Rare Autumn

Notations.

2012-01-31T08:55:00.000+01:00

Notations. By William Brice. Twin Palms Publishers, 1983. 96pp., illustrated throughout, 10x13".

Book description:

"In order to visualize and experiment with compositional elements for his large-scale paintings, William Brice began drawing on four by six inch index cards.

These cards made for a more portable means of sharing his work with others and when assembled in a sketchbook they are a concise presentation of one artist's working methods.

This volume is a reproduction of William Brice's original sketchbook, each card is sequenced and mounted on the page as they appear in the artist's original sketchbook."

Read You Like A Book: Time and Relative Dimensions in Storytelling

2012-01-28T10:40:00.010+01:00

I really like this issue (Vol 12, No 4) of Image & Narrative Journal, and especially the 'visual article' by artist Mike Nicholson entitled 'Read You Like A Book: Time and Relative Dimensions in Storytelling' (abstract below, full pdf here).

I've long been a fan of his work and am lucky enough to own quite a few editions from his 'Bio Auto Graphic' series (published through the Ensixteen Editions imprint), which this piece can be said to be an extension of.

His work is always funny, sweet and poignant, but at the same time serious and I think there's also always an honesty and a deeper level to it, which (if you're not familiar with his work) comes across well in this piece for example.

For more of Mike Nicholson's work, or for which event or bookart fair you can catch him at next, go here.

Abstract:

"Life unfolds as irreversible, linear progression - day on day on day - like the reading of a traditional codex book, though we process it through the random subjectivity of memory, imagination and emotion.

In the solitude of our minds, we effortlessly connect points and personal themes in the story of ourselves, back and forth across distances of time and physical geography. Can limited architectures of sequential narrative - even expanded from analogue paper to digital formats - explore and express the above? Do new story shapes allow parallel readings from the same material? What constitutes the pages of our day, the chapter headings? Could the really important truths be hidden in the footnotes?

Nicholson’s 'Bio Auto Graphic' editions travel a landscape of metaphor, metafiction and psycho-geography. Senses of place and self have developed alongside the resonance of objects. The significance of the insignificant is key. The gaps between things drive the work; tensions of image and text, self-image and the image others see of us, what we say and what we actually mean, what we expect of others and what they expect of us.

In this article Nicholson further combines visual languages of text and image to examine a particular journey and event. The anticipation of the experience, and final immersion within the reality of it, evoke hard-wired notions of a regional identity embedded in the artist-author’s earliest cultural references. The most profound journeys, towards a morality that links individuals to society, may even bring us back to where we started."

Time Lost.

2012-01-27T10:45:00.006+01:00

Time Lost. 1968-1974. By Pablo Larreta. Libreria Brambila, 2010. Unpaged, illustrated throughout, 8,35x10,75". Edition of 350. Images from here.

Book description:

"Pablo Larreta’s photographs might seem like anticipatory studies for his later career as a sculptor.

They are about light and space; and even when inhabited by people, they are permeated with a silence that puts his living subjects on equal footing with architecture or statuary.

Only incidentally anthropological, these artful photographs are nonetheless an idiosyncratic window into the Argentine pampas in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries."

View inside the entire book here (video).

Today I wrote nothing.

2012-01-25T10:02:00.005+01:00

Today I wrote nothing. By Natalie Czech. Editions Gwinzegal, 2010. 44pp., illustrated throughout, 13x20cm. Limited and numbered edition of 500.

Book description:

"The photographic series 'Today I wrote nothing' by Natalie Czech is based on a diary entry by the Russian avant-garde author and poet Daniil Kharms (1905-1942).

Founder of the OBERIU or 'Union of Real Art' movement, Kharms was a well-known poet and performer of the early Soviet literary scene. He was denounced as an 'anti-Soviet' writer in 1931, and arrested and imprisoned in a psychiatric ward in 1941.

Kharms died in his cell, most likely of starvation, in 1942. In 1937, Kharms wrote the following entry in his diary: Today I wrote nothing. Doesn't matter. January 9th.

'Today I wrote nothing' is a series of 22 photographic tableaux. Each tableau consists of a printed book page, inscribed with the text of Kharms' diary-entry. On each page some of the words of the entry are missing, so that the written statement changes."

Trees and Plinths

2012-01-22T11:51:00.009+01:00

Trees and Plinths (2012) by Ralph Dorey.

This work by artist Ralph Dorey goes very well with my Sunday I must say. I really liked 'Trees and Plinths' when I first encountered it (as I still do), I feel quite moved by it really.

For more of his work go here, I have previously also featured his publication It shook me by the hand, and then it punched me in the ear.

Things Here and Things Still to Come.

2012-01-20T10:11:00.005+01:00

Things Here and Things Still to Come. By Jose Pedro Cortes. Pierre von Kleist Editions, 2011. 116 pp., illustrated throughout, 24,5x31cm. Normal edition limited to 1000 copies, special edition limited to 100 copies (including an original print). Images from here.

Book description:

"During nine months I lived in Tel Aviv. During this period I met four young Jewish women who were born in the USA.

They had all decided, at the age of 18, to go to Israel to do the military service.

After completing the required two years of service, they decided to stay and live in this idyllic Middle Eastern city."

Before Silence.

2012-01-19T12:37:00.005+01:00

Before Silence. Photographs by Mathias Grate, text by Mikael Timm. Mathias Grate, 2011. 64 pp., illustrated throughout, 6,75x8,5". Images from here.

Book description:

"Mathias Grate’s photographs are less moments of touching down in time than keystrokes in an ongoing script of compressed experience.

They seem to be drawn from a journey in the same unfamiliar landscape, a zone (to use a Tarkovskian association) which borders on the one side on everyday life and on the other on all that is timeless, other-worldly. (...)

The subjects in this series from the zone could provoke grief. But they have been so gently developed (exposed feels like far too brutal word) that, instead, they are comforting.

They form a short film of still images on the subject of tenderness. On the subject of that which takes place between the words."

Many Voices Speak

2012-01-13T08:27:00.004+01:00

Image modified, source for original here .

"Many Voices Speak.
Yours is like water.
Yours is like rain,
when it falls through the night.
Murmuring deeply,
sinking tentatively,
slow, hesitant,
painfully alive.

Rippling like shallows
behind all sounds,
trickling and dripping
against my skin,
shrouding softly,
closing me in,
filling my ears
with whispering memories.

I want to sit quietly
where I cannot disturb you.
I want to live and dwell
where I can hear you.
Many voices speak.
Through them all
I hear only yours
falling as a night rain."

Karin Boye: Many Voices Speak (translation into English by David McDuff).

Essex County.

2012-01-12T09:11:00.000+01:00

Essex County. By Stephen Shore. Nazraeli Press, 2002. 36pp., illustrated throughout, 14x17". Images from here.

Book description:

"Using an 8 x 10 inch camera, Stephen Shore began this body of work in the early 1990s. At that time he had a cabin on Spread Eagle Mountain, in Keene, Essex County.

Here, in the High Peaks region of the Adirondack Mountains, the forest is a mixture of hard and soft woods. The boulders scattered about are mostly anorthosite, an igneous rock (one formed by volcanic action) that is found not only on much of the earth’s crust but also on the moon.

Shore is internationally acclaimed for his large-format color photographs, but for this body of work he turned to black-and-white film. The simplicity of his subject matter - trees photographed straight on, and rocks embedded in the soil on the forest floor - is matched by its nobility, all of which is emphasized through Shore’s masterful control of silver and light.

'Essex County' is an oversized book measuring 14 x 17 inches, beautifully printed in duotone and hand-bound in Japanese cloth. This first printing is limited to 1,000 copies."

Seismic Shift. Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal and California Landscape Photography, 1944-1984.

2012-01-11T11:33:00.009+01:00

Seismic Shift. Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal and California Landscape Photography, 1944-1984. Curated by Colin Westerbeck, work by various artists. University of California Riverside/California Museum of Photography, 2011. 96 pp., illustrated throughout, 9x12".

Book description:

"The now-legendary 1975 New Topographics show represented a true 'seismic shift' in American landscape photography, moving past the romantic legacy of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston to the minimalist-influenced work typified by Lewis Baltz and Joe Deal.

This catalog of 2011’s Seismic Shift exhibition offers a comprehensive narrative of California photographic history made by the 43 featured artists; it includes 58 reproductions (mostly black-and-white) and essays by curator Colin Westerbeck, photographic historian Susan Laxton and regionalist Jason Weems.

The exhibition is one of over 60 funded by the Getty Research Institute’s initiative looking at Southern California art 1945-1980, called Pacific Standard Time."

As Long As It Photographs / It Must Be A Camera.

2012-01-10T10:15:00.010+01:00

As Long As It Photographs / It Must Be A Camera. By Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs. Tonk, 2011. 60 pp., illustrated throughout, 29,7x42cm (two books). Images from here.

I have a really serious soft-spot for handmade/self-made cameras, I'm really endlessly fascinated by them, so the "pure apparatus" part of this project was always going to be pretty great to me.

On top of this however, 'As Long As It Photographs / It Must Be A Camera', also features some really interesting and beautiful photographs.

Book description:

"Synopsis: A pair of books by the Swiss photography duo Tonk (Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs).

The first book, 'As Long As It Photographs', focuses on the camera as pure apparatus featured in a variety of hands and media.

The second, 'It Must Be a Camera', features subjects united by a (sometimes literal) thematic frame."

War Primer 2.

2012-01-06T10:12:00.005+01:00

War Primer 2. By Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. MACK Books, 2011. 100pp., illustrated throughout. Limited edition of 100 (signed & numbered).

Book description:

" 'War Primer 2' is a limited edition book that physically inhabits the pages of Bertolt Brecht's remarkable 1955 publication 'War Primer'.

The original is a collection of Brecht's newspaper clippings, each accompanied by a four-line poem that he called Photo-epigrams. It was the culmination of almost three decades of intermittent activity.

The title deliberately recalls the textbooks used to teach elementary school children how to read; Brecht's book is a practical manual, demonstrating how to 'read' or 'translate' press photographs.

Brecht was profoundly uneasy about the affirmative role played by the medium within the political economy of capitalism and referred to press photographs as heiroglyphics in need of decoding.

'War Primer 2' is the belated sequel. While Brecht's 'War Primer' was concerned with images of the Second World War, 'War Primer 2' is concerned with the images of conflict generated by both sides of the so-called 'War on Terror'.

'Don't start with the good old things but the bad new ones' Brecht famously said, and in this spirit Broomberg and Chanarin have gathered their material from the internet - compressed, uploaded, ripped, squeezed, reformatted, re-edited and often anonymous images - rather than sifting through newspapers with a pair of scissors.

Heiner Müller once said that to use Brecht without changing him is an act of betrayal. With 'War Primer 2' Broomberg and Chanarin have appropriated Brecht's original, giving us their critique of images of contemporary conflict, which is simultaneously a betrayal and a homage."

Read/see more from artists Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin here, and more about the book here.

Idyll.

2012-01-05T09:53:00.007+01:00

Idyll. Orchard Volume Three. By Raymond Meeks and Mark Steinmetz. Silas Finch, 2011. 60 pp., illustrated throughout, 11,25x14,75". Patron, Sustainer and Contributor editions. Images from here and here.

Book description:

" 'Idyll' with Mark Steinmetz combines two separate but complementary bodies of work, one by Meeks and the other by Steinmetz, to remarkable effect.

Made once again by hand in Portland, Oregon, the book features bold front and back covers with a letterpress-printed photograph by Mark Steinmetz.

The Sustainer and Patron editions include 'Pastoral,' an additional book of photographs by Mark Steinmetz. A total of only 90 copies of this very special book will be available for sale.

The Patron edition also includes a freestanding broadside of two silver gelatin prints by Raymond Meeks and Mark Steinmetz."

I've previously also featured Not Seen | Not Said (Orchard Volume Two).

The Day After.

