Book Arts

Angel Bomb is the nom de plume and press name of me, Todd Thyberg. After thirty years of graphic design and fifteen years of letterpress printing, I decided to focus on creating books. My artist books explore themes of exploration and discovery through interactions with book structures, materials and design choices. I have been making books for over nine years and create complex limited editions using science fiction to critique social issues and extend the experience of reading a book to more of the senses through touch, sound, and smell. I write my own stories as well as work with copyrighted material. My books create ever-deepening layers of meaning from the initial structure to the design and illustration choices and seek to take the reader to bygone eras through material and visual choices.

Why

Ever since I was a kid, I loved books and wanted to tell stories. Books were always an escape for me; taking me away from the tedium of small town life and transporting me to locations I could only imagine. For me, books opened up the world and exposed a wider canvas for me to explore. I studied graphic design and creative writing at the University of Minnesota and slowly over the years found my way back to story-telling.

Owning vintage presses that have seen so much history is an honor. My second book, American Manifesto, was driven by the idea that in owning printing presses, I should also use them for good, that is, draw attention to areas of society that need work and hopefully start a dialogue to change that.

My works are varied, but a large part of my work is focused on how readers interact with the book as object.

This is another fine example