Artist's book.
For this artist's book, Wade Guyton decided to print a large-format painting on a 1:1 scale. Flipping through the 360 pages, one looks at the fragments of a unique work, which could potentially be reconstructed (from two copies of the book!) by joining the pages together. In a sense, this book is a reflection on the questions of reproduction, the original, the source, and re-formation at the heart of Guyton's practice. If it could be said that Guyton's minimalistic “paintings,” which connect directly to abstraction's history, conjure a restructuring of Modernist art and decor, this book offers a mise en abyme of these procedures.
Limited edition of 700 copies.
Wade Guyton (born 1972 in Hammond, Indiana, lives a,d works in New York) is one of the most influential representatives of a generation of artists who reflect on and produce images in a digital era. Although some of his works question the structure and language of painting, in the traditional sense of the word, they still radically modify codes and modes of production. Guyton's paintings are indeed realized by putting canvases several times through huge inkjet printers to print motifs and letterings. Errors, drips, and misprints are part of the general composition process and ensure the result's unicity: "The first works I created digitally, it was like writing, but the keyboard replaced the pen. Instead of drawing an X, I decided to push a key." Repeated under different electronic formats, these signs—may they be Xs, Us, or even the image of a flame scanned from a book—have all become contemporary art icons.
See also
Blondes, James Campbell & I.U.D –
Wade Guyton Kunsthalle Zurich (LP);
Warhol Wool Guyton.
