New York--This fall, the Grolier Club presents an exhibition of the books, printed ephemera, and toys relating to military life and wartime experience that were published or produced for children and teens during two consecutive but dramatically different periods: first, the era from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914; and second, the 51 months of fighting that comprised “the war to end all wars.”  The exhibition is on view in the second-floor gallery through October 27, 2018.

During the years leading up to the war, there was an arms buildup among the nations who were anxious to protect their borders from predatory neighbors or to defend their colonies against attacks from within or without. As a consequence, these countries felt compelled to prepare their youth for a future armed conflict, utilizing whatever literary and leisure-time means were at hand.

Curated by collector Richard Cheek, “The Books and Toys that Prepared Children for War” will demonstrate how these publications and products were used to persuade boys to admire and wish to become soldiers and sailors, and to accept war as an inevitable form of human behavior that offered them a swift path to manhood requiring acts of exceptional bravery, selfless service, and patriotic devotion.

To encourage boys to follow this path by first “playing soldier,” traditional forms of literature were used. ABCs and picture books familiarized young readers with the types, ranks, and routines of the men in the armed forces, and, less often, of the women in the medical corps. Story collections and novels highlighted daring wartime adventures, scientific studies revealed the “wonder” of military inventions, and history books and ballads emphasized the great battles that had solidified each nation. Fairy tales created heroes or heroines who could withstand or triumph over evil forces, and anthropomorphic tales sent animals out to trick or frighten the enemy.

Toys were also part of this recruiting campaign because uniform sets, faux guns and swords, and rocking horses helped boys to act out their military fantasies, while toy soldiers and board games provided them with the vicarious thrill of leading a regiment to victory or of capturing the enemy’s stronghold with the right move.

Once the Great War broke out on August 4, 1914, and rapidly expanded, old forms of literature had to be adapted and new genres developed to help children and teens adjust to the new realities of a relentless worldwide conflict. These publications will comprise the second part of the exhibition, along with the toys that reinforced wartime play. From satirical attacks against the enemy in picture books and stories of atrocities in propaganda pamphlets to reassuring accounts of young heroes and guides for home front involvement in the war effort, “the books issued for ‘the duration’ are among the most creatively and movingly illustrated titles in the entire spectrum of military publications for children,” comments Cheek.

All of the items to be displayed in the exhibit were produced by the four nations that would become the main protagonists on the Western Front: Britain, France (and its ally Belgium), Germany (and its ally Austria), and the United States. Because of distinct national differences in the design, text, and illustration of the publications, the show and the catalogue will be divided into four sections according to country.

On Friday, September 21, Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation announced the Shortlist for the 2018 Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards, celebrating the photobook’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography, with three major categories: First PhotoBook, PhotoBook of the Year, and Photography Catalogue of the Year.

First PhotoBook: A $10,000 prize will be awarded to the photographer(s)/artist(s) whose first finished, publicly available photobook is judged to be the best of the year. Twenty books from this category have been selected for the Shortlist, and will be presented to the jury for the final selection and exhibited during Paris Photo.

PhotoBook of the Year: This prize will be awarded to the photographer(s)/artist(s) and publisher responsible for the photobook judged to be the best of the year. Ten books from this category have been selected for the Shortlist, and will be presented to the jury for the final selection and exhibited during Paris Photo.

Photography Catalogue of the Year: This prize will be awarded to the publication, publisher, and/or organizing institution responsible for the exhibition catalogue or museum publication judged to be the best of the year. Seven books from this category have been selected for the Shortlist, and will be presented to the jury for the final selection and exhibited during Paris Photo.

This year’s Shortlist selection was made by a jury comprising: Lucy Gallun (associate curator in the Department of Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York), Kristen Lubben (executive director, Magnum Foundation, New York), Yasufumi Nakamori (incoming senior curator of international art [photography], Tate Modern, London), Lesley A. Martin (creative director, Aperture Foundation, and publisher of The PhotoBook Review) and Christoph Wiesner (artistic director, Paris Photo).

