What is an Art Book? Volume 3
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“What is an Art Book?�
2000 A4 sheets of paper 43 art practitioners 3 days 2 nights 2 desks 2 pens 8 chairs new york city gallery aircon 3
Contents
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Contents Preface/Foreword Introduction Adam Payne Aaron Miller Alexis de Chaunac Amy Fung Anthony Miler Ben Stubbington Bobby Stackleather Bruce High Quality Foundation Catherine Taylor Charlie Nesi Colin Kilian Cynthia Lin Diana Schmertz Eli Rosenbloom Emily Knecht Emma Wasielke David Pappeceno Gwen Hardie Jacquelyn Ross Jason Alexander Byers Jomar Statkun Michael Gittes Julien Levy Kirsten McCrea Kristina Lee Kumasi Barnett Kyle Kouri Lindsay Keys Martyn Gallina-Jones Matthew Stock Russell Perky Sarah Faux Samuel Stabler Sam Fryer Serena Qiu Sharon Butler Simon Burstall Tina Hage & Keh Ng Tiziana La Melia Tyler Healy William Buchina Zefrey Throwell Omar Zeinc Zeph Colombatto Epilogue
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Preface/Foreword
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Conceived initially as a part of the London based collaborative event by the Mews Project Space ‘Artists books Weekend’ “What is an Art Book?” is an investigation in to the politics of artists books, its mode of production and its recent resurgence in the art world. For this, our third volume, The Modern Language Experiment is very excited to be collaborating with two New York spaces. Garis & Hahn and Young & Starving. An Art Book today can be seen to occupy various different positions including that of a piece of theory, a catalogue, a printed exhibition, a piece of art in itself, a supplement to a pre-existing piece. It can be a proposal for the future or an examination of the present or what has passed. “What is an Art Book?” will be an investigation of what an Art Book is in terms of material,
conceptual, industrial and
political concerns. Over 50 artists, writers, curators, and other practitioners are invited to respond to the title of the project by contributing their interpretation of what an Art book means to them and their practice. Each contributor can propose text, drawings, photographs, sculpture, performance, audio recordings, video or any other concept/theory as long as it can ultimately be realised in A4 paper format and in black and white. The contributors will produce their artworks over the three days at Garis & Hahn, which will serve both as an exhibition space and a production house where we will create the actual artists book.
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Introduction
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“What is an Art Book?” is a question that is defined by the density and the variety of the responses it evokes. This is a complex question with many possible responses, which will become evident as you travel through the content produced by the 51 contributors. In these 380 pages you will find work by artists, writers gallery directors, magazine publishers, curators and scriptwriters.
Their individual languages collide bringing written language,
drawing, video, performance, graphic design, painting, sculpture, photography, found material as well as hybrids of all of the above. This book was made as the Modern Language Experiment’s response to the Whitechapel Art Gallery’s Art Book Fair, at Garis and Hahn over the course of a weekend. Much of the content was produced on site in the gallery space surrounded by a constant stream of other contributors and audience members; but many more were made in isolation within the artists own studio and brought to the gallery. Through exposure, collaboration, isolation and constraints we hope that we can create an alternative model for art book production and in doing so question the books role and impact on today’s society. With this book we have instigated a conversation that we will continue to develop, a question which will be asked again and again for it is a good question. As the masochists in us all yearn for the definitive in what cannot be cornered. Long live the Art book. Matthew & Keh 12 October 2012 & 2013 London
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Adam Payne
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Aaron Miller
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i have considered this question and the following is my answer Aaron Miller
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An art book to me is a means for knowledge and a connection that is not always present when looking at a body of work in a gallery or museum. Rarely do you, the viewer, get to here the artist or art critic speak about the work on the wall in a considered and contextualized way. The work we make as artists relates to something, inevitably from our life experience, our interests socially, morally, politically, etc‌ A good art book will take a collection of images, or an exhibition, and contextualize them so that the reader will have a better understanding of the driving force behind the work. It may also shed light on a broader composition of the artist working process. Art is not always easy to read as a contextual statement, this is where the art critic or historian comes in, to fill in the gaps. Artists work in a bubble or vacuum, sometimes alone, sometimes in a group but the work is created with a limited scope on the world around them. The problem with this is that we, as artists, want the world to see and relate to the art. This is certainly possible, but it takes more than one creative mind. Gallerists and dealers can do this with clientele who are intellectually primed to interpret visual imagery. Art books take this idea of dissecting visual imagery even further, with biographies, historical references, influences and juxtapositions that break down information that is not always present in the gallery.The flip side to this dissection of conceptual development is the art book as a symbol of status. Art books are often glossy, slick and sexy objects that are more accessible than a single painting in the gallery. This kind of symbol is important to the artist and the 21
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collector. The more books made about you, the more important you might be in the art historical realm, or, perhaps the gallery sphere. Artists want to have books made about them. It is a flattering thing to be scrutinized to that degree. This object will be seen and thought about many more times in its life than the works that are represented in its pages.The idea of status pertains to the collector of art books as well; having books can be a point of pride and a constant source of renewable conversation. A collection of large art books is an impressive thing to behold. It can be a glimpse into the mind of the collector. When looking at the collection it is possible to form an opinion about the owner based on the variety, the focus, historical, contemporary, painters, sculptures, printmakers, are there any repeat artists, how big are the books, and so on. As an artist this is a great point of access to the collector as a person. We have trained on and studied the artists and techniques represented in these books, which help us, contextualize and understand the driving force behind the collectors process coming around full circle.
