ISH is a monument to ambiguity. It welcomes fuzziness and uncertainty.
ISH is a modular assemblage that stands about 30cm tall, 20cm wide, and 10cm deep, more or less.
Brighton Art Book Fair 2025
Press Release
We are delighted to announce that the second edition of Brighton Art Book Fair will take place at Phoenix Art Space on 6 & 7 December 2025. Bringing together artists’ books, photo books, and zines, this tabletop fair showcases a rich selection of independently made books from artists, makers, small presses, and collectives.
Artists’ books are artworks that utilise the form of the book. They take many forms; some might push expectations of what a book itself can look like, whilst others might have a unique subject matter. Artists’ books could be everything from one-of-a-kind objects to small editions, punk zines or beautifully collated photobooks.
For the first weekend in December, our main galleries will be packed with publications created by local and international artists. We’re thrilled to be including Jane & Jeremy, an acclaimed photo books publisher, among others. Visitors can browse a diverse mix of original and affordable books. Delve into the joys of paper, print, and indie publishing at Brighton Art Book Fair 2025.
Alongside the fair, we will be running workshops and talks for those wanting to make books and zines of their own. On Saturday morning, Phoenix is running a free event for kids.
Exhibitors: 51 Personae, 100 Words of Astounding Beauty, AB Tuesday, Ceri Amphlett, The Bookband, Book Works, Guy Bigland, Collusive Press, Colossal Centipede, Devonshire Collective, John Dilnot, Edgeland Modern, Evoke/Provoke, Jane & Jeremy, Jenny & Rafael Klein, Less Than 500, Dan Locke, Minimalist Works, Negative Press, Nick West, Nick White, Carmen Yui
Brighton Art Book Fair takes place at Phoenix Art Space, 10-14 Waterloo Place, Brighton BN2 9NB
On 6 & 7 December 2025, Saturday – Sunday, 11.00 – 17.00
Entrance £2
For more information please contact hello@brightonartbookfair.org or Phoenix Art Space via info@phoenixbrighton.org
About Phoenix Art Space
Phoenix Art Space is a dynamic, inclusive arts organisation located in the centre of Brighton and established as a charity in 1995. Our mission is to support a diverse range of artists’ practice, providing affordable studio space, and to be a centre for artistic activity, bringing together professional artists and the public in a setting that encourages creativity, collaboration and exchange. We are a place to make, learn and talk about contemporary art, embedded in our local community and with an international outlook. Our 100+ artists’ studios, three public galleries and free exhibitions provide creative opportunities throughout the year. Alongside our exhibition programme, we put on a range of regular community events which are open to everyone. These include talks and presentations from artists and arts organisations, family fun days, short courses, one-day events and drop-in workshops.
For more information: phoenixartspace.org
Instagram: @phoenix_artspace
About Brighton Art Book Fair
Brighton Art Book Fair is run by Nick West, an artist from Brighton who regularly participates in artist book fairs. We show independently-made books and self-published works from local and international artists, and small press publishers. We promote independent book artists, create a space for experimental publishing projects, and give new voices an audience.
For more information: brightonartbookfair.org
Instagram: @brightonartbookfair
For more information, please visit the website or email the organiser.
More Book Forms
Books forms are so incredibly varied. Every now and then I find myself visualising the forms that they take. Most recently, I described the following forms; hardback, dos-à-dos (back-to-back), zine, concertina, octopus, papyrus scroll, illustrated manuscript, guide book, carousel, choose your own adventure books, experimental books, manga, photobook, bunkobon, dragon scale binding, the anti-book, text books, audiobooks, microform film, and the book as sculpture (Robert The, Readers' Digest, 1988). Happy reading.
↑ Dos-à-dos (back-to-back) is a binding structure in which two separate books are bound together.
↑ Carousel. This format has layers in each segment. The viewer usually looks in a window or frame at the front of each segment.
↑ Experimental format. This illustration of a crinkle cut book is based on a book designed by Andy Taylor to reflect the two sides of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.
↑ Manga. Comics or graphic novels originating from Japan.
↑ Dragon scale binding is a transitional book form that bridged the gap between using scrolls and pages in China.