The jurying of the Awards takes place in two stages. The first part took place from September 19 to September 21, a three-day-process that involved reviewing more than 980 submissions to select the shortlisted books in all categories. “The varied approaches and high level of experience that each of the jury members bring to the table leads to a process of selection that is very intense; a rigorous exchange of ideas about the many incredible books being made today,” says Christoph Wiesner. “The best photobooks can offer a more in-depth, heightened experience of an artist’s work, augmenting and expanding how we encounter that work in exhibitions or online.” 

A final jury in Paris—comprising Hervé Digne (president of Manifesto and the Odeon Circle), Martha Kirszenbaum (curator), Kevin Moore (curator), Azu Nwagbogu (director of African Artists’ Foundation and LagosPhoto Festival, Nigeria) and Batia Suter (artist)—will select the winners for all three prizes, which will be revealed at Paris Photo on November 9, 2018. All shortlisted and winning titles will then be profiled in the fall 2018 issue of The PhotoBook Review, a biannual publication that accompanies Aperture magazine, and exhibited at Paris Photo and Aperture Gallery in New York, touring thereafter.

 Since the announcement of the 2017 winners last November, last year’s shortlisted titles have been exhibited in multiple venues internationally, including Lithuania, Germany, Moscow, Switzerland, and Italy.

Los Angeles - An extraordinary collection of 182 letters by Gonzo journalist Hunter S.Thompson will be auctioned by Nate D. Sanders Auctions on September 27, 2018.

The letters begin in 1955 when a 17-year-old Thompson wrote to his Louisville, Kentucky childhood friend Paul Semonin, who was attending Yale University.  All but two of the letters in the collection were written to Semonin. The other two items include a telegram from Thompson to author Tom Wolfe and a letter to an unnamed friend.

Thompson’s letters to Semonin span from 1955-1974 and are highly personal, providing a clear look at Thompson’s view of the world. Nearly every sentence in the letters features Thompson’s hallmark Gonzo journalistic style including riveting details about his experience at Slates Hot Springs in Big Sur as well as his time embedded (including the brutal beatings he suffered) with the Hell’s Angels.

Among the highlights of the archive is Thompson’s famous letter written the day of President Kennedy’s assassination. Twenty-five of the letters being auctioned were published in Thompson’s collection, The Proud Highway: The Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman 1955-1967. One hundred and twenty six letters were typed and include handwritten notes; all are signed. Many other letters document Thompson’s travels while writing The Rum Diary.    

The archive includes letters Thompson wrote while visiting or residing in Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, Aruba, Puerto Rico, New York, California, Colorado and Kentucky, among others.

Commenting on his writer career in a 1965 letter, Thompson penned, “I am not going to be either the Fitzgerald or the Hemingway of this generation…I am going to be the Thompson of this generation…"

In describing the archive, auction owner Nate Sanders commented, “This is a rare, personal, first-hand depiction of Hunter S. Thompson’s life. It is clear in reading these letters that Thompson believed it was imperative to document the turmoil of the 1960’s and share his perspective with his best friend from childhood.” 

To coincide with start of a new school year, Panopticon Gallery presents Bibliophile, a studious exhibition for lovers of photography and the printed page. This show features works by Thomas Allen, Carolyn Hampton, Sean Kernan, Aline Smithson, Mark Douglas, Fawn Potash, and Thomas Marr. These photographers turn their cameras toward their libraries, bringing unique perspectives and photographic processes to the book as subject.

Included among the contemporary images of books are Thomas Marr’s historic photographs of Boston’s buildings that house them. In his photographs of the Boston Athenæum at the turn of the last century, Marr shows us the stacks and reading rooms of one of the country’s oldest private libraries. These images are exhibited next to anonymous photographs of the Boston Public Library’s long-forgotten basement bindery in the 1920s and views of the library’s famous exterior from Copley Square.

