On view at the NY Art Books Fair. Left: J and L Books. Right: DAP.
It was heartening to see that as the publishing landscape makes room for Kindles and vooks and online magazines complete with flippable “pages,” there is still interest in beautiful, impractical artist’s books. Printed Matter, the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to publications made by artists, presented the fourth annual NY Art Book Fair, October 2-4 at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City.
Live on screen from Indiana, Corin Hewitt at the J and L Book variety show.
Judging by the crowds on Saturday, artist’s books are alive and kicking; PS1 was packed, and it’s a huge space. Among the dozen live and multimedia acts of J and L Books’ variety show were David Reinfurt of Dexter Sinister reading an essay about time by Bruno Munari, accompanied by the ticking of two metronomes, and Corin Hewitt presenting a brilliant iChat meditation on our digital lives. Acorn Chainsaw finished things up with live music on bass guitar and drum, and the standing-room only crowd filed out to wander happily among the offerings from over 200 international presses, booksellers, antiquarian dealers, and independent artist/publishers. The colorful silkscreen-printed titles from Germany’s Lubok Books, below, were especially delicious.