2012-01-04T11:01:00.010+01:00

The Day After. By Hiroshi Sugimoto. Pace Gallery, 2011. 108 pp., illustrated throughout, 11,75x9,5". Images from here.

Book description:

"In Hiroshi Sugimoto's first solo presentation since joining The Gallery Pace, the revered photographer and architect exhibits two new 50-foot photographic diptychs from his 'Lightning Field' series (2009-10), accompanied by nine single 'Lightning Field' photographs.

Created in the darkroom with the help of a Van de Graaff generator, sheets of unexposed film are subjected to electrical discharges, creating sparks of light that scar the film with patterns reminiscent of organic life forms and tree-filled landscapes.

Seven photographs from the artist’s iconic 'Seascapes' series will also be on view."

Winter

2012-01-03T08:37:00.001+01:00

Winter. © Rare Autumn.

"Sparkling creaking hard crust.
Lonely, lonely is the night sky over white roads.
I am filled with a angry thirst
for the winter sky.

Will you not soon leap up before my foot,
deep earth-cold water that sometimes chilled me,
O strong darkness that
my star conceals?

Then dizzyingly hard and pure
you will drown putrid lies as before you mercilessly did.
Where are you, bitter sea
of ice and truth?"

Karin Boye: Winter Night (translation into English by David McDuff).

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T11:25:00.001+01:00

Gloria Swanson (c. 1920s).

Happy New Year! See you in 2012...

City dwellings: Stockholm seen through the photographers eyes (1845-1980).

2011-12-30T09:54:00.010+01:00

City dwellings: Stockholm seen through the photographers eyes (1845-1980). Edited by Leif Wigh. Moderna museet, 2001. 63pp., illustrated throughout, 16,5x22cm.

This exhibition catalogue from the 2001-2002 exhibition at Modern Museum Stockholm shows photographs of Stockholm and its changing city environment from 1845 to 1980. It was the Modern Museum's contribution to 'The Year of Architecture 2001' and Stockholm 750 years Jubilee 2002.

The Modern Museum is currently rehanging their galleries exclusively with photographic art. The chronology in the displays will be the same, but the 20th century will be presented from a partly new perspective. This is happening in three stages, entitled Another Story, and is well-worth a look.

Kan du inte bara vara pinsamt tyst.

2011-12-29T13:02:00.011+01:00

Kan du inte bara vara pinsamt tyst. Text by Tomas Kindenberg, photographs by Stefan Bladh, endpaper illustrations by Fredrik Tjernström. Zoo Publishing, 2006. 130pp., illustrated throughout, 12x17cm.

'Kan du inte bara vara pinsamt tyst', which can loosely be translated to 'Can't you just be awkwardly silent', is a collection of short stories or monologues by Swedish writer Tomas Kindenberg.

The stories intertwines with black & white, bleak and at the same time both fairly stark and dream-like photographs of the Swedish everyday existence by photographer Stefan Bladh.

UPDATE: I'm ambivalent to this book, which I guess was not made clear. However, it has certain qualities that fits very well into my own creative process at the moment (e.g. the Swedishness of the title, the style of the photographs and my own relationship to the book over the years).

God Jul, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

2011-12-24T09:18:00.005+01:00

Cy's Rollei.

2011-12-22T10:08:00.009+01:00

Cy's Rollei. One Picture Book #68. Photographs by Sally Mann, Rob McDonald and Even Rogers. Nazraeli Press, 2010. 16pp., illustrated throughout, 5,5x7,25". Images from here.

One Picture Book is an ongoing series of limited edition artists' books published by Nazraeli Press, which I've previously written about here, here, here and here for example.

The artist is asked to create a book based on one image or series of connected images, from their previous work. The hardcover edition is limited to 500 and contains an original print by the artist.

'Cy's Rollei' (One Picture Book #68) description:

"These photographs happened in sequence, on a single roll of film, when a very famous artist - a great collector of things - bought a dusty Rolleiflex at a yard sale and invited three photographers to see if it would work.

Photographs by Sally Mann, Rob McDonald and Even Rogers. Signed original print by Rob McDonald."

Quarries.

2011-12-21T10:52:00.006+01:00

Quarries. By Edward Burtynsky. Steidl, 2007. 176pp., illustrated throughout, 38,1x30,4cm.

How our landscape is transformed by industry and the construction of our industrial society is always interesting to me (especially as we've gone so far down that road that there are layers and years of man-made interference).

I also happen to find quarries very beautiful in their jagged destruction.

Book description:

"Over a twenty-five year career exploring the landscape as transformed by industry, the celebrated Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has accumulated a body of work on large scale quarries around the world.

Including Canada, Italy, China, Spain, Portugal, India and America these thought provoking studies of sites that are created as we dig into the earth for material in order to build our cities, urge us to consider how we as viewers are simultaneously attracted yet repulsed by these landscapes - somewhere a building is created while a landscape is destroyed."

Wiese.

2011-12-19T10:22:00.007+01:00

Wiese. By Anne Schwalbe, design by Birgit Vogel. Anne Schwalbe, 2011. 48 pp., illustrated throughout, 24x31,5cm.

'Wiese' is a book by German photographer Anne Schwalbe. Wiese means meadows in German, and this is a book of and about meadows.

I do really like documenting projects, or repeating and/or vaguely obsessing over one subject matter or viewpoint, which this book could be said to be. I also really like Schwalbe's aesthetics and the way she "frames" her projects with the use of the envelopes, plain cardboard and string.

A special limited edition of 'Wiese' (including an analogue print) is available here. I have previously also featured Anne Schwalbe's book Blindschleiche und Riesenblatt.

The Infinite Journey.

2011-12-16T08:10:00.011+01:00

The Infinite Journey. A response to "x= or what is to be done?", the tenth anniversary of bookartbookshop. Book by Sara Elgerot / Rare Autumn, 2011. 10pp., illustrated throughout, 10,9x8,3cm.

Book description:

'The Infinite Journey' takes its starting point from a fairly literal reading of “x= or what is to be done?” (“x=” symbol, and “what is to be done?” always has a political connotation to me), as well as the symbolism/mythology surrounding the year 2012 and the 10 year “arc” of the bookartbookshop and its symbolism in my life.

It's concerned with the use of symbols to represent ideas/qualities (and by extension the shape of symbols), protest movements through a sentimental tint, mythology and rebirth in thoughts, and the circular way life comes around.

The “infinite” in the title is a play on the infinity symbol.

The materials used are inkjet and crayon/pen on white aquarelle paper, with crayon/pen on black 200gsm paper insert and cover. Folded and staple-bound with a soft cover.

The Half-Life of History.

2011-12-15T08:56:00.005+01:00

The Half-Life of History. The Atomic Bomb and Wendover Air Base. Photographs by Mark Klett, text by William L. Fox. Radius Books, 2011. 160 pp., illustrated throughout, 9,5x11,75". Images from here.

Book description:

"In Hiroshima, Japan a twisted steel dome is grim reminder of a city destroyed by the first atomic bomb used in warfare. It is a history no one dares to forget.

Halfway around the globe in the Utah/Nevada border stands another ruin, the airplane hangar inside of which the bomber that carried the Hiroshima bomb was readied for its mission. Wendover Airbase, once the world’s largest, now crumbles from neglect.

The stories and relics at Wendover describe more than the past, they also point to a historic cycle; to a present filled with new apprehensions that carry the potential for a chilling future.

Artist Mark Klett, known for his ongoing exploration of landscape, history and the passage of time through the medium of photography, and William L. Fox, a celebrated science and art writer whose work has focused on human cognition and memory, teamed up to create a fascinating visual and verbal multi-layered portrait of Wendover Airbase and the experience of memory in relation to the use of the Atomic bomb by the American military in World War II."

A head with wings.

2011-12-14T09:55:00.007+01:00

A head with wings. By Anouk Kruithof, designed by Hans Seeger. Little Brown Mushroom Books, 2011. 28pp., illustrated throughout, various sized pages 6,625x 7,875″, custom side stapled, gatefold and various inserts (edition of 1000).

This artist book by Dutch artist Anouk Kruithof (designed by Hans Seeger and published by the always-interesting Little Brown Mushroom Books) is just truly inspiring to me - in its shape, construction and just the thought-process and imagination behind it.

Book description:

" 'Do you see something there? Why are you standing still all of a sudden?' With those words begin Anouk Kruithof’s trip into the Little Brown rabbit hole.

Using hand-made montages of photographs she took in Belize, Mexico, Egypt, Morocco and Berlin, Kruithof spins a hallucinatory yarn of anxiety and desire."

On Thin Ice, in a Blizzard.

2011-12-13T09:37:00.008+01:00

On Thin Ice, in a Blizzard. By Paula McCartney. Paula McCartney, 2011. 36 pp., illustrated throughout, 10x8".

Book description:

"Snow begins to fall, grows denser, and obliterates my view while exposing the cosmos. Ice shifts, opening a beautiful black void. A wondrous view as I begin my descent.

'On Thin Ice, In a Blizzard' is a subseries of my project, 'A Field Guide to Snow and Ice'.

While all of the images in the field guide are excerpts of natural landscapes - just not all snow and ice - the images in this book were constructed in the darkroom. A winter of my imagination."

In Search of Dominguez & Escalante.

2011-12-07T09:59:00.004+01:00

In Search of Dominguez & Escalante. Photographing the 1776 Spanish Expedition Through the Southwest. By Greg Mac Gregor and Siegfried Halus. Museum of New Mexico Press, 2011. 232 pp., illustrated throughout, 9,25x11,25". Images from here.

Book description:

"More than two hundred years later Greg Mac Gregor and Siegfried Halus have created a remarkable visual record of the expedition.

Using Escalante’s journal as their guide, the photographers followed the expeditionary route, circling through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona, and documenting the frontier as first witnessed by the Spanish explorers on horseback.

The expedition passed what today are major national parks and landforms: Zion Canyon; Dinosaur Monument; and the Grand Canyon. The photographs show many areas virtually unchanged over centuries; other images reveal the passage of time in pictures of dammed rivers, power lines, and towns where once stood virgin forests.

Quoting widely from Escalante’s journal, the authors present first hand accounts of the expedition alongside their photographic narrative. Essays by the photographers discuss their methodology and experiences as modern day explorers retracing the steps of the friars.

In his historical essay, Joseph P. Sánchez writes about the lasting legacy of the Spanish expeditions."

Memories of a Dog.

2011-12-02T11:04:00.005+01:00

Memories of a Dog. Photographs and text by Daido Moriyama. Nazraeli Press, 2004. 192 pp., illustrated throughout, 7x10". Images from here.

Book description:

"Daido Moriyama is without question one of Japan’s most important contemporary photographers and it is not surprising that this memoir, first published as a series of essays in Asahi Camera twenty-one years ago, is regarded as a classic in photographic literature.

In 'Memories of a Dog', Moriyama approaches photography through language, and it is difficult to say which is the more evocative medium.

His vividly expressive prose is in perfect harmony with the grainy, black and white images that in turn have a poetry all their own. As both reader and viewer one becomes completely absorbed, and photographs that will always be remarkable are given a new, very personal, layer of meaning.

This is an eloquent autobiographical account of the artist’s progress through life - the places he’s lived and traveled to, the newsreel theater that was like a 'second school', the bars, the coffee shops, and his journey to take his mother’s ashes to be with those of his father.

From his earliest sensations of being, to the realization that he has become 'willy-nilly and much to my regret, an adult', Moriyama shares his idea of memory, and 'the individual history that goes by the name, I'. "

The Rise of the Phantom King.

2011-12-01T10:43:00.005+01:00

The Rise of the Phantom King. By dettmer otto. Otto books, 2009. 16pp. + pullout, 3 colours, screenprinted, unbound, 27x35cm. Edition of 100.

I really like Otto's work and have previously featured his books The Octopus would like to put a stop to us and Fettered by film.

Book description:

"An ancient king emerges to take over the city of London. While taking on various shapes and disguises he dismantels the power structures, in order to establish himself as single tyrannical ruler."

