John Latham

John Latham (1921-2006) was a pioneer of British conceptual art, who, through painting, sculpture, performances, assemblages, films, installation and extensive writings, fuelled controversy and continues to inspire. Latham began using books as a medium in 1958, extending his earliest spray-painted canvases into the third dimension by creating reliefs wherein the publication emerged from plaster on canvas. Titled 'skoob', a reversal of 'books', these works invert the traditional function of literature, typically read in a linear and temporal manner, to create an object that can be consumed spontaneously and without structure. Published on the occasion of the exhibition, John Latham: Skoob Books at Lisson Gallery, New York (2 May - 16 June 2018).