When Roth began making artist books his style was very based around the concept of concrete art. Concrete art is a style of abstract art involving loud, bright colours and geometric shapes that in no way symbolise reality, the concept being that the lines and colours are concrete by themselves. 'Bok' in 1958 is a prime example of Roth's concrete art.
Roth moved away from this concept in 1960. His work began to focus more on art creted from found objects of degradable objects such as newspaper and food. In 1961 he made 'Daily Mirror Book', comprised of Daily Mirror newspaper cut into 2cm x 2cm squares and rebound as a 150 page book. 'Daily Mirror Book' is my favorite artist book by Roth. The book is very inkeeping with my aesthetic. The look of newspaper and printed media has always appealed to me, aswell as the book's simplistic appearance and lack of loud or contrasting colours.
'Daily Mirror Book' is an excellent demonstration of alchemy. Roth composed the book from an old newspaper, transforming it from waste into a work of art, using it to make an ironic statement about literature.