Personal libraries are seen in Aline Smithson’s retro bookshelf arrangements and Fawn Potash’s carefully stacked piles of stolen library books. Thomas Allen uses mid-century books and pulp fiction paperbacks to transform still life into theatrical tableaus. The figures literally leap off of the pages to enact the dramatic scenes. In Carolyn Hampton’s photograph “The Lonely Bookkeeper,” a flurry of pages swirl magically around an archivist’s desk. Interested in the material qualities of paper and ink, Mark Douglas creates beautifully delicate abstract lith photographs of the rippled pages of water-damaged books. Whether you love books historic or contemporary, or admire them for their form or function, this exhibition contains something for every bibliophile’s library walls.

Bibliophile is on view from September 4 through October 28, 2018, with an opening reception on Thursday, September 6, from 6 to 8pm. The gallery is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Gallery staff is available Monday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm. For additional information, please visit our website www.panopticongallery.com, or contact Gallery Director Kat Kiernan by email at info@panopticongallery.com or by phone at 617.396.7803.

New York - The color work of street photographer Vivian Maier will be the subject of a new exhibition at Howard Greenberg Gallery from November 14, 2018 through January 5, 2019. Many of the photographs are on view for the first time, deepening the understanding of Maier’s oeuvre and her keenness to record and present her interpretation of the world around her. Dating from the 1950s to the 1980s, Vivian Maier: The Color Work captures the street life of Chicago and New York, and includes a number of her enigmatic self-portraits. An opening reception will be held on November 14 from 6-8 p.m.

The exhibition coincides with the publicaton of Vivian Maier: The Color Work (Harper Design | HarperCollins, November 2018), the first book devoted to her color images. With a foreword by renowned photographer Joel Meyerowitz and text by Colin Westerbeck, a former curator of photography at the Art Institute of Chicago, the book was created in partnership with Howard Greenberg Gallery. 

“Maier was an early poet of color photography,” writes Joel Meyerowitz in the foreword to the book. “You can see in her photographs that she was a quick study of human behavior, of the unfolding moment, the flash of a gesture, or the mood of a facial expression—brief events that turned the quotidian life of the street into a revelation for her.”

Since 2010, Maier’s photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. The 2013 documentary film, Finding Vivian Maier, co-directed by historian John Maloof (who discovered her work at an auction in Chicago in 2007), was nominated for an Academy Award. 

Vivian Maier (1926-2009) was born in New York City, spent much of her youth in France, worked for 40 years as a nanny mostly in Chicago, and photographed consistently over five decades. When she died, Maier left behind more than 150,000 photographic images—prints, negatives, transparencies, and rolls of undeveloped film—though few had ever heard about or seen her work. Maier’s color work was made during her last 30 years. After retiring her signature Rolleiflex, she began working with a 35-millimeter camera and produced roughly 40,000 Ektachrome color slides. 

“Maier was a self-invented polymath of a photographer,” writes Colin Westerbeck in the book. “The one advantage Maier gained from keeping her photography to herself was an exemption from contradiction and condescension. She didn’t have to worry about either the orthodoxy or the approval of her peers.”

Image: Image Caption: Vivian Maier, Chicago, 1962 © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

New York ? On October 2, Bonhams sale of Photographs will offer over 130 works featuring major names including Irving Penn, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe, Allen Ginsberg, Nan Goldin, and Ernst Haas. This sale will also introduce two works by Griffith (Griff) J. Davis (1923-1993), a pioneering African American photographer, journalist, filmmaker and U.S. Foreign Service Officer.

Laura Paterson, Director of Photographs, comments: "Griff Davis left a legacy of 55,000 photographs, as well as large quantities of documents and memorabilia from his long and illustrious career as a photojournalist and influential civil servant, yet astonishingly he remains relatively unknown. Bonhams is extremely honored to have this opportunity to introduce two compelling images from Davis' innovative and sophisticated body of work to a wider audience of photography curators and collectors."

