Artists' Books

Hardware!

Artists’ books tend to get creative in their binding methods and spine décor, some of which even branch off into the hardware category! Some of these books got lost in the nuts-and-bolts section at a local hardware store, while others found unique hardware that matched the conception themes of their books, but all seven books have some sort of heavy-duty add-ons.

Placebo by Helen Cho and Colleen Wolstenholme comes in a Velcro fastened case, that once opened, reveals a metal bolt bound artist book. Placebo was published after the duo exhibition of Helen Cho and Colleen Wolstenholme that took place in the summer of 2004 at Artspeak Gallery in Vancouver. Both artists explore the concept of placebo through installation, sculpture, painting, and photography by using substitution as a way to lessen the potential of certain materials. The book features written statements and visual documentation of the exhibition, allowing readers to revisit Placebo.

The Geography of IKEA by Ken Laing is a nut and bolt bound artist book. The book brings together commercial photographs of IKEA furniture and images of the Scandinavian locations that the furniture was named after. All of the images were taken from the IKEA website, Google Maps, or Wikipedia. The pristine commercialized photographs of furniture next to the google street view screenshots plays with this idea of the unreal, both of the images not being able to properly represent a location. The geography of IKEA also provides descriptions of the place, provided by Wikipedia, and the product, provided by the IKEA website.

Depero Futurista by Dinamo-Azari is an artist book bound by large bolts and nuts, that showcases Dinamo-Azari’s sculptures, paintings, designs, advertisements, manifestoes, and reviews he has received throughout his career. The bolts actually allow for the pages to be rearranged once removed, giving readers the chance to rearrange the book if they desire. Depero Futurista is an expansive and spiffy portfolio of the artist’s life.

PIG 05049 by Christien Meindertsma is a glue bound artist book but with a plastic yellow tag attached to the spine. This plastic addition replicates the tags that are attached and used to identify commercial pigs, which may not technically be hardware, but it made the cut! Pig 05049 follows a commercial pig randomly selected from a farm in the Netherlands and tracks the 185 products made from pig 05049. The book features photographs of these items, from obvious food products, like bacon and pigs ears, to less expected items, such as cigarettes and insulin. PIG 05049 is beautifully made, with indented tabs cut out of the paper, and allows readers to reconsider the use of animal products in every day, and unusual, items.

A Sailor’s Calendar by Ian Hamilton Finlay and Gordon Huntly is an artist book bound together by three metal rings. The book consists of a mix of poetry and silkscreened visuals on yellowed paper. The content reflects the title, working with themes of water, sailing, weather, and fish. A Sailor’s Calendar is a short and playful read.

Junge am Kanal : Münster, Juli 2006 by Volker Gerling is a small flip book bound by two bolts that sits inside a small white box. Volker Gerling’s flip books feature portraits of people that Gerling comes across during his hikes through Germany. He travels with his previously made flip books to show the strangers that he’s interested in photographing. In Junge am Kanal : Münster, Juli 2006, Gerling photographed a young boy by a river, who initially looks solemnly into the camera but halfway through the book he breaks out into a smile.

Visionaire 59 Fairy tale: A Collection Of Unique Story Books by Various Artists is a series of eleven books held together by a leather carrying strap. While leather doesn’t quite make the hardware category, the metal pieces that shape the straps counts in this blog! This collection of books is written by modern contemporary artists, like John Baldessari, Bjork, Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, to reinvent the classic children’s book fairy tales. The books are incredibly visually appealing and features many unique printed covers, such as lenticular images. Some of the books may give you the creeps, while others are just beautifully mesmerizing, but they’ll all definitely make you rethink the fairy tales you've come to know.