Books, by their physical nature, tend to be collaborations in terms of their design and production. Tomorrow evening, The Center for Book Arts opens a new exhibition called Artist as Publisher. It examines independent art publications produced by contemporary artists and collaboratives and includes work by more than 60 artists. The show's raw energy comes from the artists' guerilla approach of using publications as a means of bypassing the gallery system to get exposure and a certain disdain for highly finished products.

Organized by Omar Lopez-Chahoud, the Center's exhibition space has been divided into three "reading rooms." Each is curated by a separate team with a distinct approach to the concept of independent publishing.

Installation views of Scott Hug's K48 (left) and John Knuth's Circus Gallery reading room. Photos courtesy of The Center for Book Arts.

On entering from the elevator, visitors are surrounded by a space defined by Scott Hug, the publisher of K48, and Billy Miller, who puts out No Milk Today and When Johnny Comes Marching Home. K48 is published in New York twice a year and each volume includes a new music CD. For the installation, Scott created a "brick wall," each brick being an oblong media image cut out of randomly selected commercial publications such as The NY Post, Boys Life, comics of all kinds, a Star Wars coloring book and more. Framed art from his personal collection of images published in K48 is hung above, with issues of the magazine on a handy shelf.

The opposite wall, designed by Billy Miller, is covered with No Milk Today wallpaper, also hung with framed art from the publications. A glass display case holds issues and more art and ephemera. The title No Milk Today is taken from a song by Herman and the Hermits and, says Miller, expresses the idea that people should only watch movies or videos that they themselves control to avoid being contaminated by mass media merchandising.

Back towards the printmaking workshop is a space curated by Rachel Mason from New York and John Knuth of the Circus Gallery in Los Angeles. A real reading room, the collection includes dozens of artist-made books and zines, including remakes of the first Xerox editions of Beautiful Decay, created by the teenage Amir H. Fallah in his bedroom.

Near the Book Center's office is a "reading room" organized by Chilean artists Diego Fernandez, Rodrigo Salinas, Felipe Mujica, Ivan Navarro and Ian Szydlowski. It includes publications and videos of their art actions. Among the guerilla techniques the collectives used to get affordable publicity are posters created by purchasing the leftover paper along the edges of giant commercially printed billboards - at a cost of about $20.

The opening reception for Artist as Publisher is July 9 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at The Center for Book Arts. The show is on through September 13^th.