In the 1940s, Davis became a reporter for Atlanta Daily World, the oldest continually published African American newspaper in the country and served as a Buffalo Soldier and army photographer in the 92nd Infantry Division in Italy. After the war, Davis returned to Morehouse College, where he studied alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and formed a lifelong friendship with Visiting Professor Langston Hughes. Hughes recommended Davis to John H. Johnson, founder and publisher of Ebony and he became the magazine's first Roving Editor. Davis was also the only African American student accepted into Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism's class of 1949. After graduation, Davis made three trips to Liberia as a freelance journalist for Black Star Agency before launching his two-decade long career there as US Foreign Service Officer. The U.S. government had established its first full African embassy in Liberia and Davis was charged with documenting the nation's culture, development and lifestyle. The resulting pictorials appeared in a variety of prominent publications, such as Life, Ebony, Fortune and Der Spiegel. He was also awarded a one-man show, Liberia 1952 at The American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Additional highlights include the Collection of Kaspar Fleischmann, noted photography expert, collector, gallerist and philanthropist. This selection includes examples of the finest work produced in the history of photography by its doyens Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Gustave Le Gray, Ernst Haas and László Moholy-Nagy. Fleischmann himself was a pioneer collector of photography in Switzerland through his former gallery Zur Stockeregg, founded in Zurich in 1979. He is now a noted benefactor of several museums, including the Kunsthaus Zurich and the Fotomuseum Winterthur. The sale also includes the Collection of renowned Swiss psychoanalyst Carl László. Born in Hungary, László was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. He built a new life in Switzerland where, in addition to his clinical practice, he pursued his keen interest in the arts, co-founding Art Basel and working as an art dealer, writer and magazine editor. This collection includes works by renowned photographers such as Richard Avedon and Robert Mapplethorpe, Allen Ginsberg, and Gerard Malanga.

Image: Lot 36, Walker Evans. “Demolition Site, New York.” 

New York—African-American Fine Art sales at Swann Galleries offer the opportunity to see marketplace history happen, and the October 4 auction is no exception, with a significant selection of works by Elizabeth Catlett, Eldzier Cortor and Hughie Lee-Smith, among others.  

A timely run of works by Charles White features the significant and powerful Nobody Knows My Name #1, 1965, a mid-career drawing that was exhibited extensively in the late 1960s (Estimate: $100,000 to $150,000). The title was likely inspired by James Baldwin’s Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son, 1961-White’s composition shows a young African-American man’s head in a swirling, atmospheric space, a deeply symbolic response to the height of the Civil Rights movement. Prints by White include the linoleum cuts Young Farmer (Young Worker), 1953, and Solid as a Rock (My God is Rock), 1958 ($12,000-18,000 and $20,000-30,000, respectively).

Sculptures by Elizabeth Catlett represent the beginning and end of the artist’s prolific career. Catlett’s carved Untitled (Head of a Man), circa 1943, is one of only two stone works on record from her significant 1940s period, and the earliest sculpture by the artist known to come to auction ($200,000-300,000). El Abrazo, carving in Guatemalan red mahogany of two figures embracing, is Catlett’s last sculpture: it was started by the artist in 2010 and posthumously completed by her son, David Mora Catlett, in 2017 ($150,000-250,000).

A beautiful mid-career painting by Eldzier Cortor-the most significant work by the artist to come to auction-will be offered. Sea of Time, 1945, is a haunting depiction of a female nude with rich symbolism and surreal elements, inspired by Gullah and African traditions. The oil on canvas is estimated at $200,000 to $300,000.

Other midcentury compositions include the earliest painting by Beauford Delaney to come to auction. The 1940 oil on canvas is a self-portrait of the artist in a studio-like setting with a young woman thought to be “Jessie,” a model and mutual friend of Delaney and James Baldwin ($200,000-300,000). Hughie Lee-Smith’s best-known and most widely published work, Man With Balloons, oil on canvas, 1960, will also be in the sale. A meditation on the isolation of modernity, Lee-Smith considered it an important painting: it carries an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000.

A riotous, recently rediscovered 1965 oil and charcoal on canvas by Al Loving, Variations on a Square­, gives insight into the artist’s earliest work. The artist notes, in a letter included, that it was completed for his thesis show and was one his last oil paintings, remarking on it as a “forerunner to the geometric abstractions that started my career in NY” ($80,000-120,000).

A 1983 self-portrait by Robert Colescott: Down in the Dumps: So Long Sweetheart shows the heartbroken artist seated among an overwhelming, teeming pile of debris, his head in his hands, paintbrushes at his side ($35,000-50,000). Other works from that decade include a 1980 welded steel sculpture by Melvin Edwards, Lusaka ($30,000-40,000); Sam Gilliam’s Blood Legacy, acrylic, gel medium and canvas collage, 1983 ($80,000-120,000) and Spiral artist Emma Amos’s Arched Swimmer, acrylic with glitter and fabric on canvas, circa 1987 ($10,000-15,000).

Contemporary art from the Dr. Robert H. Derden Collection brings pieces by significant, current artists to the sale, with an emphasis on photographic works. Featured lots include Rashid Johnson’s Jonathan with Hands, a Van Dyke Brown photo-emulsion print, 1997 ($7,000-10,000); Alison Saar’s Dreamer, mixed media, 1988 ($3,000-5,000); Carrie Mae Weems’s Untitled (Woman and daughter with makeup), from the Kitchen Table Series ($3,000-5,000); and a monumental photogravure with screenprint by Lorna Simpson, Counting, 1991 ($4,000-6,000).

New York? On September 25, Bonhams sale of Exploration and Travel, Featuring Americana will offer a large range of over 300 lots, which is highlighted by significant works from George Washington, Mark Twain, and Ernest Shackleton — some of the most important figures in US history, literature, and exploration. Highlighting the sale is Aurora Australis, 1908, the first edition of the first book published and printed in Antarctica by Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) (estimate: $70,000-100,000).

The book was printed during the Nimrod expedition of 1908-1909 to keep his men occupied during the dark winter months in the Cape Royds hut. Shackleton brought with him a small printing press, paper and type (donated by J. Causton & Sons Ltd) and asked for written stories, poems, or humorous short essays from his men. The printing and publishing was co-ordinated by Ernest Joyce and Frank Wild, both of whom had undertaken short printing courses prior to their departure. George Marston provided illustrations, and Bernard Day made the bindings from the crates used for provisions. The ink was heated by candles, and much of the printing was done when the other men were sleeping to minimize vibration. Shackleton wrote the introduction and preface to the text, and contributions were made by 10 other members of the crew. A total of 80 bound copies of Aurora Australis were brought back from Antarctica in 1909.

Additional highlights include the fascinating and famous proceedings of George Washington’s court martial of Charles Lee for Cowardice at the Battle of Monmouth, Proceedings of a General Court Martial…for the Trial of Major General Lee. July 4th, 1778, Philadelphia, one of only 100 copies of original edition for congress (estimate: $25,000-35,0000); an important letter by Mark Twain on the art of writing, October 21, 1881, one of the most profound articulations of the writer's art ever offered at auction (estimate: $30,000-50,000); and the first map in an atlas entirely devoted to America, 1513, by Claudius Ptolemaeus, c.100-c.170 (estimate: $250,000-350,000). 

Published for the first time in Venice in 1555, it was a precious asset owned by the first founding families of modern Cosmetic Industry. The Vidals, one of those families, whose famous brand was acquired by Henkel, still possess one of the five known Italian copies which is exposed in the History of Cosmetics Museum in Venice. 

Another famous Italian copy was owned by one of the most controversial Italian cultural and political figures of the XXth century, Gabriele d'Annunzio, who had great influence in the world of fashion and was a great expert in scents and cosmetics.

The essay reveals and illustrates the first mechanical methods of production of scents, cosmetics and makeup.

In 2013, Chanel exposed the Saint Genevieve Copy at its expo "N°5 Culture Chanel" in Paris, at the Palais de Tokyo. 

This Rare Book will be exposed to the public at Drouot in Paris in the morning of September 27 and will be sold at 14.00 pm. 

Printed Matter presents the thirteenth annual NY Art Book Fair (NYABF), from September 21-23, 2018, at MoMA PS1. The NY Art Book Fair is the leading international gathering for the distribution of artists’ books, celebrating the full breadth of the art publishing community. 