The Bridge at Hoover Dam.

2011-11-30T09:29:00.006+01:00

The Bridge at Hoover Dam. By Jamey Stillings. Nazraeli Press, 2011. 128 pp., illustrated throughout, 13,5x17". Images from here.

'Documenting' projects like this is always really interesting to me. I also really appreciate the graphic lines and shapes constructed with the lines of the architecture, nature and building process in these photographs.

Book description:

"In March of 2009, amidst the rumblings of a global financial crisis that was to shape zeitgeist for years to come, Jamey Stillings set out on a road trip to reinvigorate his creative spirit.

What he encountered would captivate, challenge and amaze him. Like a child suddenly finding himself before the world's largest erector set, Jamey had discovered the Bridge at Hoover Dam. Instantly, he knew he would dedicate himself to exploring and documenting construction of the bridge through its completion.

Over the course of two years and set against the cultural and economic backdrop of our time, Jamey created a body of work that echoes the Bridge in its ability to simultaneously celebrate the power of human spirit and ingenuity while inviting an examination of the intersection of nature and the hand of man.

Against the temporal landscape of economic hardship, an eerie historic echo of its neighboring Hoover Dam, and the flashy and impermanent cultural landscape of Las Vegas, the Colorado River, Black Canyon and the Bridge that soars over are natural and manmade symbols of immutability and wonder.

Together, they are a legacy at which generations will marvel and Stillings’ images are imbued with the awe of one in the presence of great natural powers and the acme of human effort and creativity. Jamey Stillings' work has been widely exhibited and published throughout the country.

The artist's first monograph, 'The Bridge at Hoover Dam', is beautifully produced in an oversized format, and is published to coincide with a traveling exhibition opening at the Phoenix Art Museum in August 2011."

Richard Prince: American Prayer.

2011-11-25T09:19:00.009+01:00

Richard Prince: American Prayer. By Richard Prince. Essays by Bob Rubin, Marie Minssieux-Chamonard and John McWhinnie. Gagosian Gallery, 2011. 600 pp., illustrated throughout, 6,5x9". Images from here.

I'm not always a fan of Richard Prince’s work, but it really is a treat to see the inspiration behind his work in the form of his book collection.

For me, it's adding more layers to his work and gives me another insight into his creative process (and of course I love book collections and book-related ephemera).

Book description:

"A look into Richard Prince’s private library and his influences, published on the occasion of an exhibition of twentieth-century rare books and ephemera at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.

'Richard Prince: American Prayer' is an accompanying volume that expands upon the presentation. Literary excerpts complement illustrations of artworks, showing the influence of the texts and Prince's book collection, including rare volumes such as 'Naked Lunch', Jack Kerouac's rolled manuscript for Big Sur, and editions of Vladimir Nabokov's 'Lolita' in several languages.

'American Prayer' reveals the source for many of Prince’s well-known series and includes texts ranging from one-sentence quips to longer excerpts.

Robert Rubin is an art historian and collector of contemporary art and design. Marie Minssieux-Chamonard is a contemporary and rare book curator at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. John McWhinnie is a rare-book dealer and gallerist."

A.

2011-11-22T09:57:00.004+01:00

A. By Gregory Halpern. Edited by Jason Fulford. J & L Books, 2011. 96 pp., illustrated throughout, 9,5x11,75". Images from here.

Book description:

"In 'A', American photographer Gregory Halpern (born 1977) leads us on a ramble through the brilliant and ruined streets of the United States Rust Belt.

The cast of characters, both human and animal, are portrayed with compassion and respect by this native son of Buffalo (now professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology).

The cities he is drawn to - Baltimore, Cincinnati, Omaha, Detroit - share similar histories with his hometown, and in this post-apocalyptic springtime all forms of life emerge and run riot.

On the heels of Halpern’s two previous books, 'Harvard Works Because We Do' (a portrait of Harvard University through the eyes of the school’s service employees) and 'Omaha Sketchbook' (a lyrical artist’s book portrait of the titular city), 'A' continues the photographer’s investigations of locations and persons that fly under the radar."

Lost in Time.

2011-11-21T10:15:00.006+01:00

Lost in Time. By Marc Theis, with an essay by Boris von Brauchitsch. Peperoni Books, 2011. 144pp., illustrated throughout, 24x30cm.

Book description:

"Not another industrial ruin, one is tempted to say. But this time the situation is different, because in the images, which Marc Theis has taken on the abandoned Continental-site in Hannover, the different time levels interlace to a peculiar dialogue of generations.

The Continental tire manufacturing plant in Hannover with over 30 halls had the size of a whole town itself and as the forth-largest tire manufacturer an enormous meaning for the surrounding region and the people living there. But long ago the production came to a standstill and has been relocated to low-income countries. Marc Theis went on a discovery tour in the shut down factory and thereby came across anarchist traces.

Graffiti artists, actually interested in maximum public attention, have turned the sealed off plant into their playground. Between ruins, collapsed walls, pipes, boilers and left behind machines they have attached their tags and have let a new staff move in. The painted figures interact with the architecture and the left behind objects and comment them - funny, melancholic and obscene. The anonymous graffiti artists, members of the postindustrial generation, use the vacancy and the decay in order to send their messages - behind closed doors!

The artistically and atmospherically strong photographs by Marc Theis document this grotesque-poetic, ephemeral state which meanwhile has disappeared in time itself. All halls have been demolished by now."

In the Shadow of Things.

2011-11-18T09:00:00.006+01:00

In the Shadow of Things. Photographs by Léonie Hampton. Contrasto, 2011. 160 pp., illustrated throughout, 6x8,25". Images from here and here.

Book description:

"For over a decade Léonie’s mother Bron found it impossible to empty the packing boxes which had filled her new home since the collapse of her first marriage. The boxes, along with packed plastic bags and accumulated artefacts from her former life, were a constant, physical reminder to her family of Bron's long-running battle with OCD.

In 2007, a deal was struck: Léonie would help Bron empty the house on the condition that she be allowed to document that process.

'In the Shadow of Things' is the product of the months that Léonie spent with her mother as together they tried to tackle the irrational rituals and behaviours that were dominating her life. Opening the boxes and clearing out the rooms led to moments of anguish and anger, but also of humour, tenderness, and joy.

The book combines original photographs with found family images and transcripts of conversations, arguments and monologues. The result is an honest and intimate portrait of a family dealing with mental illness, a reflection on the power of the past, and a testament to the bond between a mother and a daughter."

It shook me by the hand, and then it punched me in the ear.

2011-11-17T07:34:00.001+01:00

It shook me by the hand, and then it punched me in the ear. By Ralph Dorey. Tulenizdat/Ralph Dorey, 2011. 24pp., illustrated throughout, 21x14,8cm. Edition of 50 (second edition).

'It shook me by the hand, and then it punched me in the ear' is a publication by artist Ralph Dorey. It contains a juxtaposition of texts, drawings and photographs blending together to give a clear, cohesive poetic rhythm - a rhythm that to me signifies the "fluid nature of people and places" especially.

The book/zine obviously has a pretty great title (a title that comes across a lot quieter than one might expect though), which sort of feeds into the opening text (which really resonated with me) and further unfolds in the art work and photographs.

Book description:

" 'It shook me by the hand, and then it punched me in the ear' is an archive of images and a set of marginal notes.

It is concerned with moss, mid-winter, the fluid nature of people and places, old growth, new decay and the gentle raging of systems.

The cover image is from The Magnificent Seven and the title is an idea of Kurt Vonnegut's. This is second laser printed edition of 50."

Tanks.

2011-11-16T09:34:00.010+01:00

Tanks. By Joe Zucker. Lapp Princess Press, 1980. 14pp. (according style binding), illustrated throughout, 15x15 cm.

This artist book by Joe Zucker is wonderful and ingenious in its simplicity.

Book description:

"Stretched in Zucker's drawing almost to the point of unrecognizability, two military tanks collide head-on".

Works Walks.

2011-11-15T09:31:00.010+01:00

Works Walks. By Magnus Thierfelder. Texts by Marianna Garin, Mathieu Copeland and design by Matilda Plöjel. Sailor press. 128pp., + 32pp., illustrated throughout, 12x16cm.

This is a truly beautifully crafted and thought-out book.

The form and shape of the book is beautiful and cleaver, and that in itself would've gone very far, but what really impressed me with 'Works Walks' is how the content matched this ingenuity.

The content is extensive and you get a real sense of the work of artist Magnus Thierfelder, but what really lifts it is the intersection of text, both in an analytical and visual sense.

It's really a curated exhibition of two halves taking place within the book format.

Book description:

"Magnus Thierfelder’s book 'Works Walks' navigates between associations and connections that unfold within the art works, between them and in the two specially commissioned texts.

The book has two parts; one part 'Works' is an overview of Thierfelders work accompanied by an extensive reflection by Marianna Garin.

'Walks', the other part, shows a selection of the artists sketches - snapshots from the street - with an elaborate essay by Mathieu Copeland that departs from the titles of the art works."

Special edition: includes bookartwork, and is limited to 25 copies, numbered and signed.

Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril.

2011-11-14T08:11:00.005+01:00

Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril. Numerous contributors, edited by Kathleen Dean Moore and Michael P. Nelson, with a foreword by Desmond Tutu. Trinity University Press, 2010. 464pp., 9,2x6,4". Images from here.

Book description:

" 'Moral Ground' brings together the testimony of over eighty visionaries - theologians and religious leaders, scientists, elected officials, business leaders, naturalists, activists, and writers - to present a diverse and compelling call to honor our individual and collective moral responsibility to our planet.

In the face of environmental degradation and global climate change, scientific knowledge alone does not tell us what we ought to do. The missing premise of the argument and much-needed center piece in the debate to date has been the need for ethical values, moral guidance, and principled reasons for doing the right thing for our planet, its animals, its plants, and its people.

Contributors from throughout the world (including North America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and Europe) bring forth a rich variety of heritages and perspectives. Their contributions take many forms, illustrating the rich variety of ways we express our moral beliefs in letters, poems, economic analyses, proclamations, essays, and stories.

In the end, their voices affirm why we must move beyond a scientific study and response to embrace an ongoing model of repair and sustainability. These writings demonstrate that scientific analysis and moral conviction can work successfully side-by-side."

Le Corbusier, Architect of Books.

2011-11-12T11:16:00.004+01:00

Le Corbusier, Architect of Books. By Catherine de Smet. Lars Müller Publishers, 2007. 128pp., illustrated throughout, 24x30cm.

I have for a long time been an appreciator of the work of Le Corbusier, but it's not until now I realised he also had an output as a book artist.

'Le Corbusier, Architect of Books' is a great book that gives you a real idea of what was Le Corbusier's continuous and unfaltering book making process, the importance of this to his other work, as well as the construction and planning of the books themselves.

Book description:

"Le Corbusier’s buildings have long been part of the inalienable canon of twentieth-century architecture. But Le Corbusier’s work as a book designer and author is scarcely known. He planned and realized over 40 books in his lifetime.

'Architect of Books' shows that Le Corbusier accorded great importance to books as an essential part of his output.

Catherine de Smet traces the process by which these books emerged and makes it possible to discover the great construction architect as a book artist."

Abecederia.

2011-11-11T11:19:00.000+01:00

Abecederia. By Blexbolex. Nobrow Press, 2009. 32pp., illustrated throughout, 21x14,8cm. Edition of 3000.

This is a really wonderful illustration-based book - at first deceptively casual, playful and accessible, but dealing with important subjects such as totalitarianism, alienation and dehumanisation.

Book description:

"With his first independent publication for Nobrow Press, Blexbolex’s graphic novella 'Abecederia' is an incendiary mix of intrigue, artwork and extremes.

A play on the Greek practice of Abecedarium inscriptions, the story is illustrated one letter a time, incorporating A-Z onto the page in ever more ingenious ways.

