Barbara Bloom - Gifts

This beautifully produced book by New York-based conceptual artist Barbara Bloom (born 1951) explores the nature of gifts in relation to aspects such as wrapping, covering and uncovering, pleasure and generosity. A passionate collector of ornamental paper from all over the world, Bloom has studied the history and aesthetics of gift-wrapping in detail. In Gifts, she tries to blur the conventional distinction between art and life while offering new insights on notions of concealment and revelation, drawing on various historical examples. Can the box be an artwork? Can the wrapping be the gift? she asks her readers.

Bloom’s work has been shown internationally, including exhibitions at the Venice Biennale and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gifts is a further step in the artist’s personal investigation into the world of objects, itself a gorgeously produced object ripe for gift giving. The volume includes a bookplate signed by the artist.