Book-Object-Art is the culmination of decades of experimentation, reconstruction and intrigue; challenging the accepted, traditional notion of a book and discovering something entirely unique. Cataloguing over one-hundred of Phil Cleaver's creations, Book-Object-Art not only showcases dedication, but a priceless collection of scattered, archaic objects, its imagery spanning from childhood figurines to busts of dictators and folded Bible pages.
Extract from Jessica d'Este:
Though universally prized and respected as emblems of culture, books are, everywhere, found abandoned and unread. Finds of such books and of evocative ephemera, collected over many years of visiting vintage bookshops and flea markets, are at home in a Cabinet of Curiosities, an apt prototype for Book-Object-Art.
Living with these treasures, they seem, as in love, related, and, over time, a premonition of meaning in their being shown together persists, compelling a preoccupation with presentation that brings collage to mind, a natural choice for display that also obliges a temperament for setting type as in one who may imagine Book-Object-Art.