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Donna Seager Gallery

February 13 - March 16, 2009

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851 Fourth Street San Rafael, CA 94901
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Ex Libro Lisa Kokin, Un Life, Altered Book
The February exhibition at Donna Seager Gallery promises to be unlike anything we’ve presented before. Two years in the planning, this one-person installation by Bay Area artist Lisa Kokin expands the idea of art and of artist’s books as well. The exhibition runs from February 3 to March 15, 2009. A reception for the artist is set for 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, February 13. She gives a gallery talk at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 8. An exhibition catalog, priced at $20, is available through the gallery with images of Kokin’s varied pieces and an essay by Paul Liberatore. At this mature point in her career, says Liberatore, the 54-year-old Bay Area artist has achieved a level of prominence in the contemporary art world that invites comparisons in aesthetics, content and use of materials to Louise Bourgeois and Kiki Smith. For the past two decades, Kokin has been in the forefront of an emerging new art form: the artist’s book. This is reflected in the title of the exhibition at Donna Seager Gallery: Ex Libro, meaning not only "from the book," but in Lisa's Kokin's mischievous world of layered puns, "formerly a book." Through her process of art making, Kokin explores cultural and personal issues of conformity and gender, the ambiguities of society and human behavior. Her investigations include bisexuality, her Jewish heritage, her devotion to universal struggles for social justice and against censorship. Her aesthetic in these meanderings is consistently refined and appealing. These works are not only forms to hold meaning, but stand alone as alluring works of art. While often commenting on serious issues, they do so with a sense of humor and a feeling of fun.
Ex Libro Love Always, Juanita, Altered Book with photos
Ex Libro Lisa Kokin. Four Balls Short. Altered Atlas