Video by Marcus Vila Richter and Rebekka Reich.

An exhibition of books about art and art about books.

IN RESIDENCE:

STEIDL VERLAG  

VERLAG DER BUCHHANDLUNG WALTHER UND FRANZ KÖNIG

A special selection of books is available at the gallery during the exhibition.

In the new exhibition BOOKS Galerie Thomas Zander celebrates art and artist’s books as well as works exploring the medium in manifold ways. Particularly during this year of social distancing and in view of a plethora of digital applications the need for tangible experiences is increasing. Books have always been able to connect people across space, time, and social divisions. They can provide an under­standing of lives and realities very different from our own. Books take art out into the world – into private shelves and institutional libraries. As lasting physical objects they allow us to appreciate and enjoy art whenever we wish to delve into it and immerse ourselves in it.

For more than twenty years, it has been a central focus of the gallery to realise publications in close cooperation with artists of the gallery, each book finding its individual form thanks to the expertise of numerous collaborators. Especially Steidl Publishers and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König internationally represent outstanding print quality and an engaging scope of topics. Galerie Thomas Zander is delighted that, in addition to joint publications with the gallery, the two publishers offer a carefully selected range of art books and photo books during the exhibition.

The exhibition presents an inspiring spectrum of books about art and art about books, which address various aspects of the medium. Two of the most renowned American photographers, Robert Adams and Lee Friedlander, each look back on an impressive number of photobooks published on many of their series since the 1960s. The signed collection of their books provide fascinating insight into their respective oeuvres. Ed Ruscha is acclaimed for his legendary photobooks, yet in turn books are also a recurrent subject of his drawings and paintings. Conceptual artist Peter Downsbrough dissects and combines lines, letters, cuts, and the spaces in between to analyse the relationship between space and language in his works and artist’s books. For Indian artist Dayanita Singh books are the primary medium of her art and take the form of maquettes or framed volumes. Since the 1980s Candida Höfer has photographed libraries from a respectful distance and in precise compositions with an interest in the inner structures of spaces. Andrea Geyer‘s work Comrades of Time examines the term ‘contemporary‘ (German: zeit­genössisch) by brining writings from the 1920s into the present day. In Joanna Piotrowska‘s photographs, actors seek protection in makeshift Shelters built from stacks of books and furniture moved together in a flat. The shopping cart full of books from Mitch Epstein‘s multimedia project Family Business questions how the American Dream went awry through the story of the demise of his father’s business. Molly Springfield meticulously draws the signs of use and wear, the annotations, dog-ears and the shadows of the xerox machine on book covers and pages. The conceptual works of Michael Riedel investigate questions of reproduction and transformation from one medium to another. In James White‘s paintings, books and other everyday objects in the room suggest a previous scene or encounter, hinting at stories that can never be fully resolved by the viewer.

RELATED ARTISTS:

Robert Adams

Peter Downsbrough

Mitch Epstein

Lee Friedlander

Andrea Geyer

Candida Höfer

Joanna Piotrowska

Max Regenberg

Michael Riedel

Ed Ruscha

Dayanita Singh

Molly Springfield

James White

and others

An interview series with artists, authors, and curators accompanies the exhibition, exploring the significance of books in their life and work.