Which art books, prints and posters are available by and about this artist? Here is a sample of items of interest to a typical collector:
Sébastien Girard is a French artist, photographer, and independent publisher whose practice rigorously investigates the physical architecture of the photobook and the mechanics of image reproduction. Operating largely outside traditional publishing structures, he utilizes self-publication as a space for formalist experimentation and critical reappropriation.
Rather than using the photobook merely as a vessel to display narrative images, Girard focuses on the structural and tactile realities of printmaking. His debut book, Nothing But Home (featured in Parr and Badger’s The Photobook: A History, Vol. 3), isolated the raw details of a construction site, establishing his focus on the physical remnants of space.
Girard frequently challenges the boundaries of authorship by physically manipulating existing works. His most prominent intervention is Black Book Twice (2024).
With Black Book Twice, Girard created a deliberate bootleg of Christopher Wool’s iconic 1989 edition. By printing each of Wool's original 17 word paintings twice (recto and verso), he scrambled the sequence to form unintended double-page combinations, actively rendering the original work unreadable through the printing process itself.
To further dismantle traditional art market structures, Girard printed facsimile signatures and the exact same edition number ("75/350") into every single copy of Black Book Twice, emptying the concept of a "rare limited edition" of its authenticity.
Girard’s practice perfectly encapsulates a formalist approach to photography and later the printed matter. By employing raw risograph printing, scrambling the sequencing of existing artworks, and weaponizing the colophons that validate them, his work strips away external concepts to focus purely on art and its reproducibility. His bootlegs function as autonomous, formalized art objects that interrogate how images are circulated, consumed, and owned.
Black Book Twice (2024) is a conceptual photobook functioning as a deliberate bootleg and critical reappropriation, the book directly mimics Christopher Wool's iconic 1989 Black Book.
Girard’s version reproduces Wool's 17 original word paintings, but with a crucial alteration: every image is printed twice (recto and verso). This intervention intentionally scrambles the original sequencing, generating new, unintended double-page word combinations that render Wool's original narrative unreadable. The title "Twice" functions dually as a descriptor of this double-printing method and a nod to the fact that this is essentially a second version of Wool’s highly sought-after edition. Through this process, Girard uses the book as a vehicle to question and challenge the boundaries of authorship and copyright.
The book is an oversized softcover matching the exact dimensions of Wool’s 1989 original. It is risograph printed and sewn bound. It also comes housed in a black fabric bag, referencing the blank black covers of the original Wool book.
The edition is limited to 75 copies with a signed riso print.