The bookstore offshoot of the non-profit organization of the same name, whose founding members included artists Carl Andre and Sol LeWitt, Printed Matter seeks to raise awareness and bolster appreciation of what it calls “artists’ books,” or “publications that have been conceived as artworks in their own right.” In this Chelsea space, surrounded by art galleries and arts-based organizations, visitors can browse an unimaginably eclectic catalog of hard-to-find books, Printed Matter-published titles (always of a non-commercial nature), and even vinyl LPs. Recent arrivals include Raphael Zarka’s Riding Modern Art, a collection of 50 black-and-white photographs of skateboarders straddling public sculptures, and the Vitra Design Museum’s Night Fever: Designing Club Culture, 1960–Today, a chronology of nightclub-interior aesthetics. Artist exhibitions, ephemeral window installations, book launches, talks, and performances are common at Printed Matter, so check the events schedule online before visiting.
Printed Matter
Image by Azikiwe Mohammed