↑ Anti-Book. This illustration is based on Memories, an artist's book made by the French social critic Guy Debord in collaboration with the Danish artist Asger Jorn in 1959. The book is most famous for its cover, a dust jacket made of heavy-grade sandpaper. The idea of a damaging cover was conceived by Guy Debord and Asger Jorn.
↑ Text book. Based on Pelican’s iconic series of non-fiction books that feature covers with geometric designs.
↑ Microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Significantly smaller than its original counterpart, they require special devices to read the narratives stored upon.
Anywhere
Anywhere is a single page book that, once opened, produces an instant green screen, capable of transporting the reader anywhere. Using the Turkish map fold, it is a one of a kind book, and portable.
Brighton Art Book Fair
Press Release
We are delighted to announce that the inaugural Brighton Art Book Fair will take place at Phoenix Art Space on 7 & 8 December 2024. This tabletop fair will bring a diverse and dynamic mix of some of the best international artists’ book publishers to audiences in Brighton.
Artists’ books are artworks that utilise the form of the book. They take many forms; some might push expectations of what a book itself can look like, whilst others might have a unique or quirky subject matter. Artists’ books could be everything from one-of-a-kind objects to small editions, self-published zines or beautifully collated photobooks.
For this fair in early December, Phoenix will welcome a global selection of small press publishers and international artists to our main gallery space and visitors can browse a wide selection of different publications. To give a quick flavour of the variety of participants, we’re thrilled to be including Book Works, an organisation dedicated to publishing books by emerging artists, alongside acclaimed photobooks publisher Jane & Jeremy, Korean illustrator and animator Kimok and zine publisher The Photocopy Club.
The fair will also host a curated table put together by Phoenix Art Space which will include books we love from carefully selected artists including Emily Speed, Marcelina Amelia, and Low Profile as well as a collection of sold-out limited-edition books kindly donated to us by our patron, artist David Shrigley.
Alongside the fair, Phoenix will be running a Concertina Book Making workshop and running a free event for families.
Nick West, Fair Organiser - “Books ignite the imagination. There’s an intimate exchange that takes place between the author and the reader of a book. I’m always amazed by the potential that books possess, in their many forms, even more so at the hands of artists. At BABF, you can pick up, flick through, and buy affordable art books and artists’ books.”
Executive Director at Phoenix, Lucy Day – “Artists' books provide a rare insight into an artist’s practice – revealing thought processes and ideas that often lie behind larger works. They offer a wonderfully democratic opportunity to be part of an artist’s journey. Artists’ books are a private passion of mine, so I am delighted to be collaborating with Nick on this exciting new fair.”
Brighton Art Book Fair takes place at Phoenix Art Space, 10-14 Waterloo Place, Brighton BN2 9NB
On 7 & 8 December 2024, Saturday – Sunday, 12.00 – 17.00
Entrance £2
For more information please contact hello@brightonartbookfair.org or Phoenix Art Space via info@phoenixbrighton.org
About Phoenix Art Space
Phoenix Art Space is a dynamic, inclusive arts organisation located in the centre of Brighton and established as a charity in 1995. Our mission is to support a diverse range of artists’ practice, providing affordable studio space, and to be a centre for artistic activity, bringing together professional artists and the public in a setting that encourages creativity, collaboration and exchange. We are a place to make, learn and talk about contemporary art, embedded in our local community and with an international outlook. Our 100+ artists’ studios, three public galleries and free exhibitions provide creative opportunities throughout the year. Alongside our exhibition programme, we put on a range of regular community events which are open to everyone. These include talks and presentations from artists and arts organisations, family fun days, short courses, one-day events and drop-in workshops.
For more information: phoenixartspace.org
Instagram: @phoenix_artspace
About Brighton Art Book Fair
Brighton Art Book Fair is run by Nick West, an artist from Brighton who regularly participates in artist book fairs. We show independently-made books and self-published works from local and international artists, and small press publishers. We promote independent book artists, create a space for experimental publishing projects, and give new voices an audience.
For more information: brightonartbookfair.org
Instagram: @brightonartbookfair
For more information, please visit the website or email the organiser.
Transparency
The almost-nothingness of transparent backgrounds was the starting point for this work. Those grey and white chequered backgrounds that show transparency on graphics files, that are often left unnoticed, intrigued me. I wanted to make something with these overlooked backgrounds.
