This special display presents works by five artists placed in dialogue with the artworks, objects and spaces of the Kettle’s Yard House. The project is part of a multi-institutional exhibition taking place across Europe and the United States in 2021–22, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Ivorypress.
In the Library, a large artist’s book by Richard Long (b. 1945, Bristol) is displayed open on the long table. Walking and Sleeping, created with Ivorypress in 2004, documents seven walks taken by the artist between 1987 and 2001, through a combination of text and black and white photographs. Each walk is delineated by a different coloured line of text: pages can either be read top to bottom, or the viewer can follow individual routes from one page to the next via Long’s poetic observations. A small number of books in the edition also feature mud fingerprint paintings.
Walking and Sleeping continues the artist’s longstanding exploration of time, space, place and distance through the medium of walking – an idea made famous by his 1967 photograph, A Line Made By Walking, capturing the trodden path left by his feet in the grass.
The book also typifies the way Ivorypress approaches artists’ books, emphasising close collaboration with artists, and using artisanal processes to create books that are works of art in their own right. For Walking and Sleeping, Long chose a handmade paper that incorporates stones and straw, as well as mixing the coloured inks himself. The book is bound with hemp, wrapped in natural canvas, and contained in a wooden box branded with seven horizontal lines, representing the artist’s seven walks.