Free and open to the public, the event draws more than 35,000 individuals including book lovers, collectors, artists, and art world professionals each year. In 2018, the NYABF will host 365 exhibitors from around the world featuring a wide variety of works - from zines and artists’ books to antiquarian books and contemporary art editions. The NYABF offers countless opportunities to attend free programs including artist-led discussions, performances, interactive workshops, and curated exhibitions. 

THE NY ART BOOK FAIR PREVIEW

Join us on Thursday, September 20 from 6-9 pm, at MoMA PS1 for the opening night preview. The evening will feature special live performances from DJ Monchan, Roe Enney, and Odwalla1221, presented by Blank Forms. Ticket is $20 and includes a limited edition work by artist Ryan Gander. 

NYABF 2018 FUNDRAISING EDITIONS
Printed Matter presents new limited-edition artworks by Laylah Ali, Ryan Gander, and Eileen Quinlan. 

Comfort with Rage (shown right) is a 4-color silkscreen print by artist Laylah Ali. The new work is based on a recent drawing emblematic of the artist’s interest in creating narratives and imagery that question the stability of fixed cultural, racial, and sexual definitions. Signed and numbered in an edition of 100.

Accelerated Logic by Ryan Gander is this year's ticket edition. This laser die-cut stencil in orange acrylic contains annotations made by the artist to page 11 of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. The annotations select, highlight, and censor the still in-print publication. Mirroring the mass production of the book, the work considers the possible multiplication of a personal perspective through the function of the stencil. Produced in an edition of 2000.

Artist Eileen Quinlan releases two new gelatin silver prints, Cleaved Crow and Pole Position. These photographic editions utilize images found online, each printed and rephotographed, then manually manipulated through analog processes. In Cleaved Crow, the bird is representative of Quinlan's interest in non-human intelligence and what constitutes "being" in relation to the emergence of artificial intelligence on a mass scale. In Pole Position, the artist reworks a rendering of a supernova in which the star and surrounding sky evoke existential questions about our place in the universe. Center points (apertures, orifices, bullet holes, vanishing points, and the eyes of storms) are a recurring motif for the artist. Signed and numbered in an edition of 20 each.

PRINTED MATTER @ NYABF

Visit us this weekend in the MoMA PS1 Lobby, where we'll present an offering of recent contemporary favorites from the bookstore, as well as at our Out of Print booth (L03), featuring an exciting selection of rare and out of print materials. Highlights at the OP booth include two issues of the classic mimeograph artists' periodical 0 to 9, Seth Siegelaub's famed the Xerox Book, vintage Marcel Broodthaers exhibition posters, print multiples by Barbara Kruger from the 80s and 90s, a complete set of the experimental fiction periodical by women authors Top Stories, and a broad selection of artists' books from the 60s and 70s by Mel Bochner, Ed Ruscha and Lawrence Weiner, and more.

PRINTED MATTER SIGNING EVENTS

Printed Matter hosts book signings throughout the NYABF at the main booth (LOBBY)

9/22, 2PM - Signing of Weaving Language II by Francesca Capone 

9/22, 3PM - Signing of Passion by Bernhard Kleber. Published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH. 

9/22, 4PM - Launch of The Mysterious Tale of Gentle Jack and Lord Bumblebee. Signing with Stephen Ostrowski. Published by Small Press. 

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING

A History of Zines!

Printed Matter proudly presents a wide-reaching historical exhibition of zine publishing across the 20th century and onward, beginning with science-fiction and underground horror publications of the 1920s, and concluding with new works created on occasion of this year’s NYABF. A History of Zines! gathers more than 400 self-published works and related archival materials, spanning genres and offering an unmediated view into various subcultures and grassroots activism, including LGBTQ, punk, hip-hop, the Mimeo Revolution, photography, skateboarding, the Beats, and feminism. A selection of zines will be available for browsing. A History of Zines! is dedicated to the memory and legacy of Shannon Michael Cane. Curated by 8-Ball Community and Johan Kugelberg/Boo-Hooray.

