School of Art, Media and Design, UWE Bristol:
Preacher’s Biscuit Books, USA and Productiongray Editions, Canada
8th January - 28th February 2007
Preacher’s Biscuit Books: was formed in Rochester, New York, USA, in 2004 by Kris Merola and Tate Shaw. The publishers collaborate with visual, sound, and language artists to make publications reliant on the material book as a metaphor to create meaning in their work. A “preacher’s biscuit” is a lumpy, irregular shaped biscuit made by collecting together the dough leftover from cutting out typical, round-shaped biscuits. Merola and Shaw see the artists’ books they publish in very much same way—as made up of the pieces from many other kinds of books and sequential forms, such as literary memoir, short fiction, music, and film. Preacher’s Biscuit Books choose, by and large, to publish those who have not previously made artists’ books in the hopes the expansive book medium will persist in the work of these and future conceptual artists.
Subjects of PBB publications often include the handling of media culture. For example, Inmates + Kittens by Marni Shindelman is a memoir made from Google keyword searches. Shaw’s Ordinary Curtains carries a visual motif of American Vaudeville stage performance, the predecessor to popular entertainment media like radio, and television programming. In the forthcoming SprawlCode by Chris Burnett, the media artist makes compelling connections between the abundance of language available on the internet and the ethos of suburbia. Preacher’s Biscuit Books sees as its undertaking the publication of artists’ books in response to, though no less involved with, a technology-based, media culture.
website : www.preachersbiscuitbooks.com
Productiongray editions: One day I went to MOMA in New York City and saw a minimalist installation with an incredibly long descriptive text on how to read the sparse artwork on display. I found that the text was more interesting than the artwork being shown. In fact the text, in my opinion, was the art and the physical installation became a secondary product. The actual artwork didn’t have to be in the museum at all. I consider that text to be the first artist’s book I saw.
The experimental bindings of the fluxus artists (using plastic ready-made boxes and innovative notions of small press) influence my work. Yoko Ono should be recognised as the ground-breaking fluxus artist she is, and not the woman who broke up that band.
Oh, if I could rewrite history. George Bush wouldn't be president, there would be a global holiday once a year when Guinness would be free, and religion and politics would be separate.
The number 47 seems to be cropping up a lot in my life so I Googled 47 and found lots of intriguing info. Do it, it will surprise you.
I am honoured to be showing with Preachers Biscuit books. Check out their website at www.preachersbiscuitbooks.com.
For a list of my bookworks with photos, descriptions and an opportunity to place a purchase order please go to www.productiongray.com. Any questions or bookart projects please contact me by
e-mail : studio@productiongray.com
Productiongray editions
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