Artists Making Books

Artists Making Books explores the work of artists who have expanded the boundaries of the book as both an object and a medium of expression. Through exclusive interviews and original essays, the contributors examine the relationships between artists, readers, and collectors, while reflecting on the artistic practices and cultural dynamics that make artists’ books so compelling today. The publication is closely linked to the exhibition presented at the American Academy in Rome in 2024 and curated by Ilaria Puri Purini. The exhibition showcased radical approaches to the book - subverting, reinventing, inverting, and celebrating letters, words, texts, form, and structure - offering a selective history of how books have been created through diverse graphic and creative solutions. By tracing connections between the historical avant-gardes and contemporary practice, Artists Making Books reveals the book as a continuing site of experimentation, a means of resisting commercial constraints, and ultimately a space of refuge.