View a Selection of Artists’ Books Donated by Dr. Roberto Tejada
By Allison Young, BA ’23/MA ’25
Hands, 2015 (2015) by Maria Chavez
Currently on display at Special Collections is a selection of artists’ books donated by UH faculty member Roberto Tejada. Tejada is a Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of English and Art History. He is a published author and award-winning poet, and received a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship in 2021. He also works as an art historian, cultural critic, editor, essayist, and translator. His research focuses on conceptual art and poetry—especially from Latin America and the U.S.-Mexico border—pertaining to language, identity, and the sociopolitical climate.
Artists’ books are a unique and expressive medium that explores the form and content of books. There is no “right” way to make an artist’s book, and this freedom is reflected in the diverse materials, design, binding, organization, and subject matter of these objects. These books are independently published as limited editions or created as one-of-a-kind originals and are artworks in their own right.
This exhibit features six books that showcase some of the variety found in this artistic practice. These books are a mix of independent projects, commissioned works, and/or collaborative pieces. Some are primarily text-based with essays relating to art, culture, and history, while others rely on art and photography to convey their messages. Each resource offers a unique approach to art, design, and literature. Three works are described here in greater detail: Erik Schmitt’s American Bauhaus (2022), Maria Chavez’s Hands, 2015 (2015), and Rubén Ortiz Torres’s MexiPunk (2021).
American Bauhaus (2022) by Erik Schmitt
American Bauhaus highlights the legacy of the Bauhaus art movement at North Carolina’s Black Mountain College. Originating in Germany, Bauhaus combined fine arts with craftsmanship and formed a radical new approach to design. American Bauhaus includes interviews, quotes, and photographs from the college’s reunion in 1992. Schmitt follows Bauhaus design principles with oversize text cutting across the page.
Hands, 2015 is a self-published and hand-bound artist’s book by Peruvian-Texan artist Maria Chavez. Hands contains photographs of the palms of different artists from a first-person perspective. Each pair of hands receives a full-page spread in the book. They are also captioned with the artist’s occupation and “how they use their hands” in their work. Chavez’s own hands, which she used to hand-bind her book, are featured on the cover.
MexiPunk (2021) by Rubén Ortiz Torres
MexiPunk focuses on the niche significance of printing in Mexico City’s punk subculture during the 1970s and 1980s. Torres explains how photographs featuring punk artists and performers were printed, photocopied, and/or glued onto new paper as promotional flyers. Torres then follows this artistic practice by reprinting these photographs on bright, fluorescent cardstock. Mariano Villalobo’s 2020 poem “Carnicopatas Intramusculares” (or “Intramuscular Fleshophrenics”) is featured at the beginning of this artist’s book, accompanied by an English translation by Tejada.