Artist/Author surveys the entire spectrum of contemporary artists’ book production, from “fanzines,” assemblies, exhibition catalogues, visual poetry, sketchbooks, documentation, and illustrated books to collaborations between artists and the commercial world, such as fashion designer catalogues. Defined loosely as a book of which the artist is the author and which is itself a work of art, the contemporary artists’ book began in the 1960s as a radical departure from the tradition of books by artists that began in the 19th century. This break with the past opened the field for artists adopting the book as an autonomous art form during the 1970s, and ultimately led to the explosion of publications authored by artists in the 1980s under the influence of desktop publishing. Artist/Author explores this art form through approximately 130 books and diverse points of view. A unique aspect of this exhibition is the viewer’s ability to handle the majority of the exhibited works.

The exhibition’s Chicago presentation is coordinated by MCA Curator of Special Projects Lynne Warren and MCA Assistant Curator Alison Pearlman. Artist/Author is organized by The American Federation of Arts. The exhibition is part of ART ACCESS II, a program of the AFA with support from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund.