Book as Tool

"A book is a tool, for it is the instrument we make use of in certain cases when we wish to find out what other men have thought and done... It is also true that a tool is a book, the record of past ages of talent engaged in toil."
-D.C. Gilman, 1886

Atelier Bom Design Boeklampens

(image from bomdesign.nl)
"Boeklampen" from the Netherlandish design house, Bom Design.
There are a variety of their book-lamps found here

Anthropologie window display

The Anthropologie shop on 5th ave in downtown nyc has decorated their windows with books.
Above some of the many book "roses" that decorate the front entrance. There are stacks all along the windows, grouped by color, and great circles of a continuous stack. Below is a chandelier, though it appears to be missing parts of the binding. There is smaller shop in this chain, further downtown that also has a book display to a lesser degree.

NY Art Book Fair

Fun, free, and overwhelming. 140+ tables to peruse,
plus a few exhibits - one shown above.
Not many sculptural/ object pieces, but plenty otherwise to look at.
Below, some of what I picked up,
mostly psychedelic drawing booklet/ zines.
I think I may go back again Sunday...

Katya Marritz

Book Sculptures by Katya Marritz
as seen at Cog & Pearl in Park Slope, Brooklyn
link to her etsy shop here

Tom Bendtsen

"Argument #3" from Tom Bendtsen's Argument series.
"3,000 books. Doric column in contemporary art centre, texts specific to western history. A very specific history keeping the ceiling from falling in." -Tom Bendtsen
(image from tombendtsen.com)

Perhaps I have found the source of the book as artistic medium movement? Tom Bendtsen is a creator in many mediums, with two series' involving books. Of his later work, he says this: "The books are used as pixels to create an over-all landscape image." See below image for an example of this.

"Conversation at Lockwood Library 2003"
(image from tombendtsen.com)

Book as Sculpture

(This image from a great blog post here)

I recommend the link above for anyone interested in book arts as it assembles work from a variety of artists (including Olafur Eliasson, the waterfall maker) and it ends with a series of photographs, including the one pictured above, of manipulated book forms by Cara Barer. An artist statement contained this: "The way we choose to research and find information is also in an evolution. I hope to raise questions about these changes, the ephemeral and fragile nature in which we now obtain knowledge, and the future of books."

Books as artistic medium

(This image from thecobrasnake.com)

This is a funny place to start as it is essentially against the topic of this blog as I had originally intended. I first saw the use of books as artistic medium in a window display at Anthropologie downtown. (I will try and post an image soon.) When I say as artistic medium, I mean strictly that - using books as blocks of a sort for a larger design structure. The books are not accessible individually.

The intent of the blog is to assemble links and images of artists books and the related. The related may present itself more, as I am quite fascinated by the presentation of the book as an object, stripping the contents as representing the value of the book and focusing instead on the form, and manipulation of the form, of the book.