Claudia de la Torre’s artist editions are expanding the idea of what a book can be

Working in the field of artist books, creating conceptual artworks through print media and installations, Claudia de la Torre is really only using the traditional concept of a book as a point of departure for her wonderfully experimental works with paper. Expanding formats, and traditional uses for these printed vessels, the artist has cut out office discount manuals in homage to Dieter Roth, printed thermal pages designed to slowly disappear and turned books into doorstops (to name just a few publishing adventures). “Books exist at the crossroads of multiple art forms” Claudia shares, “they exist in the limit of disciplines, ranging from literature to photography, sculpture, and graphic arts. They offer a unique opportunity to reimagine how information is organised, aiming to create an artwork that engages all the senses and that calls for an active user”.

Creating her independent house – Backbone Books – back in 2011 as “an extension of her artistic practice and a platform for the sharing of her artist books”, Claudia has been immersed in the publishing world for over 13 years. Since 2021, the artist has been leading what she’s named as her Artists’ Books Workshop, in her studio – an ongoing three-day-at-a-time project where she collaborates with creatives who want to bring their ideas to life in book form. Through these projects, much like many of her other collaborative pursuits, she examines “the structures and relationships of surface, form and ideas” that relate to printed works: a thoughtful approach that she believes allows her to “open new perspectives into what a book can be”.