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Alexis de Chaunac
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Amy Fung
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Anthony Miler
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Ben Stubbington
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Bobby Stackleather
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Bruce High Quality Foundation
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Catherine Taylor
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Charlie Nesi
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Colin Kilian
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Cynthia Lin
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Diana Schmertz
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Eli Rosenbloom
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Which is new does not exist, but will always be a rearrangement of the existing.
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Eli Rosenbloom
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Emily Knecht
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Emma Wasielke
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Fappacfno
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Gwen Hardie
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Jacquelyn Ross
Up there, just near, in the dappled light:
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The silhouette of a stair up to that red-breasted sapsucker’s nest, a buoy drawn taut to an hourglass pot;
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A sundial sail with a bucket reply, dry cedar halo, short hair tie;
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Dog days, denim dues, a moon in a moon in a moon;
Sitting lost, fitting ripe, a peach sliced in two ’s lunch for two.
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Jason Alexander Byers
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Jomar Statkun
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Michael Gittes
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Julien Levy
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Kirsten McCrea
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Kristina Lee
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Kumasi Barnett
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Kyle Kouri
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Lindsay Keys
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Martyn Gallina-Jones
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AN ART BOOK CAN BE AN AID TO MEMORY LOST & FOUND Lost your life Lost your wife Lost your husband Lost your child Lost your mother Lost your father Lost your daughter Lost your son Lost your brother Lost your sister Lost your tia Lost your tio Lost your primo Lost your friend Lost your pastor Lost your arm Lost your leg Lost your sight Lost your building Lost your skyline Lost your car Lost your subway Lost your street Lost your school Lost your job Lost your money Lost your shirt Lost your stability Lost your equilibrium Lost your security Lost your safety Lost your normalcy Lost your belief Lost your faith Lost your hope Lost your way Lost your will to live Lost
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Found your fear Found your courage Found your grief Found your faith Found your hope Found your charity Found your belief Found your God Found your prayer Found your voice Found your song Found your partner Found your children Found your brother Found your sister Found your family Found your friend Found your neighbor Found your hero Found your people Found your community Found your city Found your country Found your government Found your togetherness Found your truth Found your peace Found your comfort Found your shoulder Found your embrace Found your support Found your thanks Found your health Found your strength Found your chutzpah Found your will to live Found your life Found. Š Martyn Gallina-Jones 9/25/01
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Matthew Stock
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Russell Perky
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Sarah Faux
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Samuel Stabler
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Sam Fyer
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Serena Qiu
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If genre is synonymous with expectation, should it not be troubling that art books have become Art Books? It makes a bitter, comfortable history or catalogue or advertisement of itself. The hope is to not to make nice on the shelf with others, but to antagonize the idea of sequence and belonging, and what it means to take a page. Z. Q.
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Sharon Butler
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Simon Burstall
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Tine Hage & Keh Ng
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Tiziana La Melia
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Tyler Healy
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William Buchina
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12 Portraits of Silvio Berlusconi After He Was Struck in The Face
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Silvio Berlusconi was struck in the face with a metal souvenir version of the famous Milan Cathedral, on December 13th, 2009. He was bleeding profusely from the mouth & nose, yet he stated for the television cameras, “I love blood, can you see? I am a man who loves blood!� His assailant was promptly beaten to death by the crowd, which then sang a riotous version of a popular love song.
