Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive Director & Curator, Center for Book Arts, with Johanna Drucker (UCLA), Jae Jennifer Rossman (Yale), and Tony White (MICA).

Behind the Personal Library: Collectors Creating the Canon considers the influence of private collectors on the critical dialogue in the field of book arts. Rather than curating the works around a central theme, the goal of this exhibition is to examine works in these collections that have become seminal artworks in the field at large, thus becoming influential to establishing a canon. The exhibition also analyzes the collectors themselves: how they came to collect books, what drove them to continue collecting, whether they consciously built and curated their collections, and how these factors influenced and informed artist bookmaking practices. On top of continuing the conversation of the book arts canon, Behind the Personal Library is a walk down memory lane with the Center for Book Arts. Many of the works and artists in this show are coming full circle, having exhibited at the Center previously.

Collections featured include: Philip E. Aarons & Shelley Fox Aarons (NY), Mary Austin (CA), Duke Collier (MA), Jack Ginsberg (South Africa), Arthur Jaffe (FL), Monica Oppen (Australia), Barbara Pascal (CA), Robert Ruben (NY), Marvin & Ruth Sackner (FL), Julia Vermes (Switzerland), Francis H. William (MA/NY), Martha Wilson (NY), and the Estate of Tony Zwicker (CT).

Artists included in the show are:

Jody Alexander
Noriko Ambe
Dos Amigos
Harry Anderson
Richard Artschwager
Lyn Ashby
John Baldessari
Harriet Bart
Leonard Baskin
Dan Battenschool
Barton Lidice Beneš
Tatjana Bergelt
Jen Bervin
Doug Beube
Mare Blocker
Barbara Bloom
Rozi Bornemisza
François Bouillon
John-Eric Broaddus
Inge Bruggeman
Jonathan Callan
Carolee Campbell
Ken Campbell
Ulises Carrión
Luciano Caruso
Gérard Charrière
Julie Chen
Phil Chernofsky
Critical Art Ensemble
Anna Crowell
John Cutrone & Seth Thompson
Brian Dittmer
Johanna Drucker
Timothy Ely
Stephan Erasmus
HansPeter Feldmann
Vincent FitzGerald
General Idea
Albrecht Genin
Sharon Gilbert
Donald Glaister
Joan Iversen GoswellKarl-Friedrich Gross
Guerilla Art Action Group (GAAG)
Hans Haacke
Romano Hanni
Nicci Haynes
Art Hazelwood
Mary Heebner
Paul Heimbach
Barbara Hodgson & Claudia Cohen
Jan Hogan
Joel Hubaut & Gherasim Luca
Susan Johanknecht
Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick
Matt Keegan
Tatana Kellner
William Kentridge
Michael Kidner
Ron King
Martin Kippenberger
Ilona Kiss
Peter Koch
Terence Koh
Thomas P. Konietschke
Margia Kramer
Hedi Kyle
Clemens-Tobias Lange
Warja Lavater
Warren Lehrer
Sol LeWitt
Angela Lorenz
Joan Lyons
Peter Lyssiotis
Bea Maddock
Francoise Mairey
Russell Maret
Dona Ann McAdams
Clifton Meador
Rolando Mignani
Susan Mills
Lois Morrison
Tim Mosely
Maurizio NannucciReinhold Nasshan
Bruce Nauman
Trong Gia Nguyen
Susanne Nickel
Chandler O’Leary
Gé za Perneczky
Pawel Petasz
Tom Phillips
Robin Price
Violet Ray
Harry Reese
Martha Rosler
Dieter Roth
Ed Ruscha
Lyndi Sales
Rocco Scary
Veronika Schäpers
Carolee Schneemann
Uta Schneider & Ulrike Stoltz
Kurt Schwitters
Shirley Sharoff
Rachel Sher
Robbin Ami Silverberg
Clarissa Sligh
Josh Smith
Linda Smith
Buzz Spector
Barbara Tetenbaum
Robert The
Anne Twigg
Katherine Venturelli
Tom Virgin
Claire van Vliet
Marianne Vogler
Jan Voss
Mark Wagner
Shelagh Wakely
Lawrence Weiner
Alastair Whitton
Emmett Williams
Sam Winston
Anna Wolf

» Behind The Personal Library: Collectors Creating the Canon