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artist members
Douglas Beube
New York, NY
www.philobiblon/idaho/beube.shtml
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Inside Macintosh
Altered book
7.25 x 12 x 11.25 in.
2004
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City
Altered books
18 x 36 x 15 in.
2002
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My work explores "the book itself", an antiquated technology that is still purposeful in a digital age. The codex, which literally means a "block of wood" in Latin, is undeviating in its essential form; its fixity is antithetical to the capabilities of the computer to function on a synergetic/simultaneous plane. Although the codex, compared to computers, is undeniably limited in its capacity to store, perpetuate, generate and recreate information, I accept these boundaries. (I’m not referring to the paginated works of Artists’ Books; this is an entirely different category that has flourished with Photoshop and Quark; Artists’ Books remain an open-ended medium.) I apply quasi-software functions such as cutting, pasting and hidden text onto an analogue system; it doesn’t work-it can’t. The codex is intractable as a technology; you read linearly from beginning to end. It is essentially inflexible. That is its built-in personality flaw; that is its elegance.
I began changing the book’s structure in 1980 by pushing the physical properties of the book, piercing, gouging and excavating it, as if it were a thrilling, previously undiscovered site in an archeological dig. As an artist my goal is to transform how a book functions outside a linear read for an outdated technology, the codex, becomes something that is new and visually meaningful.
My sculptures primarily use discarded and found books, which the viewer will recognize for its utilitarian quality. When necessary I will purchase a book or fabricate materials for a specific idea. The viewer visually engages with the re-contextualized bookwork, which might otherwise have gone unnoticed in its customary setting, and participates in its transformation through a critique or dialogue. "To visually engage with the object" as a visual experience, is my objective; beyond concept, above references, each piece explores the reciprocity between meaning and structure as comprehended subliminally through the senses.
Douglas Beube's work appeared in the following exhibition(s) organized by The Center for Book Arts
Black/White [and Read]
Organized by Gloria Helfgott, Artist and Independent Curator
A Void: Consonants and Vowels (after Georges Perec)
(2006)
Altered page
Italian to English Speakers
(2007)
Altered book, recorded voice
Recorded voice- Manuela Ferrari
Audio Assistance- Greg Boas
Audio Editing- Michelle Leftheris
Twisted Meanings
(2006)
Altered dictionary
Mutilated/Cultivated Environments
Artist Members Annual Exhibition, organized by Carol Barton, Artist and Alexander Campos, CBA Executive Director.
Border Crossing
(2006)
Altered Book; zippers
The Only Book
Inside Macintosh
(2004)
Altered book
A Tale of Two Cities
2 books each by 10 artists from New York and 10 artists from Bristol, England
Book Burning
(1995)
Lies
(1995)
manipulated, found book
Fall Forward
an exhibition featuring current faculty
Patterns of Abuse
(1997)
Mixed media
Reunification
(1997)
Mixed media
Geometry & New Math
books about sex
Evolution: Seaman, Seemen, Semen
Three found books, altered.
Guiding Hands
Center for Book Arts 1992 faculty show
Invisible Cities
(1991)
Unique
Found objects
Plot
(1992)
Unique
Found book, graphite, wood, brass
Sigmund Freud
(1991)
Unique
Found book, knobs
Stories
(1991)
Unique
Found books, metal
1991 Spring/Summer Faculty Show
Dome
(1990)
Found book, glass, tempera, paper
Electronic Voodoo (from performance)
(1987)
Found book, pins, feathers
Galileo: The Discovery of Two Great Worlds (But Not for Your Eyes)
(1987)
Found book, razor blades, wax, acrylic
Seduction of Empty Words
(1990)
Found book, tempera, mousetraps
Celebrating 15 Years
new works by Artist Members
Ashes: The Effect of Fire on Paper
(1981)
Mixed media
Dust
(1989)
Mixed media, silver gelatin prints
Matches
(1984)
Mixed media, silver gelatin prints
Study for Matches
(1984)
Toned-Silver Gelatine Prints
International Artist's Books Contest of Canada
Unveiling the history of painting, a post modern interpretation by art gossip
(1986)
mixed media
A Survey of Bookworks by Photographers
books that reflect visions not observed through a lens of a camera, but rather through the eye of the artist
Lake Keosaqua
(1980)
Silver gelatin print with mixed media. Courtesy of Tony Zwicker.
Book Artchitecture
an exhibition in which the structure of the book supports the metaphor of the content or is the content
Wildman, The
(1982)
Ceramic with leather thongs.
Center for Book Arts: The First Decade
an exhibition at The New York Public Library
Portrait of My Father Standing on Mars
(1980)
Photographic book; mixed media. 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in, opens to 46 x 48 in.
Seed Book
(1980)
Straw seed book; bound with hemp.
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