The Classroom

The Classroom provides space for informal lectures, readings, screenings and other activities by artists, writers, designers and publishers. The program highlights exciting new releases at the Fair and fosters dialogue around important themes for contemporary art publishing and the broader community. Participants include: Ann Butler, Johanna Drucker, Lia Gangitano, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Tammy Nguyen, Jeanine Tang, Lynne Tillman, Ruth van Beek, and Martha Wilson, among many others. Organized by David Senior, Head of the Library and Archives, SFMOMA.
See the full Classroom schedule 

Friendly Fire

A component of the NYABF since its inception in 2006, Friendly Fire features presses and artists' collectives that practice different forms of cultural, social and political activism. This year's participants include 8-Ball Community, Allied Productions, Inc, Interference Archive, Justseeds Artists' Cooperative, True Laurels, and Visual AIDS among others. Curated by Printed Matter’s Executive Director Max Schumann.

See the full Friendly Fire list 

Exhibitor Project Spaces

The 2018 NY Art Book Fair features a number of special exhibitor projects, including an immersive interactive reading room of The Free Black Women’s Library by 3 Dot Zine , a presentation of posters and drawings from Richard McGuire by Alden ProjectsTM, a project space in collaboration with choreographer William Forsythe presented by Gagosian, an exhibition of works and notebooks by Dan Asher from Martos Gallery, an installation of new limited edition artists’ book editions from onestar press and Three Star Books, new screenprint portfolios by artists Shio Kusaka and Nicolas Party from Karma, and the return of the special Boiler Room installation from Netherlands-based Werkplaats Typografie.  See full Exhibitor Project Details

Project Focus: Press Press & We the News

Press Press and We the News develop two new projects for the NY Art Book Fair in the MoMA PS1 courtyard, addressing questions around immigration and the immigrant experience in the US. Baltimore based printing studio and storefront Press Press present an interactive exhibition and program series around Sentiments: Expressions of Cultural Passage, a new publication compiling conversations, artist projects, and writings that explore cultural passage, immigrant identity, and notions of sanctuary. Meanwhile, We the News, a project by artist and designer Lizania Cruz, presents a newstand featuring zines by black immigrants and first-generation black Americans. See more on these projects 

Shannon Michael Cane Award

The Shannon Michael Cane Award is granted to four first-time NYABF exhibitors (artists, artists' book publishers, or collectives) in the early stages of their career. The inaugural year winners are backbone books, Ian Giles, MonoRhetorik, and Sming Sming Books.

SMC Bulletin Board & Program 

Throughout the Fair weekend, visitors are invited to contribute memories, thoughts, illustrations, and other personal expressions to a bulletin board located in the Basement to remember our dear friend and colleague Shannon Michael Cane (1974-2017). Printed Matter hopes to compile and publish these pages, online or in print, in remembrance of Shannon’s lasting impact.  We invite you to gather in the Basement Theater from 11am -1pm, Sunday, September 23, to share memories, stories, or simply reflect. 

Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference (CABC)

This year the Conference (Friday and Saturday) relocates to the newly opened Book Culture space at 26-09 Jackson Ave, just a few blocks away. Planned session topics include queer and trans perspectives in artist publishing, migration and diasporic community-based publishing, vernacular photography with poetry and prose, the history and influence of Avalanche magazine, and the relationship of comics and graphic novels to artists’ books and the fine arts.

Courtyard Stage

The Courtyard Stage has a ten year history of showcasing emerging talent alongside legendary artists and will host performances from musicians and sound artists to poets and performance artists running throughout the fair weekend. This year's programs are presented by Blank Forms, Printed Matter, Inc., Heavy Trip, and Pioneer Works. See the full list of Fair performances here.

Montez Press Radio
Montez Press Radio will present a day-long live broadcast (Friday, September 22, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Basement Theater) featuring performances, conversations, and recordings with a focus on the benefits of piracy, small presses, and alternative forms of distribution. In the spirit of pirate radio and its history, the station will broadcast from an onsite RV for the remaining duration of the fair. 

Social Media

Follow the NYABF on Instagram to stay up to date with everything that's going on @printedmatter_artbookfairs.