Seven Artists Crack Open the Art of Printed Matter in ‘Bookworks’
Man Laramée, “Encyclopedie Larousse” (element), carved books, pigments, inks, and steel clip. All photographs courtesy of James Freeman Gallery
Books have beguiled us since they first emerged within the type of ancient scrolls and codices world wide. The best way we entry, make the most of, and luxuriate in studying materials has seen technological transformation over the centuries, from Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press within the fifteenth century, to the primary dictionary produced in 1532, to the arrival of reasonably priced pocket paperbacks within the early twentieth century. Paper tomes have had an immeasurable affect on society and our potential to relay data, and even in an age of digital e-readers, the bodily quantity nonetheless embodies an attraction as timeless as literature itself. In a brand new exhibition in London, the world of studying supplies a place to begin for the seven artists to discover a variety of themes and supplies, highlighting our perennial fascination with the printed and certain medium.
Cheri Smith, Russell Webb, Guy Laramée (beforehand), Aron Wiesenfeld, Guillermo Martin Bermejo, El Gato Chimney, and Claire Partington (beforehand) work throughout a variety of kinds together with sculpture, illustration, portray, and printmaking. In Bookworks, Laramée’s deconstructed reference volumes are reworked into miniature topographical landscapes that problem our sense of scale. Cheri Smith’s work, generally painted onto ebook covers, reference the eccentricity of animals and the way they’re categorized in pure historical past catalogues. El Gato Chimney constructs elaborate narrative illustrations in accordion-style publications that comply with an eccentric band of characters as they confront large creatures.
Bookworks is on view at James Freeman Gallery by June 4.
Man Laramée, “Encyclopedie Larousse,” carved books, pigments, inks, and steel clip
Man Laramée, “Encyclopedie Larousse,” carved books, pigments, inks, and steel clip
El Gato Chimney, “The Frog’s Apparition” (2021), watercolor and gouache on Moleskine pocket book
El Gato Chimney, “The Frog’s Apparition” (2021), watercolor and gouache on Moleskine pocket book
El Gato Chimney, “Loopy Wind” (2022), watercolor and gouache on Moleskine pocket book
El Gato Chimney, “Kyu! Kyu!” (2022), watercolor and gouache on Moleskine pocket book
Man Laramée, “Petit Larousse Illustré” (2019), carved dictionary, pigments, inks, brass clip
Man Laramée, “Petit Larousse Illustré” (2019), carved dictionary, pigments, inks, brass clip
Aron Wiesenfeld, “Readers” (2021), gouache on paper
Russell Webb, “Portrait of the Artist as an Creator” (2022), oil paint and polish on ply
Cheri Smith, “Sausage” (2020), oil on board
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