Art Byte Critique

CLICK the images above FOR the selection of artist’s books & zines available for VABF 2021

About the participating Art Byte Critique artists

Eight Art Byte Critique artists are excited to be exhibiting a mix of new releases and recent releases for the Vancouver Art Book Fair 2021!

The eight artists are John Delfino (www.john-delfino.com), Masumi Hase, (https://www.instagram.com/maccya_118/), Arthur Huang (https://arthurjhuang.work), Yuko Kamei (http://yuccak.net), Misako Oba (https://www.misakooba.com), Lori Ono (https://loriono.com), Estuko Sato (https://www.etsukosato.com) and Nick West (https://www.nickwest.work).  

Below is information about each artist’s new and recent releases that will be available for detailed viewing at our table at the VABF 2021.

Please visit each artist’s page by clicking their image above to see their entire collection as well as ordering and payment information.

John Delfino will be exhibiting a limited edition art book titled “Layers”. This B5 book is made with ink on paper and acetate. It is hand-drawn, consisting of 30 pages. When it is handled by the reader, each layer makes the image increasingly more abstract. 

Masumi Hase will be releasing her first artist book “In the Lofi Mood”. Influenced by popular imagery, her art book combines photography with overlaid text. Taking its title from a production quality (Lo-fi) that utilises imperfections as a deliberate aesthetic choice, this artist book brings blurred photography and private moments together.

Arthur Huang will be showing “Daily Reconfigurations Annotated”. This artist book explores the evolution and convergence of three projects based in everyday life - the Memory Walks, the Daily Drawings, and the Memories' Remnants Collages - resulting from the wide ranging ramifications of the pandemic in 2020. The result has been a new and unexpected body of work, the Everyday Reconfigurations, which transformed the two-dimensional based projects into an organic and strange three-dimensional form through reproduction and repurpose. The “Daily Reconfigurations Annotated” artist book will explore and perhaps make discoveries into how these projects moved into a third dimension by drawing on a studio practice which invokes elements of scientific methodology to elucidate the mechanisms of the creative practice. 

Yuko Kamei will be releasing her new book, "Natural Occurrence", which is inspired by earth elements exposed at volcanic sites. Heat, pressure and thermal water trigger chemical reactions to form various compounds. Each occurrence follows natural laws such as subatomic particle behaviour and geometric crystal formation. In this book, gold line drawings inspired by scientific principles are layered over photographic images of volcanic land surfaces. 

Misako Oba will be presenting a new release titled “Moon”. These small zines were created in relation to the artist’s mixed media series “Stars and Desert.” It features the ancient medium encaustic in modern application with monotype print on Japanese washi calligraphy paper. It can be opened and turned the pages from every angle. It also stands like a traditional Japanese screen. Each book is uniquely handcrafted, signed and dated.

Lori Ono will be presenting “Kingyo Sukui - the story of a fish the matsuri” which is part of the “Matsuri” anthology. “Matsuri” features an eclectic blend of styles and stories sure to whet your appetite for a trip to Japan. Join the celebration! “Matsuri” is a sequential story anthology from ToCo (Tokyo Collective) featuring international and Japanese creatives sharing their take on the theme "matsuri" — a festival in Japan. The festival styles change with the event, season and location. This is ToCo's fourth anthology and is their largest group of authors ever.

Etsuko Sato will be displaying the new release “Position and Gaze.” “I was inspired to create “Position and Gaze” by an artist-in-residence exhibition I had participated in previously. For this work, I made two wooden tables of varying heights, placed vegetables and everyday objects on them, and photographed the results. While creating this work, I thought about highlighting how any given object’s existence is positioned in relation to other objects and turning the observer’s gaze toward that truth. The two tables even look like three-dimensional frames, functioning continuously within the work as a kind of defined value. “

Nick West will be exhibiting a new work from his ongoing series titled "Books From Things”. Reimagining the book in alternative materials, the artist creates one-of-a-kind sculptures from readily available commodities. Working modularly, he uses the technique of assemblage to build up pages from physical constituents. For VABF 2021, he will make and present a new book made from work gloves. 

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