usa
5.Fluxlist Oceania
6.Fluxlist North America
7.Fluxlist South America
8.Fluxlist Australia

But not for the Fluxlist

A Fluxus stamp?

1845-1923


A 12 year old Fluxus stamp in honnor of
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen & the Fluxlist Europe's X-ray score for post poetic poems? Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen is THE father of Fluxus

X-ray score for post poetic poems

Score für x-
a.Warte ab bis du unerträgliche Zahnschmerzen hast
b.Gehe dann zum Radiologen und lass deinen Kiefer röntgen
c.Nimm die Aufnahme mit nach Hause scan sie und publiziere sie als post poetic score bei Fluxlist Europe

Werbe strategie
Zeitersparnis, brilliante Röntgenaufnahmen und beachtliche Reduzierung der Strahlenbelastung sind die herausragenden Vorteile des speziell für die Zahnmedizin entwickelten Fluxlist Europe x-ray-Sensors for poems.
Durch Intergration in die Praxis-EDV ermöglicht der Fluxlist Europe x-ray-poem-Sensor eine erhebliche Vereinfachung Ihrer Arbeitsabläufe und Creativity.- Vorteile für Sie und Ihre Patienten:

X-Ray score
1.Reduzierung der Strahlenbelastung
2.Entlastung der Umwelt durch Wegfall von Chemikalien zur Filmentwicklung
3.Reduzierung des Zeitaufwandes
4.Quer- und Hochformat-Aufnahmen
5.BEMA-gerechte Aufnahmen
6.Imagegewinn durch den Einsatz von High-Tech
7.Befunde und Maßnahmen können dem Patienten am Bildschirm besser erläutert werden

FLUXUS POETRY

W H A T C O M E S N E X T ?
'Post-Poetic' poetry, or electronic art using any available digital tools to create any sort of production that mixes and blurs the notions of categories previously held to be separate, such as the fine arts, entertainment, engineering, science, politics, and religion. The constants that remain might be termed metaphor and representation. Worlds and worldviews are still represented, and they are represented metaphorically. And what comes after that? The art of living. Just being. No more need to represent our thoughts, ideas and emotions, but simply complexly to live them.

VISUAL POETRY

W H A T I S V I S U A L P O E T R Y ? Visual poetry stresses the look of the poem on the page. It can include text only, text and imagery of all sorts, or imagery only, but is intended to be viewed primarily within a literary arts context. To me, it points out a continuum of expression between the literary and visual arts: each use vision and process visual information in a different way. The eye takes in, and the brain processes, visual imagery in no certain order, so the image, while taken in piece by piece, forms more of a gestalt in the perceiving mind, which then forms associations and chains of meaning from that gestalt. The situation is very different when reading a text. Reading is a more linear, step by step process, and the range of meanings much more precise, and thus more circumscribed (while still being vast of course), than is the case for visual imagery. Visual poetry accentuates the flicker of the mind moving between these two modes of receiving and processing visual information. This flickering juxtaposition opens out opportunities for works to evoke a greater range of associations and meanings in the experience of their reader/viewers.

Nobody's global face in black & white versio - visual poem by Litsa Spathi

FOZEN ASSETS

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+_+_+_

+_+_

+_+

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..........

Nobody as a Dadaworker at work

The Fluxus machine

Fluxing Letters

tOm Ate

Global FluX time

FluX is...2

=====================

++++++++++++++++++

AbstractHelios 1 observed a magnetic cloud on the

spacecraft’s closest approach to the

Sun (0.3 AU) on March 26, 1976.

Fluxes of energetic particles

detected by the spacecraft

generally decrease during

the passage of a cloud,

but in this case the

smooth intensity

depression was

interrupted by

a sharp

peak

-like

increase

coinciding

with a deep drop

of the magnetic field

magnitude. This behavior

is observed for protons and

electrons in several energy bands.

A possible explanation of this event

is given by the spheroidal model of magnetic

clouds, applicable for the plasmoid geometry

============================

IndeX Terms:

2134 ... Interplanetary Physics:

Interplanetary

magnetic fields;

7519 SOlar Phy

sics, AstrOphy

sics,... and AstrOnOmy: Flares;

7524 SOlar Ph

ysics, AstrOph

ysics, and AstrOnOmy: Magn

etic fields.

========================

FluX is...1

flux

(flŭks) n.A flow or flowing.A continued flOw; a

flood. See synonyms

at flow.The

flowing in

of the tide.Medicine.

The

discharge

of large quantities of fluid material

from the body, especially the discharge

of watery feces from

the intestines.Physics.The rate

of flow

of fluid,

particles, or energy

through a given surface.See flux density.The lines

of force

of an electric or magnetic field.Constant or frequent change; fluctuation:

“The newness and flux of the computer industry

has meant many

opportunities

for women

and minorities”

(Connie Winkler).Chemistry & Metallurgy.

A substance that aids,

induces, or other

wise

actively

participates in fusing

or flowing, as:A substance

applied to a surface to be

joined by welding, soldering,

or brazing to facilitate the flowing

of solder and prevent formation

of oxides.A mineral

added to the

metals in a furnace

to promote fusing or

to prevent

the

formation

of

oxides.An additive that

improves the flow

of plastics during

fabrication.A readily

fusible

glass

or

enamel

used

as a base

in

ceramic

work.

Pink Au in Fluxus

New Fluxus Poetry video by Litsa Spathi.

Where Are You

Having a Fluxus Ball

The Fluxus Alpha-beta of Fluxlist Europe Versio # 3 old & new Fluxus & over the sea- visual poem by Litsa Spathi

Do you want to be included? Write to me and explaine why .

Is thre an intereting story or

history aboyt you?

Stiftung Fluxustest Testsieger: Pink Lady - visual persiflage

Time machine/Zeitmaschine - visual poem by Litsa Spathi

English Fluxus Dance