The State Library of Queensland’s latest Pop Up exhibition will feature a curated selection of Siganto Foundation International Artists’ Books. This collection is a boutique international collection which complements the strong Australian artists’ books holdings in the Australian Library of Art. The Siganto Foundation International Collection of artists’ books has works by artists from the United States, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Lithuania and Zimbabwe. Two early works from the De Stijl and Futurist movements provide a vital historical context to other works in the collection, however the fragile nature of these works preclude them from being included in the exhibition.
Some of the featured books are unique, while others are editioned works. Various formats and construction methods have been used and the display will include works that have been constructed from paper, wood, metal and plastic.
‘My Book’ is constructed from tape measures woven to form pages; the covers are woven metal tape measures that form two halves of a cylinder. The artist has woven measuring tapes to give the book an ‘African taboo feel’ inspired by Zimbabwean traditional artefacts such as baskets of the Tonga people.
Others on display have an engaging visual attraction and an endearment to family and traditions, bringing to the public the possibilities of the book as fine art.
The exhibition includes works by artists from around the world such as:
Gina Maxim
Keith Smith’s 'Book Number 281' Special Deluxe, Coptic binding in two colours was made in September 2011. It was printed with archival inks on an Epson Stylus Pro 7800. Font is Copperplate and prints were mounted onto Arches paper. This one-of-kind was hand bound by Smith on 12 April, 2012"-- Colophon.
Gina Maxim – Missing book II a unique item that is constructed in the shape of a partly opened book from wire, cloth and ink. Gina suggests in her artist’s statement 'To me, a book is not missing, but only missing to the one who thought and believed it belonged to them.'
To search for artists’ books in the collection use Onesearch and enter the term ‘ALAAB’, alternatively, a search for 'artists' books' will return references to artists’ books as well as books about artists’ books. A selected number of artists’ books from the collection have been digitised
Browse all digitised artists' books
This Pop-up exhibition will be on display from 31st August to 2nd October 2015 on level 2 of the State Library of Queensland. To keep up-to-date with our new acquisitions, events, exhibitions, visitors and what the Australian Library of Art staff have been doing please visit our blog.
Janette Garrad, Published Content Technician, State Library of Queensland.
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