One of the beautiful things about appreciated art is that they have a book or exhibition catalogue for almost every genre or artist you love. This office in particular, although we receive a lot of books from wonderful publishers, spends a lot of times, on the road and at home, treasuring and searching for great and unique art books. Not to be redundant, but there is an "art" to the art book, and we are so excited to see the next exhibition at Otis College of Art & Design's Ben Maltz Gallery, "Binding Desire: Unfolding Artists Books."
Binding Desire: Unfolding Artists Books is a group exhibition featuring approximately 120 works from OTIS Millard Sheets Library’s Special Collection of 2,100 artists books dating from the 1960s to the present. The Otis Artists‘ Book Collection is one of the largest in Southern California. It houses a wide range of works representing every genre of artists‘ books by such luminaries as Vito Acconci, Joseph Beuys, and Ed Ruscha, as well as significant works from major centers of production like Beau Geste Press, Paradise Press, Printed Matter, Red Fox Press, and Woman‘s Studio Workshop. A foundational strength of the collection is its holdings of artists books made in the 1960s and 1970s—a time when this material was often not collected by libraries because so much of it was hard to define, catalog and house. The exhibition also includes a reading room showcasing new work produced by OTIS students in the Fall 2013 semester.
See a list of artists included here.