The Race to the ABotM
The Art Gallery of York University is pleased to announce the results of the first AGYU Artists’ Book of the Moment award. From the short-list of 30 books, the one that rose to top of the ABotM is:
Rob Kovitz’ Ice Fishing in Gimli
“Ten years in the making, Ice Fishing in Gimli is an 8-volume image/text montage bookwork by Winnipeg artist/writer Rob Kovitz. Set in and around a strange small town and a large frozen lake in the uncharted center of Canada, it’s an epic citation saga of desire, ambition, weather and landscape …”
Not only is Ice Fishing in Gimli the 2010 AGYU ABotM, but Kovitz also receives the $1,500 prize.
The short list includes books by the following artists:
Andrew A. McLaren, Andrew Dadson, Anna M. Szaflarski, Bill Burns, Charles Woodard, Craig Stuart Love, Dagmar Dahle, Daniel Newman, Dave Dyment, Epsilon + Epsilon, Ian MacTilstra, Jamelie Hassan, James Kirkpatrick and Peter Thomson, Jaymee Martin, Joshua Schwebel, Julia Feyrer, Luis Jacob, Luke Ramsey and Andrew Neyer, Martin Hogue, Matt King, Nick Thurston, Paul McDevitt, Ralph Dorey, Rita Kamacho, Ron Jude, Ryan Park, Shake-n-Make Collective, Simon Morris, Vera Greenwood, and Xavier Rodríguez.
Details on all the short-listed titles are available by clicking here.
We’d like to thank all artists who sent in candidate books. You made the jurying process that much more difficult, and we appreciate it.
About the ABotM*
The Artists’ Book of the Moment competition is an acknowledgment of the extensive genre of artists’ books. Our jury (Toronto-based artist Micah Lexier, Director of Art Metropole Ann Dean, and Ottawa-based lawyer and collector Joe Friday) were faced with the difficult task of winnowing the field of all submitted books to a select group deemed worthy of recognition as ABotMs … thirty made the cut, and Kovitz’ epic rose to the top. All thirty ABotMs are listed on our website, including links and contacts for further investigation. Thanks ever so much to the jury in helping out.
*please note: the “A” in ABotM is silent
