BOOK

One thing that i am always very conscious off is the context in which my work appears. Where my work will appear, how it will be presented and in what form are questions that are never far from my mind. In many ways this contextual awareness is the cornerstone upon which my practice rests. In the project i am currently undertaking the exploration of the photographs ontology is motivated by this desire to embrace the situation that is presented before us.

So how these images will come to be presented is not insignificant. In fact it is arguable that the method of presentation is just as important as the work itself. Simply put without it we would not be able to see the work. Therefore the choices i make in this area will go a long way to defining the success of the work. And the choice that i have made is to present this project in the form of a book.

This is logical enough decision and books are photographs are an extremely common sight. But what concerns me is how can to use the format of a book to enhance the strength of my book. It should not just be a vessel to transport my images from place to place. Rather it should be an event in itself and each page should accentuate the concepts that informed the photographs.

As is often the case it is usually a good idea to see what other people have done so I headed to the library to look at how other artists had used the book. The first problem I had was many of these 'artist books' are not to be found on the library shelf. They are often released in small runs and will usually find their way into collectors hands or occasionally into a libraries special collection. But after some searching i struck a rich vein of literature concerned specially with artists book.

Admidst this i found a numer of wonderful works. One of the most striking was Andre Tot's Night Visit to the National Gallery. In this publication we have what is ostensibly a guide to the national gallery collection complete with illustrations. However as the title suggests this visit takes place at night so, naturally enough, all the images are black.

Maurizio Nannucci produced a number of interesting works but chief amongst these was the book with two spines. As you can well imagine such a feature means the book is impossible to open. Lucian Bartolini Come Fetiche allows us to open his book but when we do every page is blank. However each page has a gilded gold edge setting up intriguing dialogue between the surface of the book and its contents. Herman de Vries' White goes a step further and is completely blank and is nothing but white from front to back.

If I have dealt with all this work briefly that is not by mistake. In each case the artist is making a simple, pithy statement that raises more questions that it answers. What runs through each work is an attempt to draw our attention to the physicality of the book and consider the book as a sculptural object. It is not just a tool to present information but an object in its own right. Illusion is cast aside in favour of revealing the material constraints that are implicit to how we engage with art. There is an honesty here that I find compelling. Also there is a playful, exploratory tone to the work that not only reveals the physicality of the book but also celebrates it. There is the suggestion that the book is actually enough by itself and that we should enjoy the fundamental properties that form any publication.


This tone is in keeping with the concept for my own project. I am trying to playfully explore photography and draw attention to the process of looking at an image and how we derive information from. It seems only logical that this exploration be extended onto the page. After all it is usually here where we see the majority of images. So lets not assume this space as a given but critique it as well.