Many of you are familiar with books that contain art, and art that contains books, but what about books that are art? There was a time when the creation of a book was as much about the presentation as the contents. Beautiful bindings, lettering, and paper made books pleasing to the eye and touch as well as to the mind.

At some point, books became more about efficiently conveying ideas, regardless of packaging. But perhaps as a result of mass production and the effects of the electronic age, the art of the book began to enjoy a revival. This time around, however, with so much information to be found more conveniently in non-book formats, there was no longer pressure for books to be functional, and the sky was the limit in terms of artistic freedom.

Artist’s books, as they are known in the book trade, come in many forms. Some can actually be read as traditional books and are simply made of unusual materials or have odd layouts that favor design over text. They can even include inserts or foldouts that invite an interactive experience for the reader.

Sometimes these books are created by artists to accompany exhibitions of their work in galleries or museums. Sometimes the book itself is a self-contained artwork. There are even artist’s books that are more suited to distant admiration than intimate handling, falling somewhere between being a work of art portraying a book, and an actual book.

There will always be those of us who love books. But book artists encourage us to think again about what a book really is – purely physical object, gathering of printed images or text on paper, or any collection of conveyed ideas whatever the format?  What are your thoughts?

Brian Sylvester is a guest blogger on WallSpin, and an artist on Zatista.

 

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