Open Studio: Artist Books
WHEN DOES A BOOK BECOME ART?
LBG guide to spending time with an artist’s book
Not every book is meant to be read cover to cover, and not every artwork is meant to hang on a wall.
An artist’s book exists in the space between, an artwork that uses the form, structure, and experience of a book as part of its meaning. It might be hand-bound, produced in small editions, or crafted from unexpected materials. Sometimes the focus is on pacing: how you move through it, turn its pages, or unfold it, with each action shaping the encounter.
Unlike mass-produced books, artist’s books are often slow to make and slow to experience. They invite close attention, asking you not just to look, but to hold, to feel the textures, to listen to the sound of a page turning. They are as much about the journey through them as the images or words they contain, unfolding their stories in real time, in your hands.
May, 2021
Embroidered hardcover, hand-bound and folded photo etching on Okawara paper.
2 x 3 inches closed
LET’S LOOK
In May, Teresa Gómez Martorell reimagines the idea of a book as something you don’t simply read, you unfold. This tiny, hand-bound book opens into a delicate sequence of folds, to reveal an etching printed on soft Okawara paper. Experiencing it feels like watching a distant memory come into focus, one fold at a time. You can’t rush it, each crease sets its own pace.
That’s part of the magic of artist’s books, they are artworks you meet through touch as much as sight. They invite you to turn pages or unfold structures, to feel the grain of paper, the weight of a cover, the surprise of what’s concealed inside. Each one is a blend of sculpture, narrative, and print, a meeting place for the visual and the tactile, where reading becomes an act of discovery.
Spending time with an artist’s book can change your pace and focus:How does the physical construction (binding, paper, texture) of a handmade book affect your engagement with the work?Do you feel the sequence of pages changes your experience of the work compared to seeing the same images in a gallery?Do you think of them as art objects, books, or something else entirely?
These are works you experience slowly. They invite you to get close, to notice, and to let each detail arrive in its own time.