The beauty of books

Long before the advent of the printing press or even the humble wood block, books existed as objects of desire unto themselves; the labour intrinsic to their production all but outweighing the actual content of the books. With this in mind iArt’s new exhibition, Open Books, will see a group of South African artists engaging with the medium of books.

The mechanisation of printing and the mass production of books rapidly made the objects more commonplace, fading the fervour with which they were regarded. It is this fact with which each of the Open Books artists have engaged in individual ways.

In some cases the form of the book is faithfully preserved, in others it is reinterpreted completely. What remains consistent is that the physical book object perseveres as a meaningful catalyst for artistic production.

Despite its mass production, the book retains an aura of indispensability. It is perhaps this embedded sentimental significance which prompted artists early in the twentieth century to rediscover value in the “book as medium”. Artists looked at ways to allow it to function as an independent entity as opposed to an arbitrary vessel of text. Gradually, this evolved into the concept of “artist’s books”, wherein the conventions and inherencies of books were appropriated to inspire the realisation of works of art.

The participating artists in the Open Books exhibition – Audrey Anderson, Willem Boshoff, Tom Cullberg, Keith Dietrich, Stephan Erasmus, Liza Grobler, Sandra Hanekom, Marlise Keith, Norman O’Flynn, Chad Rossouw, Fabian Saptouw, Mark Splendid, Colijn Strydom, Heléne van Aswegen, Jan van der Merwe and Barbara Wildenboer – have each taken the oppurtunity to reflect the endearing relationship between the book as an object and its place as inspiration to artists.

Open Books runs from 6 July – 21 August at iArt, 71 Loop Street Cape Town.

More information: info@iart.co.za, www.iart.co.za, +27 21 424 5150