Leigh Ledare is a featured artist in the group exhibition, Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks, hosted by the Institue of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, in the institution’s Fox Reading Room.
This presentation explores how contemporary artists have used the scrapbook to forge an intimate artistic identity. The format allows an informal view into the process of thinking that goes before making; the collecting that comes before facture. The scrapbook has long been used as a storehouse for memories and has evolved into a highly crafted visual record, a diary not just of thoughts, but also of things. Artists began to engage with the scrapbook in earnest in the post-war period, using the page as variously as the canvas, albeit on a smaller scale. William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin used oversize books to intertwine visual ideas and threads of stories, while other artists, such as Al Hansen, carried small notebooks for jottings, quick sketches, and humorous musings. The scrapbook can also be a finished work itself, such as Isa Genzken’s I Love New York, Crazy City.
Artists included are: Brigid Berlin, William S. Burroughs & Brion Gysin, Jimmy De Sana, John Evans, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Isa Genzken, Al Hansen, Richard Hawkins, Geoffrey Hendricks, Ray Johnson & Brian Buczak, Leigh Ledare, Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, Karin Schneider & Louise Ward and Jean-Michel Wicker.
Curated by Andrew Roth and Alex Kitnick
Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks
1 April – 11 May 2014
Private View: 1 April 2014, 6-9 PM
Institute of Contemporary Arts
Fox Reading Room
The Mall
London
SW1Y 5AH
United Kingdom
020 7930 3647
Online Curators’ Talk
1 April 2014
4:00 PM