Exhibit | February 3, 2012

Fine & Dirty at the Center for Book Arts

The Center For Book Arts is Pleased to Present Its Winter 2012 Exhibition

Fine & Dirty
Contemporary Letterpress Art
January 18th to March 31st 2012
Fine & Dirty
When: January 18th to March 31st 2012 Where: 28 W. 27th St., 3rd Floor, New York, NY
Subway: N/R to 28th St, or F to 23rd St Admission: free

Organized by Betty Bright and Jeff Rathermel, Minnesota Center for Book Arts

The practice of letterpress printing incorporates craft standards and the book’s haptic character, along with art world strategies, materials and content. With Fine & Dirty, the Center for Book Arts’ Winter 2012 Exhibition, the curators assemble work that represents the best in letterpress books today, created by established and emerging artists. The exhibit explores the forces that are reshaping the meanings of craft in letterpress printing in the twenty-first century, and that may shed light on the larger craft-world’s relationship to art and to life. The exhibition also investigates other influences on current letterpress work. These include DIY (Do It Yourself) and its playful organizational spin-off for letterpress, ILLSA (Impractical Labor in Service of the Speculative Arts); Asian influences such as wabi sabi; international influences such as the UK’s Ken Campbell’s improvisatory approach and Ron King’s theatrical presentations, and a heightened focus on design and on a wide use of papers seen in work by Germany’s Viktoria Schäpers and Barbara Tetenbaum.

Visit our website for up-to-date details: www.centerforbookarts.org

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS

The Center for Book Arts is committed to exploring and cultivating contemporary aesthetic interpretations of the book as an art object, while invigorating traditional artistic practices of the art of the book. The Center seeks to facilitate communication between the book arts community and the larger spheres of contemporary art and literature through exhibitions, classes, public programming, literary presentations, opportunities for artists and writers, publications, and collecting. Founded in 1974, the Center for Book Arts was the first organization of its kind in the nation.
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