Upstart Modern Group Show- Summer Book Club
Unlike canvas or clay, books arrive in the artist's studio already layered with meaning, already inscribed with the evidence of human engagement. The weathering we observe, the softened edges, the slight discoloration, the gentle warping of pages, these aren't signs of deterioration but rather documentation of intellectual exchange. Consider the physical reality of the book as material: each crease maps a moment of discovery, each worn corner marks repeated returns to meaningful passages. The artist working with these objects isn't simply manipulating paper and binding; they're entering into dialogue with the accumulated touch of previous readers, channeling decades of seeking, questioning, and understanding. This transformation from literary vessel to visual medium represents a fascinating evolution in how we conceptualize knowledge itself. When we witness a book reconstituted as sculpture or collage, we're observing the democratization of meaning-making. The same democratic impulse that once made knowledge accessible through mass-produced books now extends to making art from those very vessels. The resulting works speak to our contemporary relationship with information, permanence, and the increasingly blurred boundaries between consuming and creating culture. (click photo for available work).