For his comic, Blexbolex transports the municipal film-noir genre into the jungle clearings of Abecederia, where our protagonists, Leon and Bernard Blanchett, two French born gangsters hiding from an international warrant for arrest in central Africa, are fleeing the police after a far from perfect bank robbery.

A work that confounds with its twists and turns just as much at it impresses with its imagination, 'Abecederia' explores themes such torture, totalitarianism, alienation and dehumanisation in a brutal world where no one is safe.

First published in Germany in 2007, Abecederia is sold out in both it German and French versions and is available exclusively from Nobrow Press."

Oak.

2011-11-08T09:16:00.004+01:00

Oak. One tree, three years, fifty paintings. By Stephen Taylor, with a foreword by Alain de Botton. Princeton Architectural Press, 2011. 112pp., illustrated throughout, 19,7x23,5 cm.

I love oak trees. I grew up in a suburb next to a small hill of old oak trees, oak trees that was somehow always part of our childhood and whose essence I still carry with me to this day. So strong is the spirit of those trees, so clear in my mind, that recently - many years later - when someone completely unconnected to that time and area started talking about a small hill of oak trees I knew instinctively it was the same one (which indeed it was).

Considering this, it is not strange that I really like this book and series of paintings by Stephen Taylor - paintings of one oak tree painted repeatedly over and over again over the course of three years. The seasons changes, the time of day or night, the mood, the life around it, but the tree stands as it always has.

Book description:

"It was an exercise to learn how to see, to understand just one thing in its greatest detail. Stephen Taylor came across the 250-year-old tree while on a walk in Essex, England, six years ago, shortly after the deaths of his mother and close friend - a tragic time that brought him back to painting and then to an obsession with realism and color perception.

He painted the same oak scores of times over a period of three years, in extremes of weather and light, at all times of day and night.

Oak is nature's creed of endurance (the tree was standing when Jane Austen was just a baby) and of one man's promise to find beauty in a painful world."

Interiors.

2011-11-07T11:52:00.008+01:00

Interiors. By Orri Jónsson. Text by Kári Pétursson and Gunnar Porri Pétursson. Steidl, 2011. 144pp., illustrated throughout, 29,7x31 cm.

Book description:

" 'Useful pictures don’t start from ideas. They start from seeing'. Robert Adams

Orri Jónsson was holidaying one summer in the north of Iceland with his family, when he stumbled upon an abandoned farmhouse and began taking photos of it.

Fascinated with the results but disappointed by the restrictions of the 35mm film he had used, he returned to the motif with a large-format analogue camera.

Orri thus photographed the gloriously decaying interiors of deserted houses throughout Iceland for the next twelve years, and 'Interiors' contains the best of these images from 1999 to 2010.

Painterly in colour, rigorous in composition and lacking in people, Orri’s photos evoke the personal histories of the inhabitants who long ago abandoned their homes. 'Interiors' is shaped by an uncanny silence and sense of loss, most poignant in the images of objects people left behind - old buttons, newspapers and even a hot water bottle - tokens of vanished lives."

Alla helgons dag

2011-11-05T13:18:00.002+01:00

Image by Anita Elgerot

Family is incredible important to me, and this is an important day in the year.

"In Western Christian theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven. It is a national holiday in many historically Catholic countries.

[...]

Other Christian traditions define, remember and respond to the saints in different ways."

In many European countries including Sweden the tradition is to light candles and visit the graves of deceased relatives.

Read more here or here for example.

Quote from here.

Straight in the Light.

2011-11-04T09:09:00.006+01:00

Straight in the Light. Photographs by Michel Mazzoni. ARP 2 Editions, 2011. 112 pp., illustrated throughout, 16x27,5cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"To explore such notions as time and space Michel Mazzoni uses photography, video installations, texts.

He shows, exhibits, installs his territories. Since he so much questions desertion, desolation, so much searches for beauty beyond appearance, his choices are often rough

His work is actually imbued with a sensitivity that gives heed to interactions between light immateriality, the point of view and the frame demand, like a continuous confrontation between perceptions.

Seeing is enough, taking time, could we say. So Mazzoni is examining maps, observing towns, crossing all around backwards and forwards. Visitor of obliteration and vanished traces, in a way he is building up an archaeology of the intangible and inquiring through light long after the ephemeral."

Quattro Stagion.

2011-11-03T08:50:00.005+01:00

Quattro Stagion. By Klaus Haapaniemi. Pocko editions, 2011. 24pp., illustrated throughout.

Winter is upon us...

Book description:

"Beware the darkness! This 24 page postcard book is the chilling visual record of the effect of the endless Finnish winter on Haapaniemi’s psyche.

Wide-eyed rabbits scurry through stylised, surreal landscapes that trigger memories of the cult English children’s TV program MagicRoundabout. Thistles and leaves weave and warp themselves into semi-abstract patterns. Beneath a pregnant, blood red sun a Cow creature smokes a fag whilst lost in a stark, brown landscape a weird rabbit person stands giving the viewer the finger.

Throughout these scenes the imagery of Slavic art combines in strange synthesis with the artificiality of computer design to create Haapaniemi’s unique style, which is in no way influenced by psychotropic drugs."

Vendoin.

2011-11-02T09:36:00.006+01:00

Vendoin. By Joe Crocker. Nobrow Small Press, 2011. 32pp., illustrated throughout, 21x14,8cm. Limited edition of 50, hand-signed and numbered (now unfortunately sold out).

I really like this book and wonderful illustrations by Joe Crocker from the excellent Nobrow Press. It sort of made me smile.

Book description:

"Joseph Crocker’s first Small Press book 'Vendoin', is a tale of a missing stiletto and its journey into the deepest recesses of a Dantean inferno of lost garments and psychedellic cross-dressing ghouls.

Brought together by the imaginative pen and ink drawings of Mr. Crocker and a language like no other, 'Vendoin' will literally knock your socks off and in the process do away with your hat and stilettos too.

The book is printed in an edition of only 50 copies, all hand numbered and signed by the artist."

Books on Books #11: Alexey Brodovitch Ballet.

2011-11-01T10:03:00.003+01:00

Books on Books #11: Alexey Brodovitch Ballet. Essays by Kerry W. Purcell, Edwin Denby, Jeffrey Ladd. Errata Editions, 2011. 142pp., illustrated throughout 9,5x7".

The Errata Editions Books on Books Series is an "on-going publishing project dedicated to making rare and out-of-print photography books accessible to students and photobook enthusiasts. These are not reprints or facsimiles but complete studies of those originals.

Each in this series presents the entire content, page for page, of an original master bookwork which, up until now, has been too rare or prohibitively expensive for most to experience. Through a mix of classic and contemporary titles, this series spans the breadth of photographic practice as it has appeared on the printed page and allows further study into the creation and meanings of these great works of art.

Each in the Books on Books series contains; illustrations of every page in the original photobook being featured; a new essay by established writers on photography composed specially for this series; production notes about the creation of the original edition; biography and bibliography information about each artist."

Books on Books #11 is dedicated to Alexey Brodovitch's 'Ballet', which was "published in 1945 is one of the most legendary of photobook masterpieces.

While already established as a leading influential art director and graphic designer, Brodovitch turned his photographic talents towards rehearsals and performances of ballet companies visiting New York stages. Shot in 35mm and disregarding traditional conventions of 'good' technique, Brodovitch pushed the boundaries of description to create a panorama of images that perfectly captures the motion and spirit of dance.

Books on Books #11 reproduces every dynamic page spread from this rarely seen volume along with a contemporary essay written by leading Brodovitch scholar Kerry William Purcell."

Darmstätder Werkblock.

2011-10-28T09:27:00.004+02:00

Darmstätder Werkblock. By Tacita Dean. Steidl, 2009. 80pp., illustrated throughout, 26x15,3cm. Edition of 1000, signed and numbered.

There is something important about this work by Tacita Dean, and the thoughts and feelings behind making this record. Removed from this, the images themselves are quite poetic in their stripped down beauty - a quality that intertwines with the intent.

Book description:

"At the end of September 2007, the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt closed for renovation. This has also meant a proposed restoration of the seven-room installation by Joseph Beuys known as Block Beuys, 1970-86.

The walls of the rooms are famously covered in brown and beige jute and the floors are carpeted. Beuys worked on the installation himself over many years, adding and changing things up to his death. The rooms continue to carry the aura of this activity and so the museum’s decision to remove the jute and carpet has caused great upset among lovers of Block Beuys worldwide.

The controversy centers on the fact that Beuys never made particular reference to the jute walls, allowing the assumption that they are not relevant to any question of renovation. Just prior to the museum’s closure, Dean painstakingly filmed the walls, the carpet and any detail of the gallery décor, which was soon to be replaced, seeing them as analogous to the entropy in and of Beuys’s art, whilst carefully avoiding any sighting of the work itself.

Working closely with Gerhard Steidl, she is extending the film into an artist’s book."

Of Falling and Floating.

2011-10-27T07:32:00.010+02:00

Of Falling and Floating. Photographs by Elijah Gowin. Tin Roof Press, 2011. 132 pp., illustrated throughout, 12,25x11,5". Images from here.

Book description:

" 'Of Falling and Floating', Gowin’s most recent monograph, brings together three series of innovative color photographs.

Combining hand-crafted techniques with the latest digital imagery technology, these grainy and mysterious photographs present the poetic vision of a world balanced between faith and doubt, liberation and doom.

Figures fall through the air, plunge into water and search for balance or rescue.

More recent images are shot directly into the sun and add to this charged landscape of Super 8-like color and distressed dreams.

Historian and critic Lyle Rexer notes in his introduction that 'Imperfections in the scans, variations in the printing, multiply the sense of contingency and deliberately contradict the assumption that the digital age is an age of perfection.' "

Oceanomania. Souvenirs of Mysterious Seas from the Expedition to the Aquarium.

2011-10-24T10:59:00.005+02:00

Oceanomania. Souvenirs of Mysterious Seas from the Expedition to the Aquarium. By Mark Dion. MACK Books, 2011. 192 pp., illustrated throughout, 22x30,4cm. English and French editions. Images from here.

Book description:

" 'Oceanomania' investigates the evolution of our fascination with the sea, in time and space, design, literature and art, revealing how the uncanny and marvelous have inspired artistic research.

Continuing his investigations as a naturalist, archaeologist and traveler, the American artist Mark Dion explored the collections of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco to create a monumental curiosity cabinet and dived into the collections of the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (NMNM) to present a major intervention at Villa Paloma, one of the NMNM’s exhibition spaces.

The accompanying publication, 'Oceanomania: Souvenirs of Mysterious Seas' published by MACK and NMNM combines installation images from the exhibition, original artist imagery and essays from various writers exploring the different facets of the exploration of the seas and the challenges in exhibiting a marine world above sea level.

Two significant and contrasting recent maritime events form the conceptual framework of Dion’s project. These are the recently completed Census of Marine Life (2010) and the Deepwater Horizon oilrig explosion. The first brought together 2,700 scientists from 80 nations over a 10-year period to assess and explain the diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the oceans. The second, the Deepwater Horizon oilrig explosion led to 4.9 million barrels of crude oil being spilled into the seas of the Gulf of Mexico, producing an 80 square mile kill zone and causing extensive damage to marine life. Its consequences are expected to be felt for decades to come.

Dion’s work examines our perception of the oceans and engages our sense of wonder at its diversity and our melancholy at its depletion.

The project brings together works by 20 visual artists and 13 writers who show different aspects relating to our understanding of the sea and the ocean. They focus on the ocean not only as a site for exploration and discovery but also as a site where there is often unregulated and invisible human labor and exchange and where the marvelous aquatic life and mineral resources are often neglectfully exploited.

The exhibition and catalogue includes the monumental series Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Bernard Buffet (1928-1999) and works by Matthew Barney, Ashley Bickerton, David Brooks, Michel Camia, David Casini, Peter Coffin, Katharina Fritsch, Klara Hobza, Isola and Norzi, Pam Longobardi, Jean Painlevé, James Prosek, Man Ray, Alexis Rockman, Allan Sekula, Xaviera Simmons, Laurent Tixador and Abraham Poincheval and Rosemarie Trockel."

The Revolution Will Be Televised / Nature Can't Be Tamed (second edition)

2011-10-23T15:48:00.018+02:00

The Revolution Will Be Televised / Nature Can't Be Tamed. By Sara Elgerot / Rare Autumn, 2011. 14pp., b/w illustrations throughout, 7x10cm. Second/modified edition: 10 copies (hand-signed and numbered) plus 1 artist's proof.

The first edition of this book/zine was a limited edition of 15, which was part of the June/Winter issue of IMPRINT (with 1 copy in the PCA archive).

This second edition is printed on a paper with different texture and slightly higher grain. The finish and dimension of the book are also slightly different. It's limited to an edition of 10.

Book description:

A comment on the upheaval in the world right now. The change in society, the world structure - the change in reporting, viewing and reacting to world events, other cultures and other parts of the world.

Our reactions to conflict, and those things outside our control.

The starting-point for this artist book was the upheaval in the world that felt very prevalent to me (demonstrations through-out the middle east and the earthquake in Japan was perhaps the main starting point for this). From this I started thinking about the turmoil in the world, the change in the world order/balance, our environment, demonstrations through-out the world – and also the change in how this is reported, presented and perceived.

The title is a play on Gil Scott-Heron's 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' (which for our time is perhaps the complete opposite) and the fact that we in our fabricated world somehow think we are, and also actually are up to a point, living outside nature and the laws of nature.

The book was made by cutting images from newspaper reports on natural disasters, demonstrations and violence (man-made and natural catastrophes eerily similar in their appearance).

The images were layered and assembled into collages, text added, then photocopied on different copiers, scanned, copied, layered, cut and printed on inkjet in black & white.

The resulting pieces were then folded into books, trimmed and staple-bound.

UPDATE: This book can now be found in the Bower Ashton Library Artists' Books collection, the Centre for Fine Print Research Artists' Books Collection, and the LCC Library Zine Collection.

Memorable Sunsets.

2011-10-21T08:56:00.005+02:00

Memorable Sunsets. By Tucker Nichols. Café Royal Books, 2011. 24pp., illustrated throughout, 14x20cm (poster 38x26cm). Limited and numbered edition of 100.

A beautiful premise, with a really wonderful result I think. See more of Tucker Nichols work by going here.

Book description:

"I bought this black and white photograph for fifty cents at a thrift store in Alameda, California. It took me a minute to realize it was of a dramatic sunset over the Pacific Ocean.

Even in color, photographs of sunsets never seem to capture the experience. But before color film was available, I wonder what it was like to get your pictures back from that time you saw that unbelievable sunset. What does color look like in black and white? I assume nothing, but then how can you tell this was such a vibrant sky?

My studio is in an old military building facing the Pacific, and recently I’ve seen some epic sunsets: cracks of neon pink below giant clouds of orange and purple.

At the same time, I’ve been making these psychedelic stripe paintings with gouache and ink on paper.

I’ve collected a group of them here - printed in black and white - just to understand what it would look like."

Pictograms.

2011-10-20T09:14:00.004+02:00

Pictograms. By Warja Lavater. Nieves, 2008. 124pp., illustrated throughout, 19,5x25,5cm.

Book description:

"An early progenitor of the artist's book genre, Warja Honegger-Lavater was born in Winterthur, Switzerland in 1913. She worked as an illustrator for the magazine 'Jeunesse' from 1944-1958, and moved to New York shortly thereafter where she began a wonderful series of artist's books.

These books were published between 1962 and 1971, an exceptionally ripe time for artists to turn to the bookform, a time when the most often cited "first" artist's book also appeared, 'Twentysix Gasoline Stations' (1962) by Ed Ruscha.

All of Honegger-Lavater's books were made using the accordion-fold binding. Her aesthetic has been aptly described as "very clean, very Swiss." Each book tells a story, sequentially, like traditional books, but varying from them by rarely using words. Instead she chooses a symbol to represent, for example, a character, as in the red dot standing in for Red Riding Hood in 'Little Red Riding Hood'.

Nieves is delighted to release this previously unpublished collection of 60 ink pictograms, drawn between 1976 and 1996, originally printed individually as A2 plane prints."

La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

2011-10-19T08:42:00.008+02:00

La Belle Dame Sans Merci. By Alec Soth. Curated by Marco Delogu, with an essay by Francesco Zanot. Punctum Press, 2011. 52 pp., illustrated throughout, 12,5x15,25″. Edition of 500 (250 in Italian / 250 in English). Images from here.

I really like the work of Alec Soth and have previously featured this, this, this and this book with his work.

For 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' Soth was commissioned by the 10th FotoGrafia Festival Internazionle di Roma and the result is a wonderful monograph inspired by the John Keats poem of the same name.

This book has already sold out in most places, but you can email photo-eye to get on a waiting-list for it.

Book description (source and source):

"A meditation on John Keats, Rome, pale men, beautiful women and pineapples by the photographer Alec Soth.

[...]

If John Keats often wrote poems in tribute to specific works and figures in more or less recent history Alec Soth follows a similar principle, setting the foundations of his own series on bases supplied by Keats.

The rooting of Soth’s LBDSM does not stop here, though, because he raises on the solid Keatsian platform a further level of quotations and many other references. Thus his still-life with a bowl and three pieces of fruit in the center harks back to Tony Harrison’s verses in A Kumquat for John Keats, and an apparently ordinary city scene is actually a partial reconstruction of a photo by Ruth Orkin, shot in Florence in 1951 and known by the title An American Girl in Italy; it shows a young woman besieged by leering men.

This is a veiled statement of the process that Soth uses to create his images, exploiting the possibilities of control and staging offered by what is known as 'staged photography' rather than (as he has done more often) merely recording the reality in front of his eyes, without altering it in any way.

This excessive adherence to the model leads to the suspension of images deprived of the quality that’s usually (and naively) attributed to any photo: truthfulness.

The result resembles awakening from a dream, exactly what happens in Keats’s La Belle Dame Sans Merci toward the end of the poem. What indubitably corresponded to reality until just a moment before turns out to be an imitation.

Keats died in Rome on February 23, 1821. Engraved on his tombstone in Rome’s non-Catholic cemetery is the famous epitaph 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water'.

Soth set his own LBDSM in Rome, suggesting a fanciful biographical reconstruction, and at the same time reconsidered the most typical ways of applying photography to a territorial-revision operation.

The project he developed takes account of his intention to depict the city of Rome, but updates the usual method of landscape research according to a logic whereby places are investigated in a context of further observations in the foreground. The city is part of the mystery that this work cannot fully unveil, but only capture in bits and snatches."

To Young Man or Woman in Search of Ideal II.

2011-10-16T09:25:00.027+02:00

To Young Man or Woman in Search of Ideal II. By Sara Elgerot / Rare Autumn, 2011. 12pp., b/w illustrations throughout, 14,8x21cm. Bibliophile edition & normal edition, which is limited to an edition of 20 (hand-signed and numbered).

This book centers around extracts from the chapter 'To A Young Man or Woman in Search of the Ideal II' from the book 'Search-Light Letters' by Robert Grant (you can read the entire book on Project Gutenberg).

Some sentences have been enlarged, distorted, taken out of context and given more/less/different importance and/or intent than in the original text. The pages have been distressed, manipulated and graphic elements have been introduced.

The materials used are inkjet on paper, with recycled plastic and recycled paper elements. Folded and staple-bound.

A modified edition of 'To Young Man or Woman in Search of Ideal II' was distributed as part of the Bibliophile project at Spike Island Artists' Book and Zine Fair on Saturday 8 October, 2011.

UPDATE: This book can now be found in the Bower Ashton Library Artists' Books collection, the Centre for Fine Print Research Artists' Books Collection, and the LCC Library Zine Collection.

Traces.

2011-10-15T09:39:00.005+02:00

Traces. Photographs by Ian Teh. Deep Sleep Editions, 2011. 64 pp., illustrated throughout, 30,2x24cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"Ian Teh explores the industrial hinterlands of China’s far-flung and impoverished provinces with unflinching precision and subtle intensity.

From industrialisation to pollution, these photographic works present the landscape as a repository for humanity’s endeavors, somehow a source of memory and a silent testament to our material desires.

In the world’s most populous country Teh has made landscape pictures with close to no people in sight, letting the terrain speak for itself.

Over-mined and ruptured lands have resulted in an organic architecture, reflecting man’s belief that what lies beneath the surface has greater value than what lies above. Yet these photographs do not propose to dictate an easy answer to the problematic balance between improved living standards and environmental nightmares.

To quote a retired truck driver in Inner Mongolia 'Nowadays we have a better standard of living even if our life spans are shorter. Nothing made here stays here; our government has exported our blue skies to the west'.

In contrast to the landscape vistas we are intermittently submerged into the intimate chronicles of daily life in these environments. Visually darker and obscured, these photographs capture the working conditions at China’s industrial core. We are offered a context in which the passing of time appears fleeting in comparison to the icy stillness and longevity of the land.

Ultimately, the brilliant glare from China’s metropolises can be traced back to the hinterland and its migrant workers. There, as in all of China, Ian Teh sees the dream of a nation, the cost and what is deferred for future generations."

Homage: Remembering Chernobyl.

2011-10-12T07:35:00.003+02:00

Homage: Remembering Chernobyl. Photographs by Jim Krantz. Jim Krantz Studio, 2011. 132 pp., illustrated throughout, 8,75x11,5". Images from here.

Book description:

"In the fall of 2009 and 2010 photographer Jim Krantz traveled to Ukraine, photographing the individuals still living in the shadow of the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor, and the abandoned villages that surround it.

While there he discovered a long-forgotten eulogy to the village penned by a fleeing resident, celebrating the former glory of the village, the author's home, and promising to return one day.

This letter planted the seed for 'Homage: Remembering Chernobyl', a new series of photographs, an accompanying monograph, and video produced in collaboration with Emmy Award-winning editor Josh Bodnar / Whitehouse Post.

The catalogue of the 'Homage: Remembering Chernobyl' is released April 26, 2011 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, and a substantial portion of all proceeds will benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Included are 99 color photographs from the series and essays on topics ranging from alcoholism, to the effects of radiation and the nature of home by contributors Askold Melnyczuk, physicist Dr. Scott Clearwater Ph.D, Henry Henderson, Midwest Director of the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC), and the pseudonymous 'John King'. "

Aftermath.

2011-10-11T08:00:00.006+02:00

Aftermath. Photographs by Jörn Vanhöfen. Hatje Cantz, 2011. 148 pp., illustrated throughout, 34,8x28,9cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"Ruins of Modernism: the consequences of unchecked growth and exploitation.

Photographer Jörn Vanhöfen (*1961 in Dinslaken) travels the world to capture images of areas that are undergoing rapid change. They are always places where people believe wholeheartedly in permanent growth and limitless profit, for the consequences of this fatal attitude are the objects of his photographic work.

Vanhöfen journeys to Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America, going wherever the results are demonstrably obvious - from the Chicago stock exchange, the townships of Cape Town, and the scorched forests in Apulia to abandoned factories in Detroit and salvage yards in his hometown in the Ruhr region.

His unique, poetic photographs depict ruins of our time. And while they may be fascinatingly beautiful, the looming consequences of our actions at the same time horrify us."

Untitled 2.

2011-10-10T09:24:00.014+02:00

Untitled 2. With the poem 'Lullaby' by Rosie Miles. Book by Sara Elgerot / Rare Autumn, 2011. Hand-constructed. 6x2,5cm. Limited edition of 1 (plus 1 artist's proof).

This is the second book that is part of Rosie Miles 'Poetry and Illustration Project', and also takes its starting point from her poem 'Lullaby'.

