Q: What do you like about your art and photobookcases; Are they what you have always wanted or is there room for improvement?

A: The reason I like my bookcases is the same as why I hate them a bit too. I have had several bookcases, of various types and designs, over the years. They are located in several places in my house, and that doesn’t make the organization easy. I dream of setting up in a more permanent place and building a single library that would contain absolutely all of my books. I will design it in a way that allows me to classify the books by themes: artists books, photobooks, books to cut up, novels, journals, an archive of my own books.

Q: What has influenced you the most as a book collector?

A: When I was a kid, it was my parents’ libraries that influenced me the most. They were big reader of novels and fiction, so I immersed myself in these rooms where the walls were made of books. Where there were no books, there were images (photographs, paintings, drawings, and newspaper clippings). I’ve always enjoyed walls made of books; this type of a barrier is only an invitation to jump.

Other places I have enjoyed are public libraries. It is in places like this that the world’s cultures come together, also because they are places much like museums where the books, like artwork on the walls, impose a sort of silence. Each person is focused on his book or on a particular piece of art; however, most importantly, there is a sense that everybody’s ideas are circulating. That is why libraries and museums are for me are the most erotic places. The silence and the contemplation stimulate the senses boiling inside.

Q: How do you organize your art and photobooks?

A: In general, the only organization is the visual effects produced by the spines of the books, each one next to the other. It’s a sort of organization of images in order to create another image. That explains also why I often change the placement of my books, and the fact that I don’t always find them so easily. My ideal future library should solve all these problems in a pragmatic manner [haha:)].

I would also like one day to build a library where the books would be organized uniquely by size, from the smaller to the tallest; a sort of crescendo of images, becoming stronger and stronger as they go up. But maybe an artist somewhere might already have created such a library. I often think about an exhibition that would present only libraries.

Q: What is the first art- or photo-book you bought and why did it capture your attention?

A: My first photobook was a gift from a friend. It is not, then, a personal choice, but rather a direction proposed by someone close. It’s a collection of photographs made by Stanisaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885-1939), a playwright, novelist, painter and philosopher. It’s a Polish edition published by the Wydawnictwo Literackie. It consists of a collection of images, from portraits, landscapes, genre scenes and details to self-portraits. This extremely diversified and experimental selection, although created by the same artist, has intrigued me and influenced me a great deal. Most of the photobooks I have since purchased have been suggested by friends. When I choose a book, it is with the aim of discovering an artist. Thanks to their perspective, I have discovered the work of many photographers.

Q: Have your shelves ever collapsed under the weight? Or have your photobooks caused any other type of studio disaster?

A: No, never—my photobookcases are very solidly built and should be able to stay up for a long time. I spend a lot of time organizing my books and my new acquisitions and the idea of having to re-organize my collection after a collapse is not very attractive. I would prefer moving out: in that case, putting all the books in boxes would allow me to reread some and rediscover others. Then re-shelving them would be an endless game that goes with the joy of living in a new place.

Sometimes it happens that a cat will use one of my books for a scratching post or a kid will draw on the pages of another. I’m not fetishistic about my books and I often find this kind of thing adds something special. I always prefer to buy a book that has lived and has had other lives than a book wrapped in plastic.

Q: What is the next art or photobook you might purchase?

A: Being not a real collector, I don’t plan my purchases ahead. I am incapable of saying what the next book I buy will be: an exhibition catalogue, an artist’s book, an encyclopedia from the ‘70s, the aquatic life of canaries. The next book will be something I will want to keep for a long time or that I will cut or in which I will draw: long term preservation or immediate destruction. Translated from theFrench by Noé Cottencin.

Mathieu Renard, an artist and the founder and director of Lendroit Editions [printed matter and artists editions], just moved his gallery and store to a new location in downtown Rennes, France. Opening day is set for September 27th. For this occasion, Lendroit’s motto, “In print we trust,” has been emblazoned on tote bags, mugs, and a special selection of Cuvée Lendroit Editions, by Guillaume Pinard, as gifts to his KissKissBankBank supporters. Information. pimp bookcase