Abstract

This thesis examines the development of artist's books and other similar mass- produced art works in the codex form. More specifically, the object of investigation in this thesis focuses on the position of such art works as democratic multiples. This development is traced through three case studies on the works of Edward Ruscha (b.1937), the artist collective General Idea (1969-1995), and Matthew Barney (b.1967). The thesis argues that though artist's books are often characterized as being polemical towards capitalist production, these bookworks achieve their most democratic results when making use of the techniques of the capitalist market, rather than working against it.