'Untitled 2' is an extension of (and to be displayed with) the book Untitled 1.

As 'Untitled 1', 'Untitled 2' can be displayed as a book and opened and read as one and also has a sculptural quality to it where it can be viewed or displayed as such.
It also share the same protectiveness and utilitarian feel in the use of materials and execution.

In 'Untitled 2' the protection of the poem has taken one step further however, with the words literally "bolted in".

Nobel Prize in literature to Tomas Tranströmer

2011-10-07T09:14:00.001+02:00

This year's Nobel Prize in literature goes to Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer. A very well-deserved and perhaps well-overdue honour to a poet whose work is poignant, existential and has greatly influenced me (and certainly many others).

Tranströmer's work is often charactarised by "economy, concreteness and poignant metaphors". His first collection of poems was published in 1954, and his work has subsequently been translated into over 60 languages. Tranströmer periodically publised translations of his own poetry, which culminated in the 1999 collection 'Tolkningar' ('Interpretations').

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011 was awarded to Tomas Tranströmer "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality".

Read more here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here for example.

Source for quotes here.

Rest in Peace Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T07:11:00.005+02:00

The Apple co-founder and all-around visionary has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56. Read more here, here, here and here for example.

Rest in peace. and thank you Steve.

Paradise City.

2011-10-05T11:00:00.005+02:00

Paradise City. Photographs by Hans Bol. Recto Verso, 2011. 144 pp., illustrated throughout, 24x30 cm. Edition of 700, limited edition of 60.

I was not familiar with the work of Hans Bol before I found this book, but I really love the textural quality and the Strindberg-influence of the work in 'Paradise City' and am keen to see more as a result.

Watch Bol work in this short by filmmaker Martin van den Oever (if you understand Dutch - I don't - you can also hear the interview). For the limited edition and/or book design and more extensive information about the book go here and scroll down.

Book description:

"Driving south over the A12 from Genova to Livorno in Italy, along the westside of the Apennines, the area around Carrara from a distance looks as if we see perpetual snow. However, those who know the area, know better. It is not snow we are seeing, but negligent downhill dumping of debris from the marblequarries.

It is an eccentric landscape that has a special mix of romanticism, large-scale and first-rate production techniques and massive economic interests.

By visiting the area for over a period of more than twenty years, Hans Bol has been able to investigate the quarries from different angles, all organically related with each other. First, he was struck by the fantastic light in the quarries; then he was fascinated by the material itself and the traces the work process left behind.

As a result he started to see the quarry as one, big sculpture, in which coincedence played a major role - the work process in the quarry itself led to interesting shapes and structures that were condensed into abstract sculptures through the lens.

Finally, also influenced by the work of The New Topographics, he saw and recorded the immense damage done to nature in this impressive western part of the central Apeninnes.

Aloof beauty seemed to have to go hand in hand with cruel attacks on the landscape. Thus, a new, other landscape has come into being that may be read as a methaphor for human interaction with nature."

Untitled 1.

2011-10-04T07:51:00.006+02:00

Untitled 1. With the poem 'Lullaby' by Rosie Miles. Book by Sara Elgerot / Rare Autumn, 2011. Hand-constructed. 21x15cm. Limited edition of 1 (plus 1 artist's proof).

This book is part of Rosie Miles 'Poetry and Illustration Project', and takes its starting point from her poem 'Lullaby'.

It can be displayed as a book and opened and read as one, but it also has a sculptural quality to it where it can be viewed or displayed as such. Doing so also “lays the poem bare” and leaves the words in a way unprotected (perhaps a braver display of emotions?).

The materials used for the book also reflects a protectiveness of a poem that I felt to be fragile, but also direct and non-cynical.

For example, the paper covering the book boards are the type of tissue paper one uses to protect fragile items when moving. This kind of paper has an interesting quality as it's fragile and rips easily as a single sheet, but folded around an item it becomes sturdy and capable of protecting items that easily breaks.

The book has a sort of utilitarian feel, which I thought was an interesting contrast to its content which could perhaps be viewed as having a more romantic or sentimental tone.

Also see Untitled 2, which was made as an extension of (and to be displayed with) this book.

Abendsonne.

2011-10-03T12:20:00.006+02:00

Abendsonne. Photographs by Misha de Ridder. Schaden.com, 2011. 14 pp., illustrated throughout, 30x36,5cm. Images from here.

I really like the work of Dutch photographer Misha de Ridder and have previously featured the book Dune with his work.

'Abendsonne', which can loosely be translated to "evening sun", is a beautiful series of photographs capturing this twice-yearly natural phenomenon.

Book description:

"Sometimes natural phenomena can become so estranged and mysterious, that we are inclined to describe them as unreal realities. It might be the extraordinary shape of a tree, a mountain, a shadow, a cloud or the mirroring reflection of nature in a lake, but it is foremost the unfamiliarity of the natural aesthetics of reality.

The photos in this book literally refer to such an unfamiliar natural phenomenon, a phenomenon that appears twice a year during the end of the autumn and the beginning of spring for the period of one week in an area in the Swiss Alps.

During the winter season a village is permanently covered by the shadow of a high mountain in the west, which eliminates all direct sunlight. A week before darkness falls, the sun appears one more time after it has set every evening. A mysterious phenomenon known as 'Abendsonne'. "

Under House Arrest.

2011-10-01T11:10:00.007+02:00

Under House Arrest. Photographs by Sebastien Girard. Sebastien Girard, 2011. 48 pp., illustrated throughout, 29,9x23,1cm.

Book description:

"After 'Nothing but home' (the house as a starting point) and 'desperate cars' (the destiny of cars in the photographer's neighborhood), Sébastien Girard dedicates his third volume 'Under house arrest' to the plight of plants.

Entrapped behind gates and bars, these mute prisoners in our houses and gardens continue to follow nature’s call. Their wildness, which we try to tame, is revealed here in its full force.

Entangled and injured by metal, they fight back and they display their irresistible desire to roam free."

I've previously featured Nothing But Home by Sébastien Girard.

Visible Library.

2011-09-30T09:03:00.006+02:00

Visible Library. Photographs by Sam Falls. Lay Flat, 2011. 36 pp., illustrated throughout, 9,5x7,75". Edition of 750 (special edition of 20, sold out). Images from here.

Read more about artist Sam Falls by going here (great in-depth interview).

I've previously featured Lay Flat 02: Meta and Dune by the wonderful publisher Lay Flat.

Book description:

"In a departure from the colorful still life photographs he is known for, artist Sam Falls brings together a series of black and white images for the first time in his limited-edition artist book 'Visible Library'.

With a large format camera and a few boxes of expired film, Falls spent a day making these beautiful and haunting pictures in the stacks above the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Like 'walking alone in the woods', as he refers to it, Falls created what can easily be considered his most intimate body of work, a personal meditation on art, history, preservation and the photographic medium."

History's Shadow.

2011-09-26T08:58:00.005+02:00

History's Shadow. Photographs by David Maisel. Nazraeli Press, 2011. 72 pp., illustrated throughout, 12x16". Images from here.

I have previously featured the wonderful Library of Dust by David Maisel.

Book description:

"David Maisel’s work has always been concerned with processes of memory, excavation, and transformation. These themes are given new form in his latest work, 'History’s Shadow'.

In this series, Maisel re-photographs x-rays from museum archives that depict artifacts from antiquity, scanning and digitally manipulating the selected source material.

X-rays have historically been used by art conservators for structural examination of art and artifacts much as physicians examine bones and internal organs; they reveal losses, replacements, construction methods, and internal trauma invisible to the naked eye. By transcribing both the inner and outer surfaces of their subjects simultaneously, they form spectral images of indeterminate space, depth, and scale.

The resulting photographs seem like transmissions from the distant past, both spanning and collapsing time. They express – through feeling and art, as well as science and reason – the shape-shifting nature of time itself, and the continuous presence of the past contained within us.

The book contains an original short story by Jonathan Lethem that was inspired by Maisel’s images."

Laboratory of Vision.

2011-09-23T09:09:00.005+02:00

Laboratory of Vision. Photographs by Moholy-Nagy. Kokushokankokai, 2011. 308 pp., illustrated throughout, 20x27cm.

View inside the entire book here (it's pretty wonderful).

This book was published in conjunction with the exhibition Moholy-Nagy/In Motion at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Japan), and with support of the Moholy-Nagy Foundation.

Book description:

"This book is published in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Moholy-Nagy/In Motion’ introducing works spanning the full oeuvre of Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946), an artist who brought new vision to the art of the 20th century.

As a prominent member of the avant-garde art movements between the two World Wars, he developed an artistic ideal of creating works of light and motion. The pursuit of his career as a creative artist and art educator took Moholy-Nagy from his native Hungary to Vienna, then on to Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain and finally to the United States.

Working in painting, photography, sculpture, film, graphic design, stage design and publishing, Moholy-Nagy’s career addressed many of the new issues confronting art in the 20th century, such as the relationship between art and industrial technology and the new media of information and communications.

This exhibition marks Japan’s first full-scale retrospective of the art of Moholy-Nagy and spans the artist’s full career from its earliest years to its last in some 300 works and related materials and documents."

Yemen: Photographic Works.

2011-09-20T13:06:00.005+02:00

Yemen: Photographic Works. Photographs by Josef Hoflehner. Most Press, 2006. 132 pp., illustrated throughout, 30,5x32,5cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"This gorgeous new monograph 'Yemen: Photographic Works', takes us on journey through the country of Yemen. The book features breathtaking photographs by renowned Austrian photographer Josef Hoflehner.

He has been intensely photographing in Yemen for the past year, this new publication highlights dramatic, peaceful and hauntingly beautiful black and white images of the desert country located on the Arabian peninsula.

Superbly printed in duotone - this First Edition is limited to 1000 casebound copies only. With text in English, German and Arabic, this is an absolutely must-have photography book."

Moscow Plastic Arts.

2011-09-19T10:26:00.005+02:00

Moscow Plastic Arts. Photographs by Nick Muellner. Arcadia University Art Gallery, 2008. 48 pp., illustrated throughout, 5,75x8,25". Edition of 1250 copies. Images from here.

Book description:

"Hovering between formalist inquiry and blunt, physical documentation, 'Moscow Plastic Arts' draws on the transitional material, ideological, and social status of the rapidly commercializing post-soviet metropolis.

Printed in a rich but faded palette on manila tag stock, these photographs suggest and entwine two heroic models - Socialist Realism and High Sixties Modernism - that are both unavoidable and inevitably absent in the work.

Their frustrated evocations illuminate the tragicomical space between idealist belief and material truth."

Bookmarks: Infiltrating the Library System

2011-09-17T10:49:00.011+02:00

Bookmarks IX: Infiltrating the Library System 2011-2012. By Sara Elgerot / Rare Autumn, 2011. Hand-signed and numbered. Edition of 100 (with 1 copy in the CFPR archive).

I'm very happy to be part of the Centre for Fine Print Research (the University of the West of England)'s project Bookmarks IX: Infiltrating the Library System 2011-2012.

The project - curated in the form of bookmarks by participating artists - was set up in 2004 to encourage interest and appreciation of bookart and artists' books, as well as libraries and other places housing, teaching and promoting bookart / artists' books.

Description (description of my bookmark here):

"The Bookmarks projects series aim is to encourage appreciation of work in the format of the artist's book. Participating artists each hand-produce an edition of 100 signed and numbered bookmarks to give away through distribution boxes at venues around the world. Each bookmark has the website address which brings visitors to the gallery of artworks online.

Over the last six years the Bookmarks series of free artwork distribution has visited 60 venues in Italy, The Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, France, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Singapore, Turkey, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Cyprus, Croatia, New Zealand, Japan, Australia and the USA. Over 280 artists have contributed more than 28,000 bookmarks to the eight projects to date. Editioned bookmarks are collated into sets; one full set being sent to each of the contributing artists and the rest divided and sent in distribution boxes to participating galleries, bookstores and libraries around the world, for visitors to take."