I like that transparent backgrounds describe a see-though plane by using an opaque pattern. And that they do so in virtual space. I wanted to transform this pattern by making it a material object that would occupy a physical space. I wanted it to unfold the way a map does, something that describes a territory.
Transparency is a map fold book to be held up to see the world beyond it.
_
Transparency is part of a project made with members of the art collective Art Byte Critique. Responding to the theme Futuristic Illusion, this book belongs to a collaborative project with books by Arthur Huang, Patty Hudak, Yuko Kamei, Nick West, and Carlee Wolcott. It was first shared at Bristol Artist’s Book Event 2024.
Transparency is part of the collection of artists’ books at the UWE (University of West England).
To/Fro
To/Fro is a book assembled from 104 ping pong balls. Belonging to the Books From Things series are a cluster of orbs. I wanted to mirror the back and forth between the book and the reader, reading.
Cover Story
Cover Story is an altered book. Consisting of George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel about being watched, 1984, it is covered in googly eyes.
Mixed Signals
A limited edition of 25 Risograph prints. Printed on A3 paper (140gsm), this work cuts and splices signal flags together to produce a glitchy, abstract pattern. A message may hide therein.
Blog: Book Forms
What started as a list snowballed into this; a series of twenty images that illustrate established book forms. Not that this is exhaustive. There are no audio books listed. Nor does it include the grisly practice of anthropodermic bibliopegy - the act of binding books with human skin. Shudder. It does, however, include the clay tablet, the bamboo roll, the scroll, the codex, the codex rotundus, French doors, the fortune teller, the concertina, the map fold, the Turkish map fold, loose leaf, dwarsligger, the flip book, the hand book, the pop-up book, the miniature book, kamishibai, the paperback, the ebook, and the artist’s book. Good reading.
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a writing medium from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were drawn on a wet clay tablet with a stylus made of reed, and then left to bake in the sun. Collections of clay documents made up the first archives, the root of the first libraries.
↑ Clay tablet
Long before the widespread introduction of paper in China, bamboo canes were split and strung together to form the main media for writing documents. Bamboo books utilised an abundant natural resource to produce portable writing surfaces.
↑ Bamboo book
The Codex Rotundus (late 1500s) is a unique example of medieval book culture given its distinctive circular shape. Written in Latin and French, this manuscript is 266 pages long and measures about 9cm in diameter.
↑ Codex Rotundus
A fortune teller (also called a cootie catcher, chatterbox, whirlybird, or paku-paku) is a form of origami used in children's games. By choosing from several options on its exterior panels, the player is led to a hidden outcome.
↑ Fortune teller
The Turkish Map Fold is a unique and sculptural book form made from a single piece of paper, with an optional cover. As you open the book, the piece of paper unfolds so you can see the entire sheet.
↑ Turkish map fold
Dwarsligger (meaning crossbeam in Dutch) is a book printed with text parallel to the spine of a conventional book. This binding method permits the book to remain open without restraint so it can be read with one hand.
↑ Dwarsligger
A flip book, flicker book, or kineograph is a booklet with a series of images that very gradually change from one page to the next, so that when the pages are viewed in quick succession, the images simulate motion.
↑ Flip book
Kamishibai (which translates as paper play) is a form of storytelling that was popular during the 1930s and 1940s in Japan. Kamishibai are performed by narrators who travelled with sets of illustrated boards that they placed in a miniature stage-like device and narrated the story by changing each image.
↑ Kamishibai
Based on the graphic artist Antonio Ladrillo’s book Colors (2020) this illustration of an artist’s book allows the reader to explore endless combinations of reading, in both two- and three- dimensions.
↑ An artist’s book
Tinder
Tinder is a book made from matches and glue. It is the first object in the Books From Things series. The matches were bought from several ¥100 stores in Tokyo. Physically, Tinder is now cinder; it no longer exists.
Tinder was shown at the Launch Pad Gallery, Yokohama and at various Art Book Fairs.
Asemic Writing
Asemic Writing is a wordless form of writing. The word asemic means "having no specific semantic content". I made these by applying ink on paper. I started by designing strokes. I then arranged them on a page, repeating them at intervals that felt right.
The top image shows a work that sold at Launchpad Gallery, Yokohama.
