Lynda’s artist books come in all shapes and sizes. They are used to better evoke an aspect of a place or an idea than in a print or painting. They can be one-offs or multiples. The structure reflects the subject matter. As with her paintings, they can have found objects incorporated or used as the container. Collage and perforation also feature.
I have four artists books in this exhibition at Upright Gallery in Edinburgh.
Against the background of climate change and COP26 in Glasgow over 32 artist book makers have submitted works reflecting their own concerns for the environment. uprightgallery.com for more information and opening times.
Inspired by High Rise by J G Ballard (1975), this book contains rubber stamping and monoprints of imaginary brutalist high rise buildings. The typed text is key words taken from the book, but breaks down and eventually collapses as does the life of the inhabitants of the fictional high rise.
During the lockdown of 2020, one of the things I missed the most was being able to be at the seaside. This poem by John Masefield is an appropriate title and theme for a book expressing my longing for the sea.
Dungeness in Kent makes a frequent appearance in Lynda’s work. Here a book of collage and monotypes evokes the scattered nature of the houses and the way they are lit up at night by the sweep of the lighthouse beam and by the glow from the nuclear power station.
Before a trip to China, Lynda made a concertina sketch book with Chinese paper and printed cloth covers. She spent a few days sailing the Yangtze and one afternoon she sat and drew continuously with charcoal , along the pages of the book, the view of the river bank as it passed before her. Opened up, it is 5 metres long.