|
BEN SHAHN GALLERIES PRESENTS EXHIBITION OF ARTISTS' BOOKS An exhibition of works by more than 300
artists are in the spotlight September 13 through December 3
in the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in
Wayne. An opening reception for the exhibit will
be held on Thursday, September 30 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the
galleries. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Admission is free. These works honor no code of decorum. They are made up of loose sheets, eccentric folds, created as things that pop out, are inserted into a slit or pocket, or are attached by string. They can also be an assemblage of objects in a box, made by hand or tooled by a machine, even fired as a ceramic. Objects range from works as surprising as an old shoe with a lace-tie roll of text tucked inside to pieces as delicate as a thin weave of handmade paper that in and of itself is both the subject and material of a volume. The content of these books is as broad as the materials employed. They are serious manifestos and social commentaries, visual poetry, pure abstraction of line and color, as well as nonsensical flip books that animate the efforts of a snail crossing a road and the problems a human would have if he or she had to walk on a leash. What loosely defines all these projects, whatever their shape or content, says Baker Sandback, is that each was made by an artist to be a book. "Artists' books can be understood as artist installations within the space of a publication," she states in show's catalogue. "They are a special kind of portable exhibition that can be enjoyed and revisited as often as the book is taken from the shelf, the file is opened on-line, or even a CD-ROM is taken from it's plastic case." Also on view in the Ben Shahn Galleries from September 13 through October 15 are the university's annual "Art Faculty Exhibition" and "James Dustin: Architectural Paintings," a site-specific installation of small paintings designed to reveal the process of collecting and organizing things. For additional information, please call the Ben Shahn Galleries at 973-720-2654. ###
### |