June 30 - August 24, 2023

Curated by Jeff Foye and Danielle Ogden

JAC Talk: The Staying Power of Books on August 23

Curator’s Tour (for Members + Supporters) on August 22

Ten artists explore the convergence of text and image:

Nick Benson, Lesley Dill, Karin Gielen, Joan Hall, Andy Li, Rupert Nesbitt, Toby Sisson, Buzz Spector, Coral Woodbury & Jo Yarrington

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION: Visual art and language are parallel pursuits in a long conversation. From the prehistoric cave paintings in Lascaux, to Egyptian hieroglyphs, to the Surrealists combining painting and poetry, artists have long used images to communicate, and writing to illustrate. In paintings and books, we embark on journeys of exploration, uncovering new worlds and discovering hidden aspects of ourselves.

Book as Muse brings together ten artists who skillfully blend imagery and written expression. Through their works they reflect, reinterpret, and invite us into their artistic realms. They play with legibility, erasure, relationship to place, fantastic leaps of logic, and sense of time.

But the coalescing of words and images cuts both ways. They can inform and connect or provoke and mislead. The rapid pace of the digital age has created a surging volume of available information while simultaneously radically altering the way we take in information. Articles are reduced to tweets, emojis are substitutions for opinions, and the most complicated socio-political commentary is distilled to a meme. In contrast, a book offers a counterbalance–a respite that encourages limitless potential for discovery and flights of imagination.

This exhibition delves into the elements of books, writing, and exploration; evoking personal memories and igniting a sense of wonder.

The proverbial expression “a picture is worth a thousand words” illustrates the intersections among writing, seeing, perception, and image making. Literature—in all its genres—has provided a wide-spread source of inspiration for artists. From Sir John Everett Millais’, Ophelia (1851) to Salvador Dalí’s Mad Tea Party (1969), artists have created works of visual art to accompany the written word. Juan Miro collaborated with Surrealist writer, Andre Breton, who used Miro’s paintings to write of his experience in WWII; Mexican Conceptualist Ulises Carrión argued for an expanded concept of the book on par with sculpture, painting, and film in his 1975 manifesto “The New Art of Making Books,” while contemporary artists like Ed Ruscha, Titus Kaphar, and Haruki Murakami have drawn artistic inspiration from comic strips, historic documents, altered pages and publications, interweaving visual art and language, generating new symbols, sentiments, and readings. 

Today’s fast-paced digital age has radically altered the way we take in information. Articles are modified into tweets, emojis are substitutions for opinions, and the most complicated socio-political commentary is distilled to a meme. This exhibition aims to deepen our appreciation for both creative languages’—or mediums—powerful ability to communicate.