Spaces
Telfer Stokes
1974
Spaces
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Currently based in Suffolk, Scottish artist Telfer Stokes is best known for his sculptural practice and his pioneering approach to the artist’s book as both a material and conceptual form. Drawing on the radical re-evaluation ...
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Spaces
Telfer Stokes
1974
London: Weproductions
Unpaginated [158 pages]
17.7 × 11 cm
Edition of 1,000

Currently based in Suffolk, Scottish artist Telfer Stokes is best known for his sculptural practice and his pioneering approach to the artist’s book as both a material and conceptual form. Drawing on the radical re-evaluation of the relationship between text and image associated with Ed Ruscha’s early editorial projects, Stokes uses photography and sparse text to explore the narrative, formal, and conceptual possibilities of the book as a medium.


 


“Spaces” is the third artist’s book in a series of six paperbacks published by Weproductions between 1972 and 1978. Its premise is deceptively simple: to explore the layout of the page, the placement of text, and the use of photographic negative space within the bound volume. Images of the Flat Iron, a mansion house, newspaper clippings, a step chair, and other subjects create a continuous mise-en-abyme throughout the book, drawing attention to the conditions of their presentation and reproduction. In an interview with Cathy Courtney, published in “Art Monthly” in November 1989, Stokes explains:


 


“I drew the camera away from the photograph so you saw the edge of the layout or the edge of the book. That introduced a more self-conscious area, a way of saying that the view of the page was over the book.”


 


“Spaces” consequently unfolds as a self-reflexive book in which not only the depicted image, but also the page, its edges, and its physical support become integral to the work. Rather than using text to explain an image, or an image to illustrate text, Stokes treats both photograph and text as material elements within the structure of the book. The work thereby shifts attention from what the book depicts to the ways in which the book itself produces and mediates meaning.

London: Weproductions
Unpaginated [158 pages]
17.7 × 11 cm
Edition of 1,000

Currently based in Suffolk, Scottish artist Telfer Stokes is best known for his sculptural practice and his pioneering approach to the artist’s book as both a material and conceptual form. Drawing on the radical re-evaluation of the relationship between text and image associated with Ed Ruscha’s early editorial projects, Stokes uses photography and sparse text to explore the narrative, formal, and conceptual possibilities of the book as a medium.

 

“Spaces” is the third artist’s book in a series of six paperbacks published by Weproductions between 1972 and 1978. Its premise is deceptively simple: to explore the layout of the page, the placement of text, and the use of photographic negative space within the bound volume. Images of the Flat Iron, a mansion house, newspaper clippings, a step chair, and other subjects create a continuous mise-en-abyme throughout the book, drawing attention to the conditions of their presentation and reproduction. In an interview with Cathy Courtney, published in “Art Monthly” in November 1989, Stokes explains:

 

“I drew the camera away from the photograph so you saw the edge of the layout or the edge of the book. That introduced a more self-conscious area, a way of saying that the view of the page was over the book.”

 

“Spaces” consequently unfolds as a self-reflexive book in which not only the depicted image, but also the page, its edges, and its physical support become integral to the work. Rather than using text to explain an image, or an image to illustrate text, Stokes treats both photograph and text as material elements within the structure of the book. The work thereby shifts attention from what the book depicts to the ways in which the book itself produces and mediates meaning.

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Currently based in Suffolk, Scottish artist Telfer Stokes is best known for his sculptural practice and his pioneering approach to the artist’s book as both a material and conceptual form. Drawing on the radical re-evaluation of the relationship between text and image associated with Ed Ruscha’s early editorial projects, Stokes uses photography and sparse text to explore the narrative, formal, and conceptual possibilities of the book as a medium.

 

“Spaces” is the third artist’s book in a series of six paperbacks published by Weproductions between 1972 and 1978. Its premise is deceptively simple: to explore the layout of the page, the placement of text, and the use of photographic negative space within the bound volume. Images of the Flat Iron, a mansion house, newspaper clippings, a step chair, and other subjects create a continuous mise-en-abyme throughout the book, drawing attention to the conditions of their presentation and reproduction. In an interview with Cathy Courtney, published in “Art Monthly” in November 1989, Stokes explains:

 

“I drew the camera away from the photograph so you saw the edge of the layout or the edge of the book. That introduced a more self-conscious area, a way of saying that the view of the page was over the book.”

 

“Spaces” consequently unfolds as a self-reflexive book in which not only the depicted image, but also the page, its edges, and its physical support become integral to the work. Rather than using text to explain an image, or an image to illustrate text, Stokes treats both photograph and text as material elements within the structure of the book. The work thereby shifts attention from what the book depicts to the ways in which the book itself produces and mediates meaning.

London: Weproductions
Unpaginated [158 pages]
17.7 × 11 cm
Edition of 1,000

Currently based in Suffolk, Scottish artist Telfer Stokes is best known for his sculptural practice and his pioneering approach to the artist’s book as both a material and conceptual form. Drawing on the radical re-evaluation of the relationship between text and image associated with Ed Ruscha’s early editorial projects, Stokes uses photography and sparse text to explore the narrative, formal, and conceptual possibilities of the book as a medium.

 

“Spaces” is the third artist’s book in a series of six paperbacks published by Weproductions between 1972 and 1978. Its premise is deceptively simple: to explore the layout of the page, the placement of text, and the use of photographic negative space within the bound volume. Images of the Flat Iron, a mansion house, newspaper clippings, a step chair, and other subjects create a continuous mise-en-abyme throughout the book, drawing attention to the conditions of their presentation and reproduction. In an interview with Cathy Courtney, published in “Art Monthly” in November 1989, Stokes explains:

 

“I drew the camera away from the photograph so you saw the edge of the layout or the edge of the book. That introduced a more self-conscious area, a way of saying that the view of the page was over the book.”

 

“Spaces” consequently unfolds as a self-reflexive book in which not only the depicted image, but also the page, its edges, and its physical support become integral to the work. Rather than using text to explain an image, or an image to illustrate text, Stokes treats both photograph and text as material elements within the structure of the book. The work thereby shifts attention from what the book depicts to the ways in which the book itself produces and mediates meaning.

MORE BOOKS

Currently based in Suffolk, Scottish artist Telfer Stokes is best known for his sculptural practice and his pioneering approach to the artist’s book as both a material and conceptual form. Drawing on the radical re-evaluation of the relationship between text and image associated with Ed Ruscha’s early editorial projects, Stokes uses photography and sparse text to explore the narrative, formal, and conceptual possibilities of the book as a medium.

 

“Spaces” is the third artist’s book in a series of six paperbacks published by Weproductions between 1972 and 1978. Its premise is deceptively simple: to explore the layout of the page, the placement of text, and the use of photographic negative space within the bound volume. Images of the Flat Iron, a mansion house, newspaper clippings, a step chair, and other subjects create a continuous mise-en-abyme throughout the book, drawing attention to the conditions of their presentation and reproduction. In an interview with Cathy Courtney, published in “Art Monthly” in November 1989, Stokes explains:

 

“I drew the camera away from the photograph so you saw the edge of the layout or the edge of the book. That introduced a more self-conscious area, a way of saying that the view of the page was over the book.”

 

“Spaces” consequently unfolds as a self-reflexive book in which not only the depicted image, but also the page, its edges, and its physical support become integral to the work. Rather than using text to explain an image, or an image to illustrate text, Stokes treats both photograph and text as material elements within the structure of the book. The work thereby shifts attention from what the book depicts to the ways in which the book itself produces and mediates meaning.

MORE BOOKS