New York – OUT OF RESPECT FOR OUR FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS AND COLLEAGUES WHO HAVE SUFFERED FROM THE DEVASTATING AFFECTS OF THE RECENT STORM, WE AT THE EDITIONS | ARTISTS’ BOOK FAIR HAVE ELECTED TO CANCEL THIS YEAR’S CELEBRATION. WE WISH EVERYONE A QUICK RECOVERY, OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH THEM.
Founded in 1998 by Susan Inglett of I.C. Editions and Brooke Alexander Editions, the Editions|Artists Book Fair has grown in size and stature to become the premier showcase for contemporary publishers and dealers, presenting the latest and greatest in prints, multiples and artists books. The Editions|Artists Book Fair is well known for its vibrant energy and innovation, thanks to over sixty exhibitors, presenting hundreds of artists representing New York, Johannesburg, Amsterdam, London, Paris and points in between. The Editions|Artists Book Fair was the first Fair to offer FREE admission, initiated with the intent of introducing a broader public to the medium of prints, multiples, and artists books.
2012 marked the FIFTEENTH anniversary of the Editions | Artists’ Book Fair. E | AB has come a long way from its origin as a collective of a dozen fine art and book publishers determined to build the best environment for discovering new editions and offering new ways of thinking about this most democratic of art forms. The Fair has grown to 25,000 sq ft accommodating over 60 exhibitors in the heart of Chelsea. True to its roots the Fair remains free to the public in an effort to be all inclusive, in the spirit of editioned work.
This year would have featured exciting new offerings from our esteemed international exhibitors, as well as a full schedule of innovative events and opportunities. The kick off would have been on Friday morning with Kayrock’s update on the Surrealist Exquisite Corpse. Invisible Corps features artists Matthew Brannon, Ernesto Caivano, Chie Fueki, Kanishka Raja, Fred Tomaselli and Wendy White working independently throughout the day towards a final collaboration, printed and sold on site. Not to be outdone, Saturday morning featured the Print Center orchestrated spectacular performative creation from Dennis McNett. McNett known for creating elaborate constructions papered with his own relief prints. Look for his Viking ship installed on the fourth floor and join in as McNett creates a series of Dragon masks using the same process. Later that evening Punk Cult Club (Holland) comes to New York care of artKitchen and Luiscius Books in the form of lectures, screenings and a hair salon, naturally! On Sunday everyone will have a chance to get their hands dirty with “Make Your Own Artists’ Book” led by bookmaker extraordinaire Esther Smith. Paul Chan and the crew at Badlands Unlimited will follow up with a discussion of the challenges of publishing in an “expanded field” when distinctions between books, files and fine art have been all but erased.
The opening night preview and champagne reception scheduled for tonight (Thursday, November 1) for an exclusive first look. Opening night attendees would have had first crack at the highly anticipated E | AB commissioned print, which subsidizes free general admission during the run of the Fair and could only be purchased on site. This year, DANA SCHUTZ created original work for the print available in a limited edition of 200 for $250. Dana had been working in innovative ways in printmaking since her graduation from Columbia in 2002 and continues to push our understanding and appreciation for the medium.
This year’s participants included in formation Anartist, NYC; Annual/Up to Art, Paris; artKitchen Gallery, Amsterdam; Aspinwall Editions, NYC; Badlands Unlimited, NYC; Baron/Boisanté and Om from India, NYC; Benefit Print Project, NYC; Black Shamrock Press, Chicago; Booklyn, Brooklyn; Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ; Bywater Bros. Editions, Toronto; Cannonball Press, Brooklyn; Carroll and Sons, Boston; Center Street Studio, Milton, MA; Bernard Chauveau Editeur, Paris; Cirrus Gallery & Cirrus Editions Ltd., Los Angeles; Clay Street Press, Cincinnati; Collaborative Art Editions, St. Petersburg, FL; Derringer Books, Woodbridge, CT; Division Leap, Portland, OR; Esopus, Brooklyn; Evil Prints, St. Louis; Forth Estate, Brooklyn; Fulton Ryder, NYC; Graphic Matter, Antwerp; Highpoint Editions, Minneapolis; Gallery Ernst Hilger, Vienna; I.C. Editions, Inc., NYC; Island Press, St. Louis; Jungle Press Editions, Brooklyn; Karma, NYC; Kayrock, Brooklyn; David Krut Projects, Johannesburg/NYC; Landfall Press, Inc., Santa Fe; Le Neant Editeur, Paris; Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, NYC; Long Life China Company, Brooklyn; Lower East Side Printshop, Inc., NYC; Luiscius Books, s’Hertogenbosch; Marginal Editions, Brooklyn; LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies, NYC; New West Editions, Seattle; Oehme Graphics, Steamboat Springs, CO; Galeria Moises Perez de Albeniz, Pamplona; The Print Center, Philadelphia; Purgatory Pie Press, NYC; Raina Lupa Ediciones, Barcelona; Revue Noire, Paris; Andrew Roth/PPP Editions, NYC; 6 Decades Books, NYC; Edition Silverbridge, Montreuil-sous-Bois; Solo Impression, NYC; Specific Object, NYC; Studio 339, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; Kornelia Tamm Fine Arts, Rhinebeck, NY; Cristin Tierney Gallery, NYC; Cade Tompkins Projects, Providence; 20th Century Art Archives, Cambridge, UK; 21st Editions, South Dennis, MA; Western Exhibitions, Chicago; White Wings Press, Chicago; Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH; Michael Woolworth Publications, Paris; and Irving Zucker Art Books, NYC.