UPDATE: More here (they're distributing online, so you can request to receive bookmark(s) from one or more participating artist(s)), as well as here.

The Heath.

2011-09-14T13:50:00.004+02:00

The Heath. Photographs by Andy Sewell. Andy Sewell, 2011. 84 pp., illustrated throughout, 11,75x9,5".

Book description:

"Hampstead Heath was once part of the countryside surrounding London and is now a green fragment deep within the urban landscape. It is a place of ancient trees, tall grass and thickets dense enough to get lost in - if only briefly.

I go to the Heath to be somewhere that feels natural, yet I know this is no pathless wood. The Heath is as managed as any other part of London but managed to feel wild.

In a way this project is about perceptions of what is natural, but it’s also an attempt to explore what EO Wilson called the human condition of 'Biophilia', being drawn to somewhere that feels natural without knowing why.

Over the last five years I have spent many hours walking on the Heath. With this set of pictures I hope to convey something of what I was looking for and what I found."

Rockfalls and Ponds.

2011-09-13T11:04:00.006+02:00

Rockfalls and Ponds. Photographs by Jem Southman. Introduction by César Alierta Izuel. Foreword by Sérgio Mah. La Fabrica, 2011. 65 pp., illustrated throughout, 30x24cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"British photographer Jem Southam (born 1950) patiently observes the topographical changes at a single location, revisiting a site over months or even years.

Sometimes the recorded modifications are driven by man, as seen in his The Pond at Upton Pyne series, which charts a village pond as it is transformed by successive periods of neglect.

At other times, the transformations seem less steered by humankind, but still suggest a delicate balance between nature and man.

Southam’s acute sensitivity to place is well represented by this handsomely bound monograph."

The sound of the impact and the ground vibrations during the collapse

2011-09-12T11:37:00.011+02:00

The sound of the ground vibrations during the collapse of the World Trade Center. Source. Audification by sound artist Mark Bain. Found via bldgblog.

This recording from Columbia University's Geological survey lab, made audible by sound artist Mark Bain, of the sound of the ground vibrating during the impact and collapse of the Twin Towers on Sept 11, 2001 is remarkable.

It feels very profound to me in many ways, as a metaphor for perhaps something larger than ourselves, and of the force of destruction.

Mark Bain's description below. Also go to bldgblog where Geoff Manaugh has posted eloquently about this.

"This work involves a process of audification of the seismological data record, which occurred in the area of New York State, New Jersey, and New England during the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings on September eleventh, 2001. The data streams were acquired from Columbia University's Geological survey lab, which run a network of earth monitoring stations in the area; with the closest being 34 km away from the epicenter of the event.

A process of data conversion and signal translation was used to make the normally inaudible seismic waveforms both audible and to play back in real-time as the event unfolded. No other processing or effects were added to the tracks.

The registration includes four events, two impacts and the two collapses along with the inbetween sounds of the drone of the earth. The heaviest impact of the collapse registered 2.4 on the Richter scale, a signal which traveled throughout the earth.

This work stands not as a memorial per se but as an action of affect, where the global terrain becomes a sounding board, a bell-like alarm denoting histories in the making."

Holes and Halos.

2011-09-08T11:55:00.007+02:00

Holes and Halos. By Paul Schiek. TBW Books and the Stephen Wirtz Gallery, 2008. 24pp., illustrated throughout, newsprint, 10,5x14". Limited edition of 2000 copies.

'Holes and Halos' was produced in conjunction with an exhibition featuring work by Paul Schiek at the Thomas Erben Gallery.

It was originally part of the admission to the exhibition as a way of letting the viewer take a piece of the art work with them home.

Description of the 'Holes and Halos' series of work:

"Shot in b/w, the actual making of the images is not as important to Schiek as is their editing and sequencing, which often results in the placement of several images on one sheet.

Viewed together, their installation creates a blanketing effect that runs the spectrum of human emotions.

Recurrent motifs are anthropomorphized trees, physical interactions, water and, generally, the tension between light and dark.

In this language of opposites, Schiek finds the building blocks of a practical truth; a reminder that all life follows the same path: genesis of form then decay, and, in between, seemingly random alternation between isolation and community."

The New World's Old World.

2011-09-07T10:05:00.004+02:00

The New World's Old World. Photographic Views of Ancient America. Edited by May Castleberry. With essays by May Castleberry, Georgia de Havenon, Kathleen Stewart Howe, Edward Ranney, and Martha A. Sandweiss. University Of New Mexico Press, 2003. 280 pp., illustrated throughout, 9,5x8,75".

Book description:

" 'The New World's Old World: Photographic Views of Ancient America' showcases the remarkable work of photographers who have captured the archaeological landscapes of ancient American cultures from the dawn of photography to the current day.

Through essays and descriptive entries on specific sites, the volume demonstrates how photography serves science by conserving structures and masterpieces of the Americas' past, in addition to being an independent artistic medium.

Included are works by nineteenth century explorers such as Désiré Charnay, William Henry Jackson, and Timothy O'Sullivan; scientific documentation by Alfred Maudslay; modernist visions by Josef Albers, Martín Chambi, Edward Weston, and Laura Gilpin; contemporary work by Marilyn Bridges, Javier Hinojosa, and Edward Ranney.

Their photographs and essays reflect a diversity of approaches. Most of the places shown here have been inhabited continuously since contact or rebuilt over ancient sites. Where some nineteenth-century photographers uncovered jumbles of stone smothered in vegetation, their successors contemplated sites altered by excavation, restoration, earthquakes and floods, vandalism, and the encroachment of settlements that obscure or obliterate ancient structures."

Another Water.

2011-09-05T11:50:00.007+02:00

Another Water. Photographs by Roni Horn. Steidl, 2011. 112pp., illustrated throughout, 19,5x30cm.

I love water and am endlessly fascinated and inspired by the work of Roni Horn.

Book description:

“ 'What do you know about water? Only that it’s everywhere differently'. - Roni Horn

In 2000 Roni Horn published 'Another Water', an examination of the water of the River Thames through photographs and text. This new edition of 'Another Water' is to be published with the exact paper and binding that Horn had always envisioned for the book.

Water is a central theme for Horn: as a component of weather, a defining feature of her beloved Iceland, and as a beautiful, changeable element on which life depends.

'Another Water' is an ode to the substance of water but also on its impact on identity and imagination: in Horn’s words, 'You can’t talk about water without talking about oneself'. ”

Otis

2011-09-03T13:36:00.004+02:00

Otis Redding: "Can't Turn You Loose". Source.

The excellent Otis Redding performing live in 1966.

New York 1969 - Tokyo...

2011-09-01T10:37:00.008+02:00

New York 1969 - Tokyo... Photographs by Timm Rautert. Only Photography, 2011. 144pp., illustrated throughout, 10x13". Limited edition of 500 copies (first 35 copies special edition).

Book description:

"In the year marking Timm Rautert's seventieth birthday, we are very happy to have the opportunity to publish his series on New York and Japan, which he executed almost concurrently.

[...]

A representative selection of works from the two series is now being published for the first time in our series of bibliophilic photo books. Here, essentially two books unite to form one (the New York series begins at one end of the book, the Japan series at the other), creating a special kind of tension in the juxtaposition of the two portraits.

The New York images of 1969 seem to have come down to us from a century long past, for the city as we know it today is barely recognizable in them.

The large majority of the shots of Tokyo and Osaka, on the other hand - taken for the most part only one year later - show views still to be found there today.

The two series thus not only convey suspenseful impressions of two exceptional cities and countries but, in their juxtaposition, also convey a lasting conception of the history and development of two completely dissimilar cultures."

Read more about the special edition here.

In Our Nature.

2011-08-30T10:17:00.010+02:00

In Our Nature. Photographs by Takashi Homma. Super Labo, 2011. 64pp., illustrated throughout, 14,9x21,6cm. Limited edition of 700.

Book description:

" 'Nature' is also the word for 'true character of humans and animals'.

In a sense, the nature in this world of photograph is not pure nature, it makes you feel a sign of life from somewhere."

I've previously featured the books New Documentary and Vedove/Widows with work by Takashi Homma.

Rodarte.

2011-08-29T10:03:00.006+02:00

Rodarte. Photographs by Catherine Opie and Alec Soth. Contributions by John Kelsey, Kate Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy. JRP|Ringier, 2011. 176 pp., illustrated throughout, 21,5x28cm. Limited edition. Images from here.

I'm a huge fan of Rodarte and the Mulleavy sisters, as well as artist Alec Soth and his Little Brown Mushroom Books (more here, here, here) so this book is pretty much as excellent as it gets!

Book description:

"California Condors, Boris Karloff as Frankenstein, Japanese horror films, and Gordon Matta-Clark have served as some of the various influences that make up the daring world of Rodarte.

In only five years, Rodarte has upended the fashion scene, bringing Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the designers behind Rodarte, to the forefront of the discussion about contemporary design and visual culture.

This is the first publication to examine the fashion design work and conceptual world of Rodarte. This volume is created in collaboration with two of the art world's most sought-after and highly acclaimed photographers, Catherine Opie and Alec Soth.

Each photographer, in collaboration with Kate and Laura Mulleavy, has developed an entirely new body of work specifically for the book, examining various facets of Rodarte's creative spectrum. An additional 16-pages inlay with John Kelsey's essay is inserted in the book.

Kate and Laura, who live and work between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, California, were educated at the University of California at Berkeley and have consistently brought their love of nature, film, art, and science to bear in their unconventional and exquisitely crafted collections for Rodarte.

Burning, sanding, dyeing, knitting, twisting, staining, and weaving are some of the many complex techniques that have entered into the Rodarte textural vocabulary.

Kate and Laura's past collaborations with artists, actors, musicians, and writers such as Miranda July, Ryan McGinley, Autumn de Wilde, Ari Marcopoulos, and Natalie Portman have set them apart since the beginning of their career."

Anemic Cinema

2011-08-28T08:36:00.003+02:00

Anemic Cinema (1926) by Marcel Duchamp. Source.

"This characteristically dada film by Marcel Duchamp consists of a series of visual and verbal puns with nonsense phrases inscribed around rotating spiral patterns, creating an almost hypnotic effect. Silent." (read more here)

Hurricane tracker here, info here.

Patterns in Graphics.

2011-08-26T11:10:00.007+02:00

Patterns in Graphics: Poster, package, DM, shop tool and more. PIE Books, 2011. 160pp., illustrated throughout, 28,6×23cm.

'Patterns in Graphics' holds a number of examples of contemporary patterns: flowers, plants, geometric shapes, waves, dots and more, used in graphic design for a wide range of uses, such as shop displays, advertising, packaging, books, etc.

In addition to the graphic design it also includes shop interior designs in which particular patterns contributes to creating the identity of the space.

It features pattern examples for each spread as a reference.

Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness. Books on Books #10.

2011-08-23T12:14:00.004+02:00

Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness. Books on Books #10. Photographs by Zdenek Tmej. Essays by Vladimir Birgus, Alexandra Urbanova, Jeffrey Ladd. errata editions, 2011. 172 pp., illustrated throughout, 9,5x7".

I really like errata editions' books on books-series and have previously featured this and this book from the series.

Book description:

" 'Zdenek Tmej's Abeceda Dusevniho Prazdna' ('The Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness') published in 1946 enables a rare look, from a captive's perspective, inside a Nazi forced labor camp in Breslau, Poland during World War II.

It is remarkable that Tmej, a Czech citizen made to work for the Nazi war effort for three years, was allowed to photograph at all, let alone describe the psychological stasis of his experience with the poetic voice that these portraits and still-lifes convey.

Books on Books #10 presents every page spread from this extremely rare and fragile document including the original texts by Alexandra Urbanova translated for the first time into English."

This Is War! Robert Capa Photographs, 1936–1945.

