BEN SHAHN GALLERIES FEATURES EXHIBIT OF RECENT ARTISTS’ BOOKS

The concept of the artist’s book, as interpreted by 30 different artists, is the subject of an exhibit at the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in Wayne from February 3 through March 7, 2003. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. A reception for the exhibit will be held on Thursday, February 6 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

"Life with Pocket Change and Other Pleasures: An Exhibition of Artists’ Books," on view in Ben Shahn’s Court Gallery, highlights original and limited edition books in a variety of unusual forms and materials.
"The artist’s book is a form that lends itself to all mediums, attracting artists trained in a particular discipline as well as artists migrating from one medium to another and combining materials in experimental ways," says Nancy Einreinhofer, director of the Ben Shahn Galleries and curator of the exhibit. "It is my hope that this survey of recent bookarts demonstrates the remarkable breadth of creative possibilities."

Featured in the exhibit are works by four artists: Paul Bonelli, Karen Guancione, Carol Rosen and Karen Shaw. Bonelli and Rosen present works closer to the traditional notion of the book as a series of pages, bound or unbound, while Guancione and Shaw greatly expand the definition of a book to include assemblages/constructions and installations.

Bonelli has created a series of hand-colored woodcut prints that are contemporary interpretations of Ecclesiastes, a book from the Old Testament. The exhibit features 18 prints from the series, each matted and framed as individual prints, which Bonelli will likely one day bind in more traditional book form.
Similarly, Rosen presents her "Holocaust Series," an unbound series of original photo/collage prints and poems. Though displayed as individual prints, the series is a boxed edition.

Shaw presents a humorous play on the words "entomological" and "etymological" in her boxes that open and close like a book and contain dictionaries mounted like rare plant specimens with clever descriptions using the language of science. The artist has painted the gallery wall to suggest blue sky and white clouds, and has suspended her books as endangered species in a natural history museum.

Guancione’s installation book refers in form to the scroll. An artist who has been working in the book form for many years, creating travel journals from found materials, paintings and language, Guancione here combines single pages of prints, handmade paper and found materials, all encased in beeswax and suspended to create an environment on the theme of the human condition.

Other artists’ books included in the exhibit incorporate paintings and drawing, printmaking, textiles, photographic processes, found objects, collages and mixed media, and various applications of digital photography. Several of the works are drawn from the University’s permanent collection of artists’ books.
"Life with Pocket Change and Other Pleasures: An Exhibition of Artists’ Book" is one of three shows on view concurrently in the Ben Shahn Galleries. On view in the South Gallery in an exhibit of recent paintings by Jung Hyang Kim. Shelley Himmelstein exhibits a selection of recent paintings in the East Gallery. All exhibits are free and open to the public and are wheelchair accessible.

This exhibit is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

For additional information, please call the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University, 973-720-2654.

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2/3/03
For Further Information, contact:

Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966