Clifton Meador

I have been making books-as-art for thirty years. I still find the codex, as an artistic form, deeply engaging. My books frequently combine photography, writing, and design as part of a unified whole: the book as an original experience in art.

I am interested in making every aspect of a book part of the project: I frequently print my books myself, though I don't think that is an essential characteristic of my work; I usually take all the pictures and do all of the writing, though I don't think that is an essential aspect of my work; and I sometimes even design the typefaces for my books. What I do think is essential is that the books I make use the book form in a meaningful way to articulate an idea.

Because I think books are excellent places for in-depth exploration of ideas.

links

Artists' Books Online. An amazing resource of facsimiles and metadata concerning artists' books.

Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Where I teach.

My Curriculum Vitae. The full-blown academic version.

Journal of Artists' Books. A Journal dedicated to criticism and writing about artists' books.

artists' books

Several of these links point directly to the Artists' Books Online site.

Rocks, Literati, & Invasion {2007}

Kora {2007}

Avalanche {2007}

Bad {2006}

Tourist/Refugee {2005}

Nameless Dead {2004}

Crossing the Oxus {2001}

Whisky Defense {2001}

Memory Lapse {1999}

Natyurmort {1997}

Long Slow March {1995}

Positive Produce and Negative Books {1995}

Nutritional Disease Throw Rugs {1995}

A.A.A.R.P. {1994}

A Long Walk {1995}

Foxtrot Oscar Lima Lima Yankee {1991}

Sea Change {1990}

Massive Infection {1990}

Anecdote of the Jar {1989}

Mighty Fortress {1989}

Greenness {1988}

Stampland {1988}

Rising Converging {1988}

New Doors {1985}

Doom {1984}

Great Men of the Modern Age {1982}

Short Letter to My Friends {1980}

other projects

Partially Enumerating Tibetan Buddhism. Mnemonics, metaphysics, and numbers.

I HV DRM Dr. King's famous speech, with all the words removed.

Masks of Evil. A do-it-yourself artists' books: print this out duplexed (it is imposed in printer's spreads), fold it, and bind it somehow. A free artists' book. Bertold Brecht's poem inspired a series of drawings of the man we call the soon-to-be-former occupant and the satanick minions of his first selected term.

Or, instead of binding this little book, you can cut out the eye-holes and pretend to have power.

Signing a New Law. A pleasant, inspirational picture for your refrigerator.

Tibetan Book Printers. In 2006 and 2007, I traveled in western China, documenting traditional Tibetan book production.

President's Day. How do words substitute for pictures? Do we read pictures the same way we read a text?

Hope Dawns. Why not hope?

Kora Font. A font of walking people, designed for Kora.

Printed Paper. Printing heart during March, 2008.

purchase

My Lulu Storefront A site for purchasing my print-on-demand artists' books.

Vamp and Tramp. Book dealers who carry some of my work.

contact

Clifton Meador

Disambiguation