Artist's Books, Art Prints, Etchings, Karen Kunc

First is the issue of sequentiality - a way to present an idea that relates to other parts, that one part to make the point - a process that grows and evolves, requiring more of moving from one to the next as a form of 'reading', and saying something thoroughly. Related to this way of thinkng, I believe we have grown accustomed to a 'cinematic' flow - the permutation of our culture with video, film, TV, with media controlled sequence and narration; the book can play similarly with physical movement, as a non-static form with simple technology. Next the acceptability of 'appropriation strategy' in art, which recognizes and uses the artifacts of our printed world - pre-printed images from commercials, illustrations, throw-away sources are re-examined, re-contextualized through a collage aesthetic, which acknowledges the printed source as primary communicator of truth and illusion. Also, the postmodern era has adapted current technological means - all new methods are used for a simulacrum, a standing in, allowing for a 'slickness', evidence of 'relity of making' that blends into the larger world - digital imaging possibilities, offset availability, copy machine access, even the authenticity of the hand-printed mark which produces convincing publication values and tests reality and meaning. Another point is the postmodern examination of text and meaning, text as image, with questions of the most essentialist distillation of communication, with books historically the carrier of textual mysteries. Finally, this era has led to the examination of all communication means - written, visual, audial, tactile - and media sources as the means of dissemination. The book sits squarely with the other technological forms of film, video, tape, vinyl, computer, light and wire transmissions, while it is the most historical.
Yet still fresh for many are the traditional book issues that artists are experiencing, examining, deconstructing. First, is the narrative structure, as a physical sequence of pages, controlled pacing and reading by the maker, yet open for "random access" for further relational and unexpected experiences - the book falling open for a portentous reading. Second, is the idea of the book as a container, holding artifacts themselves, archaic information, preservation of memories, stories, images, object collection - a selected whole world. Important as well, but discredited in this age of "ironic attitude", is the love of materials discovered in the making of book objects - an awareness of paper, ink, proportion, colour, relationships, finish, detail, all parts to the whole, with evidence of craftsmanship; making an aesthetic object, even a beautiful one, as a carrier of important ideas, worthy of preserving, with reverence, meant to enhance the intimate experience of "reading".
Significant is the personal relationship to this book object - a controlling of time, space, movement, involvement in a physical place, in a physical way; unlike other art objects, books "feel right' in the hand, and it is a known relationship from our earliest days of learning, reading, discovery.

artists books

Finally, there is the issue of image and text again, but perhaps without skepticism or questionig of meaning, but as a conveyor of ideas, with an appropriateness of design and readability, in context with images for decoration, embellishment, even illustration.

The recent manifestation of book arts derives from various feeder streams, aside from the larger art historical backgrounds one could cite, such as the fine press or private press movement and the 'beat' era poets which offered a literary emphasis and alternative publications for select learned readers; the arts and crafts movment; graphic design and typographic constructivists; the Fluxus artists' ephemeral collections of detritus; and pop art send-ups of low popular arts vs. high art.
One such stream is obviously sculptural object-making, with artists using the book as a cultural icon, with books that cannot be opened, which are bound up, literally wired or pasted shut; book forms carved from solid stone. These works are uncommunicative as books, but powerful as metaphor. Another stream comes from current fascination with personal identity issues - books that work as journals, scrapbooks, offering a self-identity examination that is decidedly "diaristic", reveal

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First is the issue of sequentiality - a way to present an idea that relates to other parts, that one part to make the point - a process that grows and evolves, requiring more of moving from one to the next as a form of 'reading', and saying something thoroughly. Related to this way of thinkng, I believe we have grown accustomed to a 'cinematic' flow - the permutation of our culture with video, film, TV, with media controlled sequence and narration; the book can play similarly with physical movement, as a non-static form with simple technology. Next the acceptability of 'appropriation strategy' in art, which recognizes and uses the artifacts of our printed world - pre-printed images from commercials, illustrations, throw-away sources are re-examined, re-contextualized through a collage aesthetic, which acknowledges the printed source as primary communicator of truth and illusion. Also, the postmodern era has adapted current technological means - all new methods are used for a simulacrum, a standing in, allowing for a 'slickness', evidence of 'relity of making' that blends into the larger world - digital imaging possibilities, offset availability, copy machine access, even the authenticity of the hand-printed mark which produces convincing publication values and tests reality and meaning. Another point is the postmodern examination of text and meaning, text as image, with questions of the most essentialist distillation of communication, with books historically the carrier of textual mysteries. Finally, this era has led to the examination of all communication means - written, visual, audial, tactile - and media sources as the means of dissemination. The book sits squarely with the other technological forms of film, video, tape, vinyl, computer, light and wire transmissions, while it is the most historical. Yet still fresh for many are the traditional book issues that artists are experiencing, examining, deconstructing. First, is the narrative structure, as a physical sequence of pages, controlled pacing and reading by the maker, yet open for "random access" for further relational and unexpected experiences - the book falling open for a portentous reading. Second, is the idea of the book as a container, holding artifacts themselves, archaic information, preservation of memories, stories, images, object collection - a selected whole world. Important as well, but discredited in this age of "ironic attitude", is the love of materials discovered in the making of book objects - an awareness of paper, ink, proportion, colour, relationships, finish, detail, all parts to the whole, with evidence of craftsmanship; making an aesthetic object, even a beautiful one, as a carrier of important ideas, worthy of preserving, with reverence, meant to enhance the intimate experience of "reading". Significant is the personal relationship to this book object - a controlling of time, space, movement, involvement in a physical place, in a physical way; unlike other art objects, books "feel right' in the hand, and it is a known relationship from our earliest days of learning, reading, discovery.
	Finally, there is the issue of image and text again, but perhaps without skepticism or questionig of meaning, but as a conveyor of ideas, with an appropriateness of design and readability, in context with images for decoration, embellishment, even illustration. The recent manifestation of book arts derives from various feeder streams, aside from the larger art historical backgrounds one could cite, such as the fine press or private press movement and the 'beat' era poets which offered a literary emphasis and alternative publications for select learned readers; the arts and crafts movment; graphic design and typographic constructivists; the Fluxus artists' ephemeral collections of detritus; and pop art send-ups of low popular arts vs. high art. One such stream is obviously sculptural object-making, with artists using the book as a cultural icon, with books that cannot be opened, which are bound up, literally wired or pasted shut; book forms carved from solid stone. These works are uncommunicative as books, but powerful as metaphor. Another stream comes from current fascination with personal identity issues - books that work as journals, scrapbooks, offering a self-identity examination that is decidedly "diaristic", reveal
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