Extract from Catalogue 234. Jonathan A. Hill, 2021. Art Books, Artists’ Books Book Arts and Bookworks.

81. Smith, Keith A. overcast/outcast, Book 112

An uncommon collection of visual poems by the American book artist Keith A. Smith (b. 1938); this is an early photo-digital book, created using thunderscan. Printed offset in an edition of 500 copies on mohawk Vellum 70 lb. There was also a leather-bound edition of 25 copies. The present example is signed by the artist on the title-page.

“In overcast/outcast Smith takes [it] a step farther. While [Book 115] is almost entirely graphic — a flat pattern on the page — outcast develops dimensionality with its verbal materials. The thematic concerns of the book — homosexual identity in contemporary culture — is well served by the sleight-of-hand complexities of representation and dissimulation.”–J. Drucker, the Century of Artists’ Books (2004 ed.), p. 248.

* Smith, 200 Books (2003 ed.), pp. 196-97.