Artist Books

By far I think the most successful and amusing was Allison Cooke Brown's TeaTimes. All the familiar bits of a book are all there - text/editorial content, paper, imagery, a protective outer layer - yet in an assemblage entirely not typical of a book. One is compelled to wonder just what it is that she has written on each and every tea bag in the box. And since witty statements, fortunes, and Bon Mots are printed on every tag attached to every bag of Salada Tea, there is the added intrigue of wanting to know what each label says, and how it related to what the artist wrote on the bag.

My initial reaction as I approached Julie Chen's Bon Bon Lots was that it looked fat too commercial.... perhaps something you could purchase at Paper Source or some such place. After reading the provenance label on the wall, my instincts were proven right: the piece was published by Flying Fish Press (albeit in a limited run). It felt out of place to me.

My reaction to Lara Walker's Freedom: A Fable; a Curious Interpretation of the Wit of A Negress in Troubled Times, With Illustrations was certainly heightened by the description of the work and the artists work as a whole. As it stood on it's own, I thought it was a beautifully executed piece. Her cut work is exquisite.

Less successful books in the exhibit in my opionion where Nancy Leavitt's piece (it looked too much like a over sized brochure), The Green Salad piece (too sculptural), and Lois Morrison's After Water Aerobics. The last could hardly be called a book: in fact, I would be more comfortable calling it a mixed-media sculpture.