'The Art of the Bookstore'

Shelf Awareness

"The Art of the Bookstore" is part of a "People and Places" exhibition at the Bountiful/Davis Art Center in Farmington, Utah, that "celebrates the independent bookstores still dotted across the country," the Davis Clipper reported.

Each painting is titled with a bookstore's name, including The Cottage Book Shop ("as rustic and homey-looking as its name suggests"); Chapters ("focuses only on one beautifully ornate window, framing a glimpse of high ceilings and shelf after shelf of books"); The Strand ("its innocuous storefront surrounded by the gleaming lights of New York City"); and Shakespeare & Co. ("beckons people inside with the cool glow of neon in its window").

There is even a Barnes & Noble store. "Though it first seems out of place with the independent bookstores that fill the other paintings, there's enough character in it to see it as a gesture of peace. Any building full of books, it seems to say, can't be all bad," the Davis Clipper wrote. The exhibition runs through February 14.