2011-08-22T13:56:00.005+02:00

This Is War! Robert Capa Photographs, 1936-1945. Photographs by Robert Capa. Foreword by Willis E. Hartshorn, text by Richard Whelan. Steidl, 2007. 300 pp., illustrated throughout, 25x28 cm. Images from here.

We have a world of war...

Book description:

"At the heart of Robert Capa’s lifework are his great images of war.

This book examines in detail six of Capa’s most important war reportages from the first half of his career: the Falling Soldier (1936), Chinese resistance to the Japanese invasion (1938), the end of the Spanish Civil War in Catalonia (November 1938 - January 1939), D-day (1944), the U.S. paratroop invasion of Germany (March 1945), and the liberation of Leipzig (April 1945).

In connection with the last of those stories will be consideration of why Capa did not photograph the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, together with the revelation of his photographs from Auschwitz and Birkenau in 1948. A chapter will be devoted to each of the reportages, with extensive historical and biographical text from Richard Whelan’s thorough revision and enlargement of his definitive biography of Capa, first published in 1985. Each section will be profusely illustrated by largely unseen original materials such as vintage prints, contact sheets, caption sheets, letters, and magazine layouts, all drawn from the vast Robert Capa Archive at the International Center of Photography.

The book’s introduction will be a major essay by Whelan about Capa and the rise of the picture press in Europe and America."

Suburbia Mexicana.

2011-08-20T11:37:00.005+02:00

Suburbia Mexicana. Photographs by Alejandro Cartagena. Photolucida/Daylight, 2011. 108 pp., illustrated throughout. Images from here.

Book description:

"Alejandro Cartagena photographs the particularities of the suburbs of Monterrey, Mexico which are relatively new and often hastily built, reflecting a general disregard for planning.

Over the years, various governmental policies resulted in new, decentralized cities with limited infrastructures where the pursuit of immediate financial gain trumped any interest in sustainability.

Cartagena captures both the destruction that rapid urbanization has imposed on the landscape and the phenomenon of densely packed housing. He takes pictures of dried-up river beds that attest to the water misallocation and depletion brought about by the construction, and he depicts perpetual rows of tiny houses slicing directly into the foothills of the picturesque mountains that surround Monterrey. Only the landscape appears capable of limiting their proliferation, the mountains and rivers the only forces able to contain their sprawl.

Ultimately Cartagena documents the chaos and destruction that result from scant or misguided urban planning. He lives in downtown Monterrey, and he cares deeply about its land, its people, and its future.

Understanding that overdevelopment is not just a local problem, he works hard as an artist to share his photographs as one clear plea for responsible, sustainable development in a rapidly changing world."

Leafing.... Four Decades of Artists’ Books and Magazines in Spain.

2011-08-19T11:45:00.006+02:00

Leafing.... Four Decades of Artists’ Books and Magazines in Spain. Edited by Diego Ortiz with contributions from José Arturo Rodríguez Núñez, Rocío Gracia Ipiña and Pepe Murciego. SEACEX, 2008. 272 pp., illustrated throughout, 6¾x9". Images from here.

Book description:

"The sixties provided a special new way of seeing books, which were recognized as an artistic medium of incomparable effectiveness for reaching the most recondite places, and gaining independence from the traditional channels of distribution of works of art.

This project is an overview of the books and magazines by Spanish artists produced from the 60s to today’s boom, showing the wealth of a largely unknown cultural heritage."

Read more about the exhibition that accompanied the publication of this book in 2008 here.

Södrakull Frösakull.

2011-08-15T10:04:00.007+02:00

Södrakull Frösakull. By Mikael Olsson. Text by Beatriz Colomina, Hans Irrek and Helena Mattsson. Steidl & Partners, 2011. 208 pp., illustrated throughout, 26x25 cm.

Feeling a bit Swedish this morning...

Book description:

"This book explores the heritage of Bruno Mathsson, one of Swedish modernism’s leading designers, through two of his architectural works.

In Frösakull - a house that Mathsson both designed and lived in - Mikael Olsson invaded, colonised and interacted with the remains of the house.

In Södrakull, on the other hand - a second house that Mathsson designed and lived in - Olsson acted like a Peeping Tom, sneaking around the exterior of the house with his camera.

This unethical method of trespassing a private space reveals something even more unethical, namely the fact that nobody, not even the Bruno Mathsson firm, took care of his property after his death.

Frösakull was later sold, fixtures, furniture and other possessions included, while Södrakull was refurbished and turned into a glossy and artificial space.

In 'Södrakull Frösakull' Mikael Olsson has created a phenomenological interplay between presence and absence, inner meaning and outer representation, turning the very notion of the human gaze inside out."

A Tree of Night.

2011-08-12T10:16:00.009+02:00

A Tree of Night. Photographs by Tomoko Imai. Match and Company Co. LTD, 2010. 24 pp., illustrated throughout, 25,7×18,2cm. Images from here.

In his work Japanese photographer Tomoki Imai uses a 4x5 format camera with a tripod. 'A Tree of Night' is made up of 24 photographs taken using 35mm film.

Amongst the images we see an obsolete cafe, a water fountain in a park, a couple at a street crossing, a white bird in a cage. 8 pages are in braille (white on white), which are reproduced from a braille edition of Truman Capote's short story 'A Tree of Night' (from which this photo book also takes its' name).

The aim with the book is to try to understand and comprehend the world of a blind person from a compassionate standpoint, using the medium of photography.

"The photographer chose the subjects in deep quest of answers. [...] The journey of Imai between visible and invisible makes feel us everlasting loneliness in a labyrinth beautifully."

source for quote and information here.

Soviet Posters: The Sergo Grigorian Collection.

2011-08-11T10:58:00.003+02:00

Soviet Posters: The Sergo Grigorian Collection. By Maria Lafont. Prestel, 2007. 285pp., illustrated throughout, 23,9x20,2 cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"Dating from 1917 to the end of the Cold War, the posters in this book feature the work of such major Russian groundbreaking avant-garde designers as El Lissitzky and Alexander Rodchenko as well as extraordinary works by lesser known artists.

Presented in full color, the 250 posters gathered here range in themes from warnings about the dangers of alcohol abuse and the creeping Nazi menace to illustrations of utopian harmony and the Soviet industrial machine.

A brief illustrated introduction offers a chronological overview of the period that produced such eloquent art, which has long been a major source of inspiration to artists and designers."

Hackney Wick.

2011-08-10T10:19:00.005+02:00

Hackney Wick. By Stephen Gill. Nobody books, 2005. 126pp. with 24 page special section, illustrated throughout, 21,6x21,6 cm. Images from here.

Still in my heart... (stay safe and support riot clean-up)

Book description:

"Hackney Wick sits in east London between the Grand Union Canal, the River Lea and the Eastway A106. I first came across the area at the end of 2002 when I was photographing the back of advertising billboards. Although I had lived in London for nine years and thought I knew East London well, Hackney Wick threw me; it completely changed my mental map of this part of London.

My first visit was on a Sunday, to the market which used to take place in the old greyhound/speedway stadium. The vast market was like no other I had seen before. At first glance, apart from few pot plants, most of the items on sale looked like scrap. It was not a market for luxury goods; it seemed to exist for people who were struggling to keep afloat themselves: exhausted white goods, mountains of washing machines and fridges, copper wire and other scrap metals stripped from derelict buildings; piles of old VHS videos which had been forced out of people’s homes to make way for DVDs.

That day I bought a plastic camera at the market for 50p; it had a plastic lens with no focus or exposure controls. I started making pictures with it at once.

Over the next two years I visited Hackney Wick again and again. Hackney has long provided a refuge for immigrants and asylum seekers from all over the world and for me Hackney Wick especially reflects the great diversity of London.

The market closed on 13th July, 2003; it had been going for seven years. According to the Trading Standards inspectors it had been swamped with stolen and counterfeit goods. The remains of the old stadium were demolished weeks after the closure as part of the preparations for London’s bid for the 2012 games. The games which will bring many good things to the area: new transport links and much needed infrastructure. But there will be losses, too.

There is another side to Hackney Wick. Away from the noise and chaos nature has somehow managed to find and keep a place for itself. The canals and rivers and secret allotments (known only to their dedicated gardeners) are home to many birds and animals. These hidden paradises have a vibrancy of their own which will soon be muted by the dust that will cover them."

I really like the work of Stephen Gill and have featured it previously here, here, here, here, here and here. I especially like his thoughts on the book as an integrated part of his photography work:

"His overriding intention is to make the book the finished expression of the photographs, rather than just a shell in which to house them.

Experimentation with materials, and a hands-on, tactile approach to maquette making lead, in many cases, to his finished books having an individual, unique presence.

This tactile approach includes materials and techniques such as lino cut printing, letter press printing, mono prints, spray paint, rubber stamps and on occasion entire books are manufactured and assembled by hand in Stephen’s Hackney studio.

He considers the bookmaking process to be a key final stage in the production of his photographic works, and he aims to make books that are conceptually consistent with their content." (source for quote)

London Street Photography 1860-2010.

2011-08-09T13:47:00.009+02:00

London Street Photography 1860-2010. Numerous contributors. Museum of London/Dewi Lewis, 2011. 120pp., illustrated throughout, 22x24,7cm. Images from here.

London and the UK in my heart just now...

Book description:

" 'London Street Photography' is published in association with The Museum of London to coincide with the major exhibition on show at the Museum until September 2011.

Street photography thrives in London today. It documents the movement, diversity and seeming incoherence of the most multicultural city in the world. Its defining characteristic is the keen eye of the photographer catching the moment of a chance encounter, a fleeting expression or a momentary juxtaposition in a decisive click.

However, photographing life on London’s streets is nothing new. The first ‘instantaneous’ London street scenes were taken in the early 1860s, and by the 1890s candid street photographers were snapping Londoners unawares. The 20th century saw many photographers, famous and lesser-known, continue to capture the daily life of London.

'London Street Photography' showcases the Museum of London’s unique historic collection of photographs. It contains the work of more than seventy photographers and is a fascinating view of London street life of the last 150 years. It includes the work of well-known photographers such as Paul Martin, John Thomson, Humphrey Spender, Bert Hardy, László Moholy-Nagy, Roger Mayne and Tony Ray-Jones as well as the work of many anonymous photographers whose contribution has been just as important in recording the story of the city.

The book includes an introduction by Mike Seaborne, in which he outlines the history of street photography in the Capital, exploring the shifts in approach as well as the impact of new cameras that allowed photographers to capture the wealth of detail to be found in London’s teeeming streets."

(Images updated.)

The Ruins of Detroit.

2011-08-08T11:09:00.006+02:00

The Ruins of Detroit. By Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre. Introductions by Robert Polidori and Thomas Sugrue. Steidl, 2010. 230 pp., illustrated throughout, 38x29 cm.

So I took a sort of a week off, and the world just seems to have gone a bit crazy really...

Book description:

"Over the past generation Detroit has suffered economically worse than any other of the major American cities and its rampant urban decay is now glaringly apparent during this current recession.

Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre documented this disintegration, showcasing structures that were formerly a source of civic pride, and which now stand as monuments to the city’s fall from grace.

'Ruins are the visible symbols and landmarks of our societies and their changes, small pieces of history in suspension.

The state of ruin is temporary by nature, the volatile result of the end of an era and the fall of empires.

This fragility, the time elapsed but even so running fast, lead us to watch them one very last time: being dismayed, or admiring, wondering about the permanence of things. Photography appeared to us as a modest way to keep a little bit of this ephemeral state'.”

House of Love.

2011-08-01T11:26:00.004+02:00

House of Love. Photographs by Dayanita Singh. Text by Aveek Sen. Radius books, 2011. 198 pp., illustrated throughout, 6,25x9,75".

Book description:

" 'House of Love' is a work of photographic fiction that takes the form of nine short stories. Working closely with writer Aveek Sen, whose prose follows a journey of its own, Singh explores the relationship between photography, memory, and writing.

'House of Love', designed to blur the lines between an art