Books Aren't Just For Reading

Books aren’t just for reading, according to artist Adam Bateman, who is winning acclaim for his innovative book sculptures.

He currently has a solo exhibition in Brooklyn featuring book structures that include cubes, oblongs, spirals and one huge column three-feet thick, eight-feet tall and weighing over 4000 pounds.

“I started to work with books at college,” said Adam, who graduated from New York’s Pratt Institute in 2003 with a master’s in fine arts. “I love books. I like the way they feel, the way they look and what they mean. They are objects but have immense cultural significance.”

Utah-based Adam has around 50,000 to 60,000 books in storage for his sculptures. He obtains discarded books from libraries and bookstores. “They were all destined for the junk pile,” he said.

Larger structures are supported by an inner frame. All the book spines are turned to the inside of each piece of art, so no book can be identified. “I don’t want people to focus on the books that I’ve used rather than the sculpture itself,” he explained.

“My inspiration is minimalism. Of course, I love reading and like to read books about post-modernism. Umberto Eco is a particular favorite. I’m interested in poetry, literature, and writing.”

Adam’s exhibition, Morphology, can be seen at Gallery Boreas, 133-A Roebling Street, Williamsburgh, Brooklyn through May 1.

Books About Sculpture:

Modern: Painting and Sculpture from the Museum of Modern Art
John Elderfield

"This volume, published on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of The Museum of Modern Art and the opening of its new building, is a comprehensive overview of its painting and sculpture collection. The works selected for this publication reflect the richness of the collection, which is distinguished by masterworks as well as less-well-known examples of painting and sculpture."

Copies From: $30.00 - $65.00

Passages in Modern Sculpture
Rosalind Krauss

The book is well illustrated in black and white. The text is rigorously formalistic and analytical and organized around specific sculptural considerations such as the treatment of narrative time, the handling of space, and the game strategies of surrealist sculpture.

Copies From: $10.00 - $103.03

Sculpture 1900-1945 After Rodin
Penelope Curtis

Sculpture 1900-1945 provides a new critical analysis of the fascinating development of sculpture in Europe and America during this important period in art history. The most comprehensive concise history of modern sculpture available, this account puts sculpture back into relation with a range of other phenomena, encompassing many kinds of architects, sculptors, and painters, with widely differing kinds of practices.

Copies From: $13.21 - $25.00

Sculpture in the Age of Doubt
Thomas McEvilley

Sculpture in the Age of Doubt is a revelatory exploration of the course of twentieth-century sculpture framed in a lucid discussion of the major issues surrounding the post- Modern movement. It traces the evolution of Modern sculpture from its earliest break with representation and illusion to the unconstrained independence it has achieved in contemporary art.

Copies From: $16.69 - $24.99

Modern Sculpture: A Concise History
Herbert Read

Drawing on the knowledge of a lifetime of study, and the understanding of one who himself participated in the creative adventure of modern art, the late Sir Herbert Read traces the development of modern sculpture from Rodin to the present day and brings order into the apparently chaotic proliferation of styles and techniques during this period. 339 illus., 49 in color.

Copies From: $1.00 - $249.49

Sculpsit Contemporary Artists on Sculpture and Beyond
Kerstin Mey

This unique anthology of contemporary artists who work in the 'expanded field of sculpture' creates the first volume in the new series of transcript publications, which has evolved from the successful journal of contemporary visual culture.

Copies From: $9.50 - $119.35