Emmett, Ron Jude's latest book of photographs, is one of 43 books to be included in Threefold: Selections from the Indie Photobook Library at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University. Professor Jude's book will be exhibited alongside books by notable artists such as John Gossage, Stephen Gill, Paula McCartney, and Jason Fulford. The exhibition will run from September 13 - November 12, 2011, with an opening reception on September 21st, from 6:30 - 8:00 pm.
When you think about photographs, when you imagine them in context, realized in some physical form, how do you see them? Some see them in print portfolio boxes, some see them on computer screens, others see them matted and framed, hanging on walls. Though for nearly as long as there have been photographs, they have appeared in fixed sequences, pasted, printed directly, or reproduced in ink on pages bound together in some fashion – in other words, as books. Whether pocket-sized or table-sized, photographically-illustrated books have long served as an important showcase for the medium.
In the 1960s, Ed Ruscha and other artists utilized inexpensive printing facilities to create photobooks outside of mainstream publishing houses. These independent publications acted as art objects on their own terms and, from typeface to binding to printing quality, reflected the concerns of their makers. These artist books often employed photography in conceptual ways, as an extension of the anonymous, mechanical processes of publishing. The Indie Photobook Library (iPL), founded by Larissa Leclair in 2010, is committed to cataloging and preserving examples of the multitude of books that may never find their way into conventional library catalogues because of their modesty, or because they were often created by individual artists whose practice doesn’t include conventional distribution.
Threefold reflects the idiosyncratic interests of three curators, each adopting a unique focal point in an attempt to represent a remarkable moment in contemporary independent publishing. For a review of Emmett, written by George Slade, one of the curators of the exhibition, click on this link: Emmett review.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20110830093206987