Beyond The Text
- Artists’ books, part of a radical avant garde movement, take a leap
beyond the kind of text and illustrations normally associated with the book to
carry the viewer to new vistas of aesthetic, emotional and intellectual
awareness. Some artists’ books arrive on our visual doorstep bearing humor
while othersall in mixed degreesconvey intellectual challenge, or emotions
such as awe or joy. Some are embassies from the dark side of human
experience.
- The Grolier Club’s current exhibition, Beyond the Text: Artists’
Books from the Collection of Robert J. Ruben, includes over 60 examples
of accordion books, codices, scrolls, box books, pop-ups and tunnel books, in
every variety of mixed media. Some are by artists of international renown,
others by new artists forging their creative paths. Some of the books have
previously known texts, others new texts or no texts at all, and the subject
matter ranges from political, argumentative, ironic, lyrical, to tragic.
- For example, the giant pop-up Back to a Remembered Time by Paul Johnson shows a complex house-like form made up of many windows, entrances, and restive spaces, all with a dazzling range of colors. Opening its kaleidoscopic wings, the viewer opens to a sense of joy.
- A complete turnabout in form and mood, Tatana Kellner’s 71125: Fifty Years of Silence Eva Kellner’s Story is devoted to the experience of the author’s mother in a concentration camp. Etched into the plain pine box with a slide-off lid, such as used for Orthodox Jewish funerals, is a replica of Eva Kellner’s concentration camp number. Inside, a life-like three-dimensional image of her forearm and hand with the inked tattoo embedded in the pink, naturalistic skin, as the arm and hand are embedded in the text, die cut around the arm. Turning the pages reveals more and more of the story, and more and more of forearm and hand to the final full paper cast at the end.
- Julie Chen’s 60” wide masterpiece Panorama heightens awareness about
the fragility of our earth’s capacity to support life in the face of climate
change. Lois Morrison’s Endangered Species reveals another dimension of
environmental threat: buried within lush, exotic flowers that one assumes the
title refers to are images of another endangered species, children at risk
worldwide. The human spirit is celebrated in Claire Van Vliet’s Sanctae
Hildegardis: Circulus Sapientiae (Circle of Wisdom), a stunning evocation
of the 12th Century Prioress and leading intellectual of her time, Hildegard von
Bingen.
- The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog with a full page color
illustration of each book. The catalog is a joint effort of the art historian,
Yvonne Korshak, PhD and the collector, Robert Ruben, MD.
- LOCATION AND TIMES: Beyond the Text: Artists’ Books From the Collection of Robert J. Ruben will be on exhibit at the Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, NY, NY, 10022, from March 25th through May 28th, 2010, Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. Free of charge and open to the public.
Visit the Grolier Club website: www.grolierclub.org
