London Art Book Fair

Held at the Whitechapel Gallery, the fair includes events as well as exhibitors, eg talks by Tacita Dean and Cornelia Parker, which on the first day of the fair had a rather shambolic queuing system - the rest of the organisation of the fair seems to be good, so let's hope they can sort this out.

One of the first things that caught my eye was this large book, written on lovely thick paper. An indulgent meditation? - I like that kind of thing, but would rather make my own, and indeed this is stirring thoughts of what sort of text to use, on what sort of paper, in what sort of binding...

It comes in a micro-version as well -

In the excitement of seeing these, I omitted to discover the title or author.

Yet another cut book? It's by London-based artist Francesca Lowe, whose work "explores the human journey through life and time", and is one of her "tree cuts" (see more here) -

Despite feeling rather jaded about "scalpel work" in books, I was tempted by a book about art made from books -

Seeing other people's studios and reading about their processes goes beyond escapism, it plunges into timewasting denial of one's own reality - but - it's so tempting ...!

Another temptation resisted is this amusing volume, depicting books that revisit, imitate, honor, and parody  in form, content, and title the 16 small books that Ed Ruscha produced between 1962 and 1978 - "a perceptive look at how appropriation can evolve into innovation", says the NYTimes review.

More excitement was to encounter the work of Simon Pope - in not just one, but three of the books I happened to pick up. The Memorial Walks included 17 writers viewing, remembering, and describing a painting, during a walk, with their words recorded, then transcribed - a way of working with memory that I find "most interesting" and keep thinking back to.

Upstairs, among the artists books, the mossy coat by Sara Wicks caught my eye -

Read about it here. I didn't notice at the time that it illustrated a handwritten book telling the story, which is a gypsy version of Cinderalla, originally written in Northumbrian dialect. See other objects she has made in conjunction with books here. Charming work.

Outside the gallery, more fairy-tale objects; some discombobulating street furniture -

 and this house on stilts, with the notorious "walkie-talkie" building in the background -