Leeds Artist's Book Fair

Don't forget, this weekend is the Artist's Book Fair down at the Tetley. It's open today (Sat) and tomorrow (Sun). See: 
Artist's books are becoming more and more popular and the college itself has a growing collection. If you want to look at the collection, check it out in the library. There is a postcard exhibition in the library all this month in conjunction with the book fair. You can get a free copy of one of my card works if you go.
You might go to the book fair to look at different formats, however you might also find an artist that is producing work that helps you think about what your own work is about. 

Artist's books come in all shapes and sizes. The one below by Raymond Pettibon is printed using traditional lithographic techniques. 

Images above from 'Plots on loan' an artist's book by Raymond Pettibon. 

Kiefer 'The High Priestess'

Kiefer made us aware of the book as historically resonant object. His lead books are full of the weight of history, his book shelves as large as industrial units and his books themselves only to be handled by strong teams of 'openers'. 

The Leeds 'Pages' Artists Book Fair is held once a year and is coordinated by Chris Taylor and John McDowall. It was founded in 1998 and has worked since then to provide wide-ranging opportunities for the development and awareness of the book as primary medium in art practice.

Artists' books come in a wide range of formats; including scrolls, fold-outs, concertinas, loose items contained in a box or more sculptural forms. 

Stephen Bury has suggested the following definition for them;

Artists' books are books or book-like objects over the final appearance of which an artist has had a high degree of control; where the book is intended as a work of art in itself.

Bury, S. (1995) Artists' Books: The Book As a Work of Art, 1963–1995 Scolar Press 

As a student of fine art an artist's book can be a useful format within which to explore alternative approaches to audience development. Someone may be far more willing to buy a small edition in a book form of your work than in other formats, it means they can far more easily store the work on a bookshelf and they don't have to openly display the fact that they have bought some of your work and put it on their walls. You could think of the artists book form as one that appeals to a bookish audience; quiet people who like to follow art but don't want to be seen as being ostentatious. 

See also:

Underground comics and art

Drawing theory and comic book art

The art of memory (one of my own artist's books)