A new exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts goes behind finished pieces we know and love to the scrapbook page, where artists’ thoughts and processes first take shape.

Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks gives rare insight into the raw visual diaries of a range of creative luminaries. There are the cut-up narratives of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin and scrapbooks from Warhol superstar Brigid Berlin, 1970s East Village punk figure Jimmy De Sana, New European Painting pioneer Gerhard Richter and the authenticity envelope-pushing photographer and painter Richard Prince. Put all this together and you’ve opened a truly historic can of worms, ideas flown from page to page in the form of sketches, dry musings and humorous doodles. Others are finished works in themselves. Here, curator at ICA Matt Williams gives us his take on the exhibition and the scrapbook’s role in the creation of art: past, present and future.

Tempe Nakiska: How do the physical likes of scrapbooks, journals and moodboards contribute to the visual identity of an artist?
Matt Williams: The scrapbook is a very democratic medium, anyone can make one. Historically they have been used as a method of playfully documenting what people encounter on a daily basis and can feature all kinds of things including food receipts, bus tickets, newspaper clippings, and photographs etc. The material options are endless.

A number of the sketchbooks in the exhibition are visual conversations between text and image, this is most explicit in the William Burroughs and Brion Gysin sketchbook on display. Alongside this you have a variety of pieces by artists such as Geoffrey Hendricks, Richard Hawkins and Al Hanson among others that offer a personal insight to their practice and a development of some of their respective ideas and interests at the time. The scrapbook can operate in a similar fashion to a sketchbook and serve as a platform for artists to test out ideas in a carefree manner without the pressure of creating a final artwork.

TN: Are some more precise in their processes than others?
MW: Yes absolutely, for example we have on display Gerhard Richter’s Atlas suggests a very methodical approach to scrapbooking. Richard Prince’s tear-sheets are also presented in a very practical and professional fashion, whereas Jimmy De Sana’s and Jean Michel Wicker’s pieces are far more tactile and layered. The scrapbooks on display are a very good indicator of the artists practice and interests at that time.

Jean Michael-Wicker, ‘Novolino’ 2003-2005, image courtesy Andrew Roth and PPP Editions

TN: As we move towards digital mediums above printed matter, is there an impact on the way we view scrapbooks and similar items?
MW: Blogs and Tumblrs can I guess be described as contemporary and digital interpretations of scrapbooks. They appear to operate in way suggestive of a scrapbook, in the sense that people are still using images and texts etc, but collating and then publishing on the internet rather than glueing and pasting into a book. What does feel different is that blog authors appear to want to reach and engage with a wider audience sharing their tastes and desires. Scrapbooks can often feel very personal and not so much for public consumption.

TN: What about in terms of contemporary artists who use the scrapbook?
MW: In the exhibition we have scrapbooks by a number of contemporary artists including Jean Michel-Wicker, Richard Hawkins, and Leigh Ledare. Arguably they use the scrapbook in a far more considered fashion, as they aware of its historical value and treat it as an archive or ultimately as a piece of work.

TN: The scrapbook becomes an artwork in itself, from their perspective. How honest do you feel the scrapbook is as a reflection of an artist’s tangible finished work?
MW: This can often be the case and a good example is Isa Genzken. Her scrapbooks are incredibly engaging and rich in content and offer a more physical and vivid document of everyday life. Incorporating bold use of colouring and heavy layering has produced a distinct visual and aesthetic quality that demonstrates a way of working going beyond simple documentation.

Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks opens today and runs to 11th May at ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH