Gagosian is pleased to announce “Dieter Roth Early Books,” conceived and presented by Matthew Zucker, a New York-based art book dealer, collector, and curator. The exhibition features twenty key works produced between 1957 and 1969.
Roth (1930–1998) reimagined the format, function, and materiality of books. Beginning in the 1950s, he made several books by hand in small editions. The first, Kinderbuch/Children’s Book (1957), featured mesmerizing illustrations of primary-colored circles and squares. Book aa (1960), which pioneered the concept of the kinetic book, is a folder containing nine black and nine white square sheets of paper, each with hand-cut slots, that can be re-assembled to create a multitude of different compositions.
Roth also created books utilizing discarded material, such as book 3c (1961), a collection of randomly selected offset sheets from a printing press. In the series Literaturwurst/Literature Sausage (1961–70), he stuffed pages from texts by authors whom he disliked (or envied) into sausage casings with other ingredients. These early works epitomize Roth’s persistent challenging of conventions in art and language.
About Gagosian Shop:
Designed by Selldorf Architects, Gagosian Shop offers an exclusive and extensive selection of artists' books, scholarly monographs, catalogues and limited editions. Gagosian's unparalleled publishing program, featuring books on artists exhibited at Gagosian's worldwide galleries, is the central focus of the Shop.
