Sculptor Nicholas Jones Turns Books into Fine Art - An Interview with the Artist

Nicholas Jones is a Melbourne-based sculptor who uses books and printed paper to create incredibly involved artworks which question the manner in which books are ‘read’. Jones transforms discarded books by folding, tearing, and sewing the leaves to highlight the poetic nature of the book as sculptural form. As historical phenomena, books have reflected the evolution of mankind despite new technologies, and remain steadfastly both the solver of the riddle and the creator of the labyrinth.

I've conducted nearly 100 interviews with artists, collectors, historians, and authors during the past three years. Certainly, the following interview with Nicholas Jones is among the most special that I've had the pleasure to publish on the ephemera blog.

ephemera: Talk about your work as an artist. When did you start using books in your sculpture work?

Jones: During the last semester of my Fine Art degree at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia, I began experimenting with a number of non traditional sculptural materials, whilst examining the history of conceptual and installation Art. I came to the realization that artists made work with, or about things which they truly loved; William Wegman and his dogs etc… I looked at myself and my life and decided that one thing which had influenced me and that I surrounded myself with was books, therefore, I began to start folding and tearing books and looking for innovative ways to reuse discarded materials. I had studied the work of Arte Povera artists such as Jannis Kounellis, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Giuseppe Penone and Mario Merz. Their use of "Poor materials" was inspiring and confounding to me, coming from being trained in steel and bronze sculptural fabrication. The use of books in my early work was accidental as often is the case, and I have not looked back since.

ephemera: Talk about the significance of that choice? What makes books such special objects?

Jones: Books are the beginning of much thought and discussion on any number of subjects and there is a purity to the book as object. I love the idea of taking a readymade object and changing something about its construction to produce a totally different object. As I child, many of my memories revolve around books such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference books. I also had a terrible fear of a particular copy of the storybook, "Rumplestiltskin". This fascination ended in a total paranoia and the inability to sleep in my own bedroom because, "That book is in there" (said in a terrified five year old voice.) Books are omnipresent and their consistency brings on a certain level of complacency, and my work aims to override and confuse that complacency.

ephemera: What challenges or obstacles do you encounter working with books? How do you overcome these challenges? Do you receive any negative feedback fro bibliophiles concerned about preserving old books?

Jones: The challenges which revolve around my use of old books is often the inconsistency in binding, foxing, paper quality, mold, paper bugs and worms. Often, I will get half way through the work and accidentally cut through some thing I should not have and the whole work falls apart. This can be frustrating, but I take the bad with the good.

A number of people find what I do with books abhorrent, but I have to take that criticism on board, but not think about it too much and be singular in my vision. The greater majority of my work is fabricated from remaindered or discarded books, so I feel somewhat vindicated in my making of new works from this ostensibly recyclable material. Some librarians detest what I do and funnily these are the same people who send thousands of books of to their landfill graves and see no irony in the very fact that they can get up on their soapboxes and accuse me of being an iconoclast.

ephemera:I've written post in the past about discarded books. I'm in favor of the re-use and re-purposing of old paper, especially when that work brings new life to what otherwise would be discarded as trash. Who are your favorite book sculptors and why?

Jones: I have always had a great respect for Buzz Spector, whose work is both conceptually fascinating and utilizes books in new and exciting ways. David Mach is the Scottish installation artist, who uses newspaper and assorted objects lodged within these enormous piles of newspapers. There are some other people who use books like Brian Dettmer, Sue Blackwell and one of my university lecturers, Elizabeth Presa, who was my original inspiration for this type of work.

ephemera:For those interested in this form of sculpture, what resources do you recommend?

Jones: Many Libraries all around the world have extensive collections of Artists Books and altered books. I would suggest talking to the head of rare books in your local state library. There was a wonderful exhibition a number of years ago called "Das Buch", (The Book) which traveled around the world focusing on artists books. Keith A Smith has a number of books about book binding which give a greater knowledge of the potential of book construction and different types of bindings. I make most of my work with scalpels and a boot-making knife. Also some of the cutting work is done with a small jewelers coping saw. I have recently collaborated with a friend, Gordon Johnson, to construct some small shelves and plinths, which have been very effective in the display of my work at my most recent exhibition at Pablo Fanque Gallery. See my website for installation shots.

ephemera: It has been an honor to feature your work on the ephemera blog, Nicholas. Thank you for your thoughtful and insightful answers. I know my readers will find this interview as fascinating and enjoyable as I have.

 

Comments

[John Ptak]

Lovely. Artists like Jones and Dettmer are like artistic palaeontologists--finding the beauty inside a previously dead piece of literary art, kind of turning it inside out, into a new form. Very Borgesian, if you ask me--and that's among the *highest* of praises.