Articulating the nature and significance of books as objects in our lives, Judging Books by their Covers presents a group of artworks that range from large-scale photographs to paintings of pulp fiction covers in which artists have represented and recontextualized the book and its cover.



Featuring the work of 2010 Hugo Boss Prize winner Hans-Peter Feldmann, Montreal artist Lorraine Oades, Marc Joseph Berg, Gayle Johnson and R. B. Kitaj, the exhibition considers the design and aesthetic qualities of printed books that make them effective both as avatars of knowledge and as a ubiquitous presence in the everyday world. While the exhibition’s focus is not the current transition to publishing in digital form, this change is an inevitable part of its general context. In this sense, these works may serve as a vehicle for considering the implications of the book’s dematerialization.



Judging Books by their Covers was organized to coincide with this year’s Blue Metropolis Literary Festival. In conjunction with the festival, SBC is pleased to host Talisman Theatre’s literary event: Theatre in Translation featuring a workshop by translator Shelley Tepperman and playwright Jennifer Tremblay on the challenges of translating Tremblay’s Governor General award winning play La Liste and Carrousel. Excerpts will be read by actress Sylvie Drapeau. For more information, contact www.bluemetropolis.ca



 

In May, the gallery will be hosting two releated events: a book launch and a brief reading with art historian Amelia Jones, and a lecture by artist Martha Rosler.



SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art wishes to thank the Canada Council for the Arts, the ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival and the McCord Museum.