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Zefrey Throwell
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Omar Zeinc
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Zeph Colombatto
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> From: Max Teicher <masteicher@gmail.com> > Date: 8 September 2013 19:53:11 GMT+01:00 > To: keh.ng@modernlanguageexperiment.org > Subject: Fwd: Zeph Colombatto’s Narrative > > > > > Begin forwarded message: > >> From: Zeph Colombatto <zepharc@gmail.com> >> Date: September 7, 2013, 7:30:20 PM EDT >> To: masteicher <masteicher@gmail.com> >> Subject: Zeph Colombatto’s Narrative >> >> Hey Max >> >> So my narrative changed as I told you before. It’s become a story of contrast and juxtaposition. >> >> The order I would like them to be presented in would be >> Jewish Boy outside City Hall - file titled 09-2013_What_is_an_art_Book1 >> Boy Digging in Sand - file titled 09-2013_What_is_an_art_Book2 >> Close up of Man - file titled 09-2013_What_is_an_art_Book4 >> Girl on the Bed - file titled 09-2013_What_is_an_art_Book3 >> >> so 1, 2, 4, 3. >> >> I’m going to send them to you via wetransfer so look for those from me. I set them to 300dpi to fit A4, and they should be in a .jpg format. >> >> As for credit, I assume you have your own methods otherwise, I own all them so no need to cite anyone else, then the titles above and the year 2013 they were shot in. >> >> Read below for my description either before or after you get all four photographs. Your call. >> >> Its a story between youth and innocence forced to mature because of circumstances larger than the subjects themselves. Yet on the other side, its two subjects that are the main subject of the photograph. They are the focal point. There was no larger life event that put them in the situation they were in. Just life as it goes on. Hopefully still intriguing enough for the viewer to stay engaged. Small moments in Larger moments against personal small moments >> >> On one side are two photos of boys, one is a young Hassidic Jew I shot while outside a protest they were staging in front of city hall in NY about Orthodox Jews now required to be drafted in Israel. >> >> The second is a young boy digging sand off the pier with spoons in Coney Island not long after Sandy. >> >> Juxtaposed against >>
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>> The black man deep in thought just sitting on the street in nyc. >> >> And finally the girl laying on the bed in her underwear. >> >> Hope you enjoy man! >> >> Thanks >> Zeph >> >> >> >> ->> -->> Keep Curious, Intrepid, and Bold >> >> Zeph Colombatto >> >> zepharc.tumblr.com >> spacewontsmash.tumblr.com >> Instagram @zepharc >> Twitter @zepharc >> US cell- +1 917 370 9707 >> Italian cell +39 366 182 1354
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Epilogue
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This book was produced as part of collaboration between The Modern Language Experiment, Garis & Hahn and Y & S 6th â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 8th September 2013
Editors Keh Ng & Matthew Stock Copy Editor The Modern Language Experiment Design The Modern Language Experiment Published The Modern Language Experiment First published 2013 contact@modernlanguageexperiment.org Issue #3 Available to buy at www.modernlangaugeexperiment.org Š the modern language experiment 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any mechanical, electronic or other means known with out the permission in writing from the publishers. 415
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With Contributions by
Adam Payne Aaron Miller Alexis de Chaunac Amy Fung Anthony Miler Ben Stubbington Bobby Stackleather Bruce High Quality Foundation Catherine Taylor Charlie Nesi Colin Kilian Cynthia Lin Diana Schmertz Eli Rosenbloom Emily Knecht Emma Wasielke David Pappeceno Gwen Hardie Jacquelyn Ross Jason Alexander Byers Jomar Statkun Michael Gittes Julien Levy Kirsten McCrea Kristina Lee Kumasi Barnett Kyle Kouri Lindsay Keys Martyn Gallina-Jones Matthew Stock Russell Perky Sarah Faux Samuel Stabler Sam Fryer Serena Qiu Sharon Butler Simon Burstall Tina Hage & Keh Ng Tiziana La Melia Tyler Healy William Buchina Zefrey Throwell Omar Zeinc Zeph Colombatto
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