November 7, 2014–February 1, 2015
Student-curated exhibition presents experimental and innovative book art from the 1960s to the present
Drawn from a major collection given to the Yale University Art Gallery by Allan Chasanoff, B.A. 1961, Odd Volumes: Book Art from the Allan Chasanoff Collection showcases a selection of experimental and innovative works of book art from the 1960s to the present. This student-curated exhibition considers the transformation of books into sculptural objects from multiple perspectives: the history of books, the relationship between form and content, and the interaction between the viewer and the work. Featuring over 100 works by more than 80 artists, including acclaimed figures such as Olafur Eliasson, Yoko Ono, and Dieter Roth, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to discover the world of book art. Odd Volumes is on view at the Gallery through February 1, 2015. Simultaneously, Artspace, a nonprofit arts organization in New Haven’s 9th Square, presents a companion exhibition, CT (un) Bound, featuring additional works from Chasanoff’s collection as well as responses by local artists.
Exhibition Overview
Allan Chasanoff began collecting book art in the early 1990s, with the guidance of artist and collection curator Doug Beube. Chasanoff’s interest in this area derives from a broader preoccupation with media, and specifically with the book as a form of media that is “under pressure.” “The main reason for the book art collection was the loss of power—the singular power—of the book,” he says. He became intrigued with artists’ varied responses to the book as digital devices became increasingly prevalent, and he began to collect book works that were, in his words, “breaking the spine.” The collection features predominantly works by American artists but also includes objects by artists from Australia, England, France, Japan, Spain, Taiwan, and Turkey.
Objects range in size from intimate to monumental and display a wide array of media—including paper, lead, fabric, iron, steel, plastic, wood, and rope. Cheryl Sorg’s Surely All This Is Not without Meaning (Moby Dick) (2001) is a huge golden whirlpool—11 feet in diameter—of swirling text on yellowed pages. The object includes all of the words of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, cut from two copies of the book and taped together in an outwardly spiraling format. Though the original books are not intact in this object, the story remains, raising questions about the necessity of the book form to convey meaning. Daniel Gantes’s zzzbook (ca. 2009) is made from padded fabric, like a pillow, and is just big enough to lay one’s head on. Adele Outteridge’s Vessels (2004) includes Plexiglas “pages,” linen thread that suggests lines of text, and binding. It opens and closes like a book, but at its full capacity, the circular object is an elegant and moving sculpture.
Some of the book works display a sense of violence, having been burned, cooked, cut, shredded, hung, or covered in concrete. Others are transformed into new but still recognizable forms. In Axiom (ca. 1993), for example, Byron D. Clercx constructs an ax from found newspapers and pages from postmodern art-criticism and theory books. Donald Lipski adds metal bolts and aircraft wheels on either side of a found English dictionary to create a mobile book in U-90-45 (1990).
In some instances, the artist’s intentions are fairly overt, as in the case of Lisa Waters’s Great Works of Art and What Makes Them Great (1988). The work takes its title from a 1925 collection of essays and illustrations by sculptor and art critic Frederick Ruckstull. Waters carved out the pages of Ruckstull’s book—an homage to the traditional all-male, all-white Western canon—and set in their place a large golden egg, using a distinctly female symbol to comment on the place of women in the history of art. Other objects, however, are more inscrutable. Most invite a multitude of meanings and rely on the viewer to construct them, much like a good book challenges and stimulates the imagination and ultimately relies on the reader’s interpretation.
In an interview with the student curators, Chasanoff revealed that his collecting practices are informed by key questions—in this instance, the question of the book’s fading power in society—but that he is less interested in answering the question than in seeing what connections can be made among the objects he collects. Like the generative nature of Chasanoff’s collection, Odd Volumes is an exhibition that promises to inspire endless conversations.
Related Programs
Artist Panel
Saturday, January 31, 2015, 1:00–3:00 pm
“Book Club: A Conversation between Artists”
Followed by a walk with artists down Chapel Street and a closing program at Artspace. Additional programming details forthcoming.
Book Fair
Friday, December 5, 1:30 pm
Books by artists and art-book makers will be on display and for sale. The fair includes books from small independent publishers who focus on art, architecture, photography, and design; rare and limited-edition books and zines printed in short runs and showcasing a range of publishing endeavors; and book works by students from the Graphic Design program at the Yale School of Art.
Conversation
Thursday, November 6, 5:30 pm
“Inside the Collector’s Studio: A Conversation with Allan Chasanoff”
Student curators Jessica Kempner, B.A. 2014, and Sinclaire Marber, MC ’15, lead a conversation with Allan Chasanoff, B.A. 1961, about book arts and Chasanoff’s history as a collector. Reception to follow.
Exhibition Tours
Friday, November 7, 1:30 and 3:30 pm
Exhibition curators
Gallery Talk
Wednesday, November 19, 12:30 pm
“Exploring Odd Volumes: Book Art from the Allan Chasanoff Collection”
Looking closely at works from the exhibition Odd Volumes: Book Art from the Allan Chasanoff Collection, student curator Colleen McDermott, SY ’15, discusses interactive elements of the works that may not be noticeable when the objects are displayed in a museum.
Related Exhibition
Opening reception: Friday, November 7, 5:00–8:00 pm
On view at Artspace November 7, 2014–January 31, 2015
CT (un) Bound
Artspace, a nonprofit arts organization in New Haven’s 9th Square, presents CT (un) Bound, a companion exhibition to the Gallery’s Odd Volumes: Book Art from the Allan Chasanoff Collection. The show features additional works from the collector’s holdings as well as responses by local artists. At the opening reception, hear from local artists commissioned to make work for the exhibition, as well as Artspace curator Martha Lewis and Sinclaire Marber, MC ’15, one of the student curators of Odd Volumes who also assisted with the show at Artspace. CT (un) Bound was made possible thanks to support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Workshop
Friday, January 16, 2015, 12:00–3:00 pm
“Bookmaking Workshop”
Additional programming details forthcoming.
Exhibition and publication organized by Andrew Hawkes, M.F.A. candidate; Ashley James, PH.D. candidate; Jessica Kempner, B.A. 2014; Sinclaire Marber, MC ’15; Elizabeth Mattison, B.A. 2014, M.A. 2014; and Colleen McDermott, SY ’15, under the mentorship of Gallery staff. Made possible by the Jane and Gerald Katcher Fund for Education; the John F. Wieland, Jr., B.A. 1988, Fund for Student Exhibitions; and the Nolen-Bradley Family Fund for Education.