We’re pleased to launch a new Curated Shelf at not-for-profit May Gallery and Residency in New Orleans. The partnership features a long-term dedicated space at their new Carondelet St location and will showcase a rotating selection of contemporary and vintage artist books selected from Printed Matter’s inventory

The ongoing collaboration opens alongside Dave Greber’s “Trail Magique”, and the selection of books on view have been geared to the themes of the exhibition. With a desire to bypass lengthy spiritual pilgrimages as a catalyst for inner growth and satisfaction, the exhibition conflates common human desires through a labyrinth of dimensionless, ephemeral, but immediate trappings of satisfaction. The Curated shelf extends the segmented journey of Dave’s work with two chapters: the first introduces a literal journey fueled by ritual, drugs, and escapism (which includes books such as Justin Lowe/Jonah Freeman, Cura’s Ritual of the Snake, and Daniel Feinberg’s Bora Bora Bora); and the second which ends the journey in the world of digital and sexual commerce (with titles such as Rob Pruitt’s eBay Flea Market, Kuntalini by Tamara Faith Berger, and Katherine Bernhardt’s The Magnificent Excess of Snoop Dogg).

Each iteration of the Curated Shelf will be curated in response and as an extension to the May exhibitions, allowing a rare collection of books to engage more intimately with the artists and work.

The Curated Shelf program aims to establish a network of partnerships with art institutions committed to supporting artists’ books, providing a forum for the broader disseminating of these works as an affordable and accessible medium. Additional Printed Matter Curated Shelves can be found at the Aspen Art Museum (Aspen, CO), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), Artspace (Melbourne), and Centro University (Mexico City).