Established in 2023 as a means of acknowledging the critical relationship between contemporary art and publishing with a regional focus on the Southeast, the Athens Art Book Fair provides a gathering space for publishers and artists to share their work, nurture relationships across the region, and for the Athens art book community to grow and flourish.

WHAT ARE ART BOOKS?
Art books are a broad category of publications by artists, designers, and makers that reflect on books as a medium and publishing as an artistic practice. Art books often combine type, images, and materials in thoughtful ways that push the possibilities of what books can be. They can take the familiar forms of paperbacks, hardcovers, magazines, journals, and zines. They can feature narrative, poetry, photography, and illustration. They can be handmade, offset-printed, letterpressed, photocopied, screen printed, or risographed. Or, they can take some surprising new form and feature an unexpected medium that allows one to experience the world in a wholly new way.
 
WHAT ABOUT PRINTS?
“Hand-pulled” prints such as woodcuts, etchings, screenprints, and Risographs (among other printmaking techniques) will also be on offer at the fair. Printmaking offers artists the opportunity to work in multiples, thus broadening their audience and widening opportunities for exhibitions and sales. Whether you’re an avid art collector, or just curious about the fair, contemporary prints can be an accessible and affordable way to collect art by living artists from your own backyard!

Images courtesy of Sidney Chansamone