Stay/Keep
9 – 24 August, 2014
Paper Mountain Gallery
Featuring work by:
Emma Buswell
Mardi Crocker
Anna Dunnill
Laura Edmunds
Zoe Lutze
Danni McGrath
Holly O’Meehan
Amy Perejuan-Capone
Emma Schrader
Seeing parallels between the act of experiencing an exhibition in a gallery and that of exploring the contents of a book, I worked with nine artists to develop a collection of book-based artworks to be both exhibited (Stay) and made available for purchase (Keep). Each work functions as discrete devising of the artist and comes together as part of the collection in the way a library functions to gather like objects, with disparate contents.
Aware of the dual roles of book objects where their collected value of is somewhat in contrast to the often brutal effects of their use, Stay/Keep attempts to evoke the spirit of both the ancient, preserved manuscript and the dog-eared, penguin classic. Through the development of two spaces within the gallery, different interactions with the book object will be facilitated.
A library’-like space encouraged viewers to linger with the artist books, exploring their pages. Far from being hidden under glass and handled with white gloves, these works will demand to be used in order to be experienced in totality, and require time to be considered as a whole.
The book shop allowed the impossible-to-overlook commercial and multiple nature of books to be experienced by viewers. Books are objects to be disseminated from a source and used in whatever way deemed by the purchaser. To allow this added relationship with the works, limited editions were available for purchase, and for the owner to do with as they wish.
Ultimately, Stay/Keep looks to engage viewers in the inclusive and participatory elements of books as art objects.
