“Book As Post Modern Medium” at 5 Traverse

From my review of “Book As Post Modern Medium” at 5 Traverse:

An often overlooked factor of Providence's underground art scene that flourished in the decade bookending the start of the millennium was the central place of the zine. The artists of Fort Thunder, the Hive Archive, Dirt Place, and other local crazy collectives may now be best known for their screenprinted posters and their rock and roll, but their self-produced books — mostly photocopied collections of comics, drawings, or collages plus screenprinted covers — were one of the first ways (along with the music) that word of the glorious stuff going on here got out.

So "Book As Post Modern Medium (The Book Show)" at 5 Traverse gallery is a welcome sampling of the wealth of arty books being made locally, with cameos by some of these underground collective folks as just one example. 5 Traverse's Jesse Smith and Maya Allison spotlight five artists in the front room, then create a library of some 30 more in a second room (including picks by Brent Legault of Ada Books).

Read the rest here.

“Book As Post Modern Medium,” 5 Traverse, 5 Traverse St., Providence, May 22 to June 27, 2009.

Pictured from top to bottom: “The Book Show” at 5 Traverse, installation view of William Schaff’s book on wall and Jacqueline Ott’s books on pedestal; installation view of “outer space” gallery; Schaff, “Monday Mornings, Going to Work”; Ott, “Ping Pong, Volume II”; Michael Bizon: “Astro Girl”; Allison Paschke’s “Book of Missing Letters,” “Book of the Circle” and “Book of Marks”; Jessica Deane Rosner’s “The Diary Project”; installation view of Jessica Deane Rosner’s “The Diary Project,” Ott’s books on pedestal, and Paschke’s book sculptures.