Artist's Book Yearbook 2003-2005 - Book Arts - University of the ...

Artist’s Book Website Review
Guy Begbie
At the time of writing this review, Benedict
Phillips site www.theBenedict.net is in the
process of being completed. However as it
stands there are some quirky pages that reveal
an intelligent and witty approach to expanding
one’s practice into a digital virtual structure,
as well as providing clear information on
conceptual projects that translate successfully
into the web site format.
At the opening page you can access A book for
loozing in the street. This describes a project
where an edition of books was produced from
found discarded objects. These books were
then placed (effectively lost) along a route
defined by their origins (where they were
found).
Benedict Phillips is an artist, poet and curator
based in Yorkshire, UK. The clear layout of the
homepage is reminiscent of double page
spreads. Scrolling down to the second one, you
can link to Homeless Houses. Here, bag sized
house models inhabited with people symbols
rendered onto their surfaces, are placed in or
around public buildings in York. This work
seems to highlight a social dilemma and a
relationship between the users of these
buildings and their architectural fabric.
Scrolling downwards, the word ‘fragile’ on a
red banner demands attention on the next
spread below. This sub-section of the site,
documents aspects of an artistic endeavour, a
collaboration between Benedict Phillips and
Anne-Marie Culhane carried out in a Leeds
park. The art works were produced by subtle
interventions. These were intended to provide
intriguing diversions for passers-by. A text intro
gives details about the project. The viewer can
navigate through thumbnail images to access
documentation of specific artworks such as a
book that draws parallels between the body and
the park. Details of a touring exhibition of this
work and associated educational workshops, are
included with a summary of issues and ideas
concerning the relationship of the public with
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the park. The final curiosity of this site is the
Benedictionary, a phonetic alternative spelling
site with the option to type in your own text to
‘Benedikshonise’ it, an ecclesiastical overtone
of blessed words.
Edward Summerton’s site Edward Summerton At
The Strict Nature Reserve
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/strictnature/ is an
intriguingly lucid presentation of a body of
work made up of disparate elements that all
have a poetic resonance and Scottish identity.
The site catalogues sculptural work, paintings,
artists’books, postcard editions, installations,
video and sound. Summerton’s site has the
option to be concluded with an exuberant
piece of text. This links all the individual pieces
of work in a description of a post apocalyptic
journey through an urban / rural environment
in which the narrator creates a contemporary
subcultural mythology.
The opening page of The Strict Nature Reserve
takes you into a space resembling the periphery
of redundant trading estate. You click on the
sign/hoarding and you are immediately
confronted with a set of curious thumbnail
images depicting Summerton’s work in a variety
of genres. Having chosen the object option,
I particularly liked the cloven Dear Shoes and the
Hollow Log vinyl Bag that is carried by the Fly
Bastard in the narrators account. The enlarged
versions of the thumbnails include the titles
and media used to make the works. The Strict
Nature Reserve site is utilitarian and
functional in its design, a factor which is
appropriate, given the ascetic nature of
Summerton’s work.
Andrew Eason’s site www.andreweason.com
opens with text and thumbnail images floating
over an ochre and yellow striped home page.
Following the threads of hypertext and images
through the site, this striped backdrop is
consistent in a variety of hues, creating a rich
dressing to emphasise this book artists’ images
and his concern with the finer nuances of
texture and mark. Eason is a Bristol based artist
whose interest in presenting sequential text and
image in the book form is informed by his
position as a librarian at the city’s main public
library.