Project brief: The task was to create a book that documented 30 years of a particular aspect of the artist Micah Lexier’s production, specifically those items that were produced in multiple formats such as invitations, projects for magazines, T-shirts, books and other printed matter. The book was to be the latest addition to the long legacy of artist documents produced by the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design Press. It took about three years to produce with the design component taking about a year and a half to complete.

Approach: The artist’s work is often about measurement, including quantity, numbers and ratios, and therefore a book exactly 300 pages long—with page 1 starting on the front cover and page 300 falling on the back cover—is very fitting and reflects his keen sense of design, subtlety and attention to detail. The objects are shown in context, with the artist’s friends and colleagues holding various items, revealing their scale or use while at the same time paying homage to the role of collaboration and camaraderie that is a part of the artist’s work. Each item is represented in three ways: as a written description, in a full-color photograph and as a size-relational line drawing found in the exact center of the book. The last item is physically inserted in the book and is the only work not to appear in a photograph since the viewer has the work in their possession. The book was designed in collaboration with the artist and the idea was to make a book/object that was worthy of being included in future publications about the artist’s works in multiple formats. The book is distributed by D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, guaranteeing it wide distribution and circulation through the vast network of art, design and museum bookstores in North America.

Effectiveness: The project is very successful as it is both a book-work in keeping with the artist’s production and a thorough 30-year survey that documents 135 items, accompanied by four texts. The book is effective in generating interest in the artist’s work, as Lexier has subsequently been invited to present an exhibition of a selection of works from the book, and the book will act as the official catalogue for that exhibition. The artist is very pleased with the publication and had this to say about it: “I have spent 30 years making printed objects, so it was crucial to me that this publication not only be consistent with the kind of objects that I have made in the past but also be something that communicated the breadth of my output. Making a book about other books and pieces of paper is a challenge and I feel that the designer’s solution to photograph my work on the walls of my home and in the hands of my friends and colleges and collaborators was effective and brought these admittedly minimal artifacts to life. There is not one decision in this book from the self-endpapering to the number of pages that was not thoroughly considered and effectively resolved.”

This gorgeously restrained and thorough chronological presentation of the artist’s work reinvents the structure of a monograph. The cover has a page number and the book includes a six-page diagram of all the work to scale.