Conceptual artist Allen Ruppersberg (b. 1944) was an early pioneer of relational, participatory art. He's revered for a masterful use of text, image, object, and print mediums, and for his innovations with found materials. Called a "vernacular anthropologist," he is able to process a vast swath of cultural material to recontextualize the everyday, make the generic personal, and give artistic life to the banal. His work has always felt non-commercial and out of the market and purposely so. Ruppersberg always feels human; the propensity for sharing is one part of the human experience that is consistently present.
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You and Me or the Art of Give and Take by Allen Ruppersberg. Ed. Constance Lewallen. With Margaret Sundell, Greil Marcus, Tim Griffin, John Slyce. The artist has used the "Guest Informant" book from the Mark Hopkins Hotel (San Francisco, CA) as a vessel, interspersed with his own collection of found postcards, photos, adverts, and other visual material from everyday life. The book is both historical and contemporary, and is a fine picture of Southern California as it was and maybe is. It's also an example of a very good artist book, one that's specific, clear, and vibrant in telling the story of its maker. 8.75" x 11.25", 192 pages. $60. Add to cart
