What exactly is an artist’s book?  Prelude: Artists’ Books Now, on show in November at the Clifton School of Arts, seeks to provide a response. Showcasing an intriguing assortment of approaches to making books, the exhibition brings together 50 selected works created by established and emerging Australian book artists.

Celebrating the book as a dynamic contemporary art form that takes many shapes and covers many themes, the curators have highlighted the endless possibilities inherent in this genre.  For some an artist’s book is an object, a piece of sculpture that may or may not be opened. Alan Purdom’s work, Babel, a free-standing tower referring to the Declaration of Human Rights, is a case on point. Other examples, alter existing books. In We Are Volcanoes, artist, Lizzie Buckmaster Dove, reassembles pages of an old atlas to tell her story. Many of the works include printmaking but other artists have used watercolour, collage, text, and unusual construction techniques such as Mary Rosengren’s wall hung-documentation, Peatlands 1 and 2, which is meticulously housed in wooden drawers. The list of themes explored range from bees to political concerns; from meditations on place to personal narratives.

Prelude: Artists’ Books Now will be opened by Akky van Ogtrop, president of the Print Council of Australia on November 3 at 6pm. The exhibition continues until November 12.

Two artists will be available each day to welcome visitors and answer questions.

Local artists will provide further insights in an afternoon of artists talks on November 11, 2-4pm.