GLOBAL ART PROJECT
presents
DISLOCATIONS : Artists Books
&
Selections from our
FRAG Exchange Project
Opening Reception : Sunday September 28th
1-4pm
Closing Reception : Sunday November 22nd
1-4 pm
STUDIO 55 Martinez 55 Howe Rd Martinez Ca
707-899-2032
Curated by :
Carl Heyward / Akiko Suzuki / Jenny Hynes
Exhibiting Artists :
Elise Marshall usa
Mikel Frank usa
Katie Korotzer usa
Brian Auerbach usa
Jules Nelson -Gal usa
Carol Dalton usa
Mia Chambers usa
Helen S Cohen usa
Andrea D Guerra usa
Angela Denise Allen Simms usa
Dee Tivenan usa
Michael D'Amelio usa
Julie Schumer usa
Vera Tchikovani usa
Leslie Alcott usa
Pam Pitt usa
Sandee Johnson usa
Madeleine Wories usa
Salma Arastu india / usa
Yasmin Lambie- Simpson usa / wales
David Jenowe usa
Isabelle Ruiz Perdiguero spain
Ale Feijo argentina
Massimo Nota italy
Marino Rossetti italy
Kate Simmons usa
Renato de la Riva mexico
Corrie McCluskey mexico / usa
Pedro Cruz Pacheco mexico
Valerie Corvin usa
Macha Melanie france
Sabine Korth italy / germany
Pat Calabro usa
Carol Heft usa
Corinna Rosteck germany
Pat Mayer usa
Usha Shukla india / usa
Sian Price italy / uk
Alvaro Sanchez guatemala
Monica Lisi italy
Linda Coppens spain / belgium
Carl Heyward usa
Akiko Suzuki usa / japan
Jenny Hynes usa
globalartproject / DISLOCATIONS Artists Books / FRAG Project Works :
ARTISTS BOOK Text for Ron Shelton Art Studios' High Art Fridays
4/ 23/ 15
Carl Heyward Redux :
Books are birds that fly both figuratively in the imagination inducing images of places, things, concepts; trainspotting the reader / viewer into futures past seen and never realized, but also, in my case literally:
2nd grade, perhaps, Washington DC home walking to Petworth Public Library in the busy NW section; my sanctuary, my declaration of independence launched a commitment to read every book in the place, shelf by shelf row by row inviting the smell , feel and weight of the tomes to envelope me and take me away, into and beyond my experience...somehow the idea came one fall afternoon after school to see the books actually take flight, and they did. I have no recollection of a moment's hesitation: I walked as usual to my 2nd floor level, probably no taller than the librarian's desk, my guides and mentors, and approached a random stack of books, collected an armful and began to gleefully fling them out of the window, seeing them sail in this gratifying experiment like the birds they were with open flapping wings of freedom through the branches of maple trees bare and receptive of this marvel of sight. I lost all sense of time, place or consequence...surely this is the right and only thing to do, and tossed book after book after book as if a lost Wright brother in his own private Kitty Hawk moment, till a breathless employee ran up to me, not very pleased ( he had seen my mini-Phoenix tosses from the street) and ended my reverie, for the time being.
Always a fascination with the book the concealed but willing pages that reveal and transform the moment into an eternity of accessible information. To change the utility of the book, of how it delivers information and what form that information takes, apparently has been a life long fascination for me, thus my interest in the Artists' Book or the Altered Book has deep connection with past and current activity as an artist.
The Artists' Book is a portable gallery, an experimental space that confronts traditional expectations about what a book can or should be and what its unlimited potential may be. Always personal, always engaging, the idea of an individual publishing, in the broadest sense, their own works and thoughts is extremely compelling: we see it in the prototype of works that go on to become larger editions; the unique book, the limited edition, the chap book of imagery and/or poetry pioneered probably by the BEATS and continued by political movements, bands, punks, novice writers. Even NAKED CITY, the seminal pulp publication of photographer WEE GEE serves as an enduring example of the desire to control means of production, working outside and beyond the limitations of the traditional system to produce meaningful examples of personal vision for distribution of, perhaps, like-minded individuals open to a first glimpse of fresh talent.
My exposure to what may be called the Artists' Book actually comes from the old-school POP-UP children's books of the 1950's. I was fascinated by the surprise juxtapositions of the cardboard characters, the Kings and horses, the castles and demons that filled dimensions and animated a story that I was probably not very interested in. With this interest as a backdrop...fast forward twenty years:
ANDY WARHOL'S INDEX
Published in 1967, I spotted the book in NYC at Sullivan's Books (I think) near Little Italy on a trip that was a treat and gift to myself after graduating (enduring) college in 1975; have always loved the idea of the pop-up book since I was a kid and to seeing the Warhol Index sent me salivating into the shop where I laid down my twenty five dollars ($25.00) and used it as the inspiration for a number of my own artists' books through the years. Decades later you can find the book new and used ranging from $2,000-$10,000 depending upon condition and the amount of drugs the prospective collector has consumed; ask me if I still have mine....don't ask!
Seeing the INDEX was a defining moment for me: I would go on to synthesize several movements percolating on the West Coast and internationally at the time toward a documentation that included mail art ( Anna Banana, Buster Cleveland, and others), Electrographic (color xerox activity), performance, photography and a bit of journalism and produced SOURCE OF INVENTION that combined the pop-up book sensibility with a reverence for archival presentation of activity that seemed both important and transient.
The eighties were very good for this activity . A number of collectors and collections sprang up, most notably Franklin Furnace, the arts libraries of most major universities, art schools and museums as well as notable galleries which remained receptive to the phenomenon well into the 90's when the arts market bottomed out ( again).
more to come:
including GAP books and personal artists' books and altered activity.
Also check out other Arts events in Martinez, Literary Art events in Martinez, Workshops in Martinez.
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