Speaking to the Imagination | The Contemporary Artist’s Book

Dates: June 21- October 24, 2019

Gallery Reception: Friday, June 21, 5-7 PM

Location: Gerald Peters Projects, 1011 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gerald Peters Projects, is pleased to present, Speaking to the Imagination: The Contemporary Artist’s Book, opening on Friday, June 21^st, from 5-7 p.m.

The exhibition features handmade artist’s books and works on paper from local, national and international artists and writers of note. Each work on display reflects a compelling artistic vision combining words and art, as well as a distinctive take on book artistry as well.

Across the exhibition, traditional ideas, and uses of the “book” and its alternatives are challenged and expressed in revealing new forms, from loose sheets that fit in their own boxes to reconfigured works that exaggerate an accordion-like presence. One or two of the works are reassuring in their grand scale, while others are incisively petite and condensed. The commonality between the works is their lack of similarity, except for the love of words and art they express and the ingenious methods by which the artist’s vision is released into the world.

As Anne Evenhaugen of the Smithsonian Libraries has written, “What truly makes an artist’s book is the artist’s intent, and artists have used the book as inspiration in a myriad of ways and techniques, from traditional to the experimental—artists used the book format to create narratives to deal with difficult or emotional issues, and some used it as a cheap, portable way to make the artwork available to a broader public than the gallery and museum world allowed.”

The exhibition will feature work by writers and artists: Jim Dine, Dale Harris, Helen Hiebert, Carol Mothner, Miriam Sagan and Isabel Winson-Sagan, Kent Rush, Leon Loughridge, Margy O’Brien, Cynthia West, Vicki Bolen, Richard Wolfson, Kate Breakey, James McElhinney, and Susan Linnell.

There will be a reception for the artists and artist’s talk from 2-4 on Saturday, July 20th.