Why a book? What is a Book?
Artists' Books in the special collections of the SMFA library:
In our world, the book is a potent object: a symbol of knowledge, a mark of authority, an intellectual signifier, a barometer of democracy. It can be all these things and more, and yet at the end of the day, a book is a stack of paper with ink smeared on it somehow stuck onto slightly harder material to protect it.
…Except when it isn't. When, instead, a book is 20 slices of American cheese. Or a complex diagramatic game made of styrofoam, popsicle sticks and recycled pencils. Or an intimate, one-of-a-kind interactive sculpture.
For years, artists have been turning to the book as a malleable and mutable format to discuss a variety of ideas, all while pushing the definition of a book to its absolute limits. Producing works that are at times ironically self-referential but also dedicated to historical craftsmanship; satirical or hyper-personal; extravagantly unique or radically democratic: This is the world of artists' books.
Nobody knows what an artists book is, least of all book artists:
"WARNING: Artist's books should come with a warning label. Once you know what they
are, be warned, you have the burden of trying to explain them to others."– Angela Lorenz
Artists' books are a famously slippery category. Are they books? Book-shaped sculptures? Sequential paintings? Are they only books if they're bound? Only books if they have text? Narrative? Are they only made by professional artists? Do they have to be readable? Do they have to be the size or shape or format of a normal book to count? Everything in the field of artists' books is contested, down to the detail of the placement for the apostrophe and S-- to someone submerged in this world, an 'art book' is not an 'artist book' is not an 'artist's book' is not an 'artists' book'-- but we like it that way! Artists' books are about celebrating new and unique ways of understanding each other and conveying feelings, narratives and information, and thus, the world of artists' books revels in the endless process of creating and immediately breaking categories and distinctions.
Facing the hydra:
You can pick the tabs above this page in any order you desire as you navigate through the exhibition-- know that you're not stuck on any single track, and all these ideas overlap. We hope you'll enjoy trawling through these connections as much as we enjoyed laying them out for you.