Mojo Gallery is hosting the first ever exhibition in the region focused on artist’s books. The show, titled The Book [Re-Imagined], is curated by Mohamed Abou Elnaga, and brings together highly distinctive and visually intriguing artist’s books by 20 artists from around the world.
An artist’s book is not a book that is published with numerous copies available. It is a unique work handmade by an artist, with every page revealing the intimate world of its creator. This is evident by the variety of books displayed in the show that range from hand painted folded canvases to books sculpted from wood and acrylic.
“Books have long been the purveyors of knowledge. They are strongly embedded in our collective psyche as a symbol of enlightenment. An artist’s book manipulates this very familiar structure, and in the process makes us re-engage with the notion of page, format and content, often transforming them into a discussion of the medium’s own tradition. Having their own history, artist’s books have managed to escape any fixed definition. The genius of the artist makes the book behave differently and uniquely every time. Always a work of art in itself, it is created for its own sake and not necessarily for the information it contains. Each artist’s book holds the capacity to rearrange one’s idea of the book itself. By challenging traditional elements that compose a book, a new participation emerges. Through shapes, formats, materials and structures the viewer is led on a visual and tactile journey reminiscent of the free and unalloyed visual language of experimental cinema. Through an amalgamation of graphic-textual-chromatic-spatial expression, each artist’s book represents an individual’s deeply personal laboratory of inter-disciplinary art. While the collective combination of these unique artworks forms a fascinating aesthetic and intellectual dialogue between language, culture and artistic story-telling,” Elnaga says.
The Book [Re-Imagined] will run at Mojo Gallery, Alserkal Avenue until May 15.
Jyoti Kalsi is an arts-enthusiast based in Dubai.