Upcoming Racine Art Museum Exhibition Showcases Artists’ Books
![](https://urbanmilwaukee.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Lingen-1993.29-A-D-Comeundone-alternate-2-1024x683.jpg)
Ruth Lingen, Pooté Press. Comeundone, 1989. Letterpress on handmade paper, line engraving, found paper collage, and metal, edition 40/100. Text and drawings by Henrik Drescher. 6 x 6 x 1 inches. Racine Art Museum, Gift of Paul Quick and Wisconsin Bell in Memory of Christopher Geoffrey Blaesing. Photography: Jon Bolton
Racine, WI October 6, 2023
An upcoming exhibition at the Racine Art Museum (RAM) puts a unique aspect of the museum’s permanent collection on display. Opening on October 11, 2023, Variations on a Theme: Artist’s Books at RAM features some of the 550 artists’ books in the museum’s holdings—a collection that may be one of the largest of its kind in a Midwestern art museum.
RAM Curator of Exhibitions Lena Vigna points out that books are successful as art-making forms because of how familiar they are to individuals. “Similar to adornments, garments, or functional silverware, for example, books in and of themselves are things most people have had experiences with. In fact, that shared understanding of how a book should/could function is sometimes why artists are drawn to making them. When they experiment with how a book looks or opens—or if it even resembles a ‘book’ at all—they have the potential to immediately make an impact as they challenge expectations.”
Artists’ books—a category of making in its own right—can encompass aspects of printmaking, papermaking, illustration, design, and more. An artist can directly produce the book or work with a team that implements an idea—or a combination of both. Artists’ books as a whole consider the idea of the book, as well as its physical format, as a starting point for aesthetic and conceptual investigations. Designs can vary widely and include pieces that question the framework, use, or definition of a book; that include multiple components; or that are not functional in any traditional sense of the word.
Along with “being a specialty focus at RAM and worth drawing attention to,” Vigna points out that this exhibition also highlights collecting interests in other ways. “Several of the artists involved in this exhibition are artists of color and/or women. This shows that even in this not-as-well-known subgroup of contemporary artistic practice, we can see a range of voices and approaches.”
Variations on a Theme will be on display at the museum in downtown Racine through January 13, 2024.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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