ARTISTS' BOOKS AND BOOKS AS ART [2]

Many of the items in this section include explicit or implicit comments on the book’s effectiveness as a method of providing information. For some, it may seem threatening or obtuse; for others, it becomes a source of artistic inspiration.

7

The bad dream book

Larry B. Thomas.
The bad dream book.
[Atlanta: Larry B. Thomas, 1994?].
X940098

Inside this unique artist's book, rubber stamped images and hand-written words or phrases illustrate a variety of dream-like themes. The book's wheels retain traces of mud.

8

Deborah Fenn.
[Mountain].
[Oxford : Deborah Fenn, 1993?]
X930108

The pages of this artist's book include twigs, leaves and other plant material - but no text. The title does not appear on the book itself, and was supplied by the artist.

The book of nails

9

Floating Concrete Octopus.
The book of nails.
[Madison, Wis. : Xexoxial Endarchy,] 1992.
X930037

Floating Concrete Octopus is an intermedia/performance group which changes its name every year. This copy of a book on Vincent van Gogh has been glued, then sealed with nuts and bolts. "The one black book you will never open¼ Difficult reading". – publisher’s catalogue.

Mapa ed veneiis

10

Geneviève Seillé.
Mapa ed veneiis.
[Burton on Trent: Geneviève Seillé], 1990.
X920025

This "book object" is covered with symbols, cyphers and characters. When opened, the book's compartments reveal scrolls and a codex.

11

Sergei Yakunin.
Daniil Kharms -- liubov i smert [love and death].
[Moskva: Unikat, 1992.]
X940097

Yakunin focuses on the life and writings of Daniil Kharms, who died in captivity in 1942. This highly complex work includes movable parts and various instruments of torture.

Daniil Kharms -- liubov i smert [love and death]