Artists' Books Online

December 28, 2008 5:33 AM

Artists' Books Online is a collection by the University of Virginia of artists' books. Artists' books are works of art that take the form of books and are often both text and visual art. Either way, they're awful interesting to look at. Here are some artbooks to get you started: How to Humiliate Your Peeping Tom by Susan Baker, The Word Made Flesh by Johanna Drucker, Life in a Book by Francois Deschamps, A.A.A.R.P. by Clifton Kirkpatrick Meador, opuntia is just another name for a prickly pear by Todd Walker and Black Dog White Bark by Erica Van Horn
posted by Kattullus (7 comments total)

So do comic books count as "artists' books"?
posted by The Michael The at 6:45 AM on December 28, 2008

The books by Susan Baker of the How To Humiliate Your Peeping tom are delightful and gave me the first belly laughs of the day. Thanks for the typically wonderful post.
posted by nickyskye at 8:02 AM on December 28, 2008

A comic does not count.

I love these things. I've made a couple. Sometimes they become a bit pretentious, and I really hate the "do not touch" attitude at most displays. Books art meant to be held, but then I think this about much art as well.

Thanks for digging these links up.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:04 AM on December 28, 2008

I saw two artist's books last week in New York, without even knowing what the phrase "artist's book" meant:

"New York, N. Why?": This is an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of a book that by Rudy Burckhardt that can be purchased in a facsimile edition.

"Prince Eagle: An Artist's Book" by Elizabeth Peyton: This was for sale at the exhibition of Peyton's work, "Live Forever," at the New Museum.
posted by jayder at 9:39 AM on December 28, 2008

Nice, but the interface is pretty much unusable if you use flashblock.
posted by DarkForest at 6:14 PM on December 28, 2008

... because it invokes a new player with each page.
posted by DarkForest at 6:32 PM on December 28, 2008

That's a shame, DarkForest. I much prefer good ol' JPG for everything, myself. There's a lot of stuff I look at that I don't post because the interface is ginky, but this site had the right level of unginkiness mixed with some awesome content.

I've wanted to own a copy of The Word Made Flesh for nearly a decade now but I've rarely been able to justify throwing down $100 for a copy. This is very much the next best thing but man, next best is sometimes pretty damn good.
posted by Kattullus at 8:16 PM on December 28, 2008