We are pleased to present a display of new works from AMBruno at Printed Matter Chelsea.

Established in 2008, the artists’ coalition AMBruno facilitates the development and dissemination of the book as primary medium in art practice. The makeup of the group changes with every new project, and books are produced with a set theme for each annual initiative. While the resulting works may be diverse in form and approach, the thread of the originating topic runs through all.

The theme for AMBruno’s 2023-24 project is rhythm. A call was issued for new book works conceived in response to the subject through one of the following instances: a pattern of movement or sound, the measured flow of spoken and written language, or a regularly recurring sequence of events or processes in time.

Catriona Gourlay, Curator of Printed Heritage Collections at the British Library, made selections from submitted proposals, and twelve new books by fourteen artists have been produced.

Featuring the work of artists Guy Bigland, Karen Blake, Laure Catugier, Judy Goldhill, Susan Johanknecht & Katharine Meynell, Julie Johnstone, Stefan Klein, Sophie Loss, John McDowall, Ximena Pérez Grobet & Kati Riquelme, Anne Rook, and Cally Trench.

Guy Bigland is interested in potential and limitation within language and systems. His work emerges from time spent over-simplifying, putting things in order, and tidying up; mostly in the form of painting, photography and printed material. Bigland exhibits internationally and his work is held in public and private collections in Austria, Germany, Norway, the USA and the UK.

Karen Blake’s work explores spaces, using artists’ books, drawing, and paint—acrylic and pigment. She likes to explore things through artists’ books because books are modest, engaging and versatile, they create a unique space in themselves, and, with the advent of electronic media, they may have endangered status. A number of her books are in national and international collections.

Laure Catugier studied at the École d’Architecture and the Beaux-Arts in Toulouse, and works now for many years in Berlin. As an artist with a background in architecture, Catugier’s work conveys the geometric language of modernism. Through diverse media such as photography, video or performance, she questions the perception and representation of spatiality.

Judy Goldhill is an artist working with photography, film and artists’ books. For the last few years she has worked on projects examining components of place in relation to such diverse topographies as nuclear sites in the UK; private dwellings and landscapes charged with both public history and personal memory; astronomical observatories in North and South America and vestiges of the sublime in the natural world. Beside installations and wall-mounted photographs, Goldhill’s book works explore movement, stillness and repetition and have been acquired by numerous institutions, with her entire collection held in The British Library.

Susan Johanknecht’s work focuses on the development and production of artists’ books under the imprint of the Gefn Press. Johanknecht has a longstanding collaborative practice working with Katharine Meynell of Boundary Street Press, investigating material conditions, ambiguity, process and serendipity in relation to the book. Recent projects include: Enter [the Page as a] lady, pulling apart the minor character of the Page in Shakespeare’s plays, and manhole: a marginal duet, which uses texts derived from manhole covers.

Katharine Meynell has maintained an artistic practice since the late 1970’s, working across material media including moving image, performance, drawings, and artists’ books.

Julie Johnstone is an artist, independent curator and publisher based in Edinburgh, UK. She creates artists’ books and poem-objects that explore visual perception, distillation and contemplative experience. Through her Essence Press imprint she has worked collaboratively with a wide range of poets and artists, both in the UK and internationally.

Stefan Klein: Kasper König once said that Stefan Klein work is like the dancing procession of Esternach in Luxembourg: two steps forward, one step back. He is still not sure if this was a compliment or an insult, but he kind of likes it.

Sophie Loss studied art at Chelsea College of Art, London and completed a MA Fine Art at CSM, London. Loss’ work centres on re-engineering the surface of an image, using the camera as a third eye to morph the flat image into the multi-dimensional object, perceptually at least. Working mainly on paper books is a natural extension to Loss’ practice.

John McDowall is an artist and researcher. The subject and locus of his practice is the bibliographic in that it is concerned with the associative and physical properties of the book, investigating the nature of the temporality of self-reflexive dynamics as an underlying characteristic of its assimilation, work that often has its genesis in, and incorporates instances of literary fiction. Artists’ books are also the focus of diverse curatorial and commissioning projects.

Ximena Pérez Grobet is a Mexican book artist based in Barcelona and the founder of Nowhereman Press, where she has been creating her own artists books since 1994. She also collaborates with other artists and collectives, producing artists books and special editions. Her work has been shown throughout Europe, USA, Mexico and Latin America.

Kati Riquelme is a multidisciplinary artist born in Chile and established in Barcelona. Her work draws from a thousand sources and is based in heterogeneous processes, being the photographic techniques of the mid-19th century one of her main vehicles of expression. The capture of moments of great humanity is a constant throughout her journey, always focused on the details and objects through which time leaves its mark.

Anne Rook works and lives in London and South West France. Part of a practice which includes drawings, installations and animations; her books are handmade as single objects or as multiples in small editions. In ‘Sysiphus’ rhythm, an erasing’ repetition is used as a strategy, connecting images and concepts.

Cally Trench likes to make artist’s books that physically engage the reader. Her work also includes drawing, very short animation films, and original board games. She has an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London.

Pictured, from top to bottom: John McDowall, Sound by sound; Karen Blake, Bĕgīn; Judy Goldhill, Sand Sea Star Dune; Julie Johnstone, rhythm lines; Stefan Klein, Archiving the Universe; Ximena Pérez Grobet & Kati Riquelme, NAGORI; Cally Trench, Tapping Score; and Sophie Loss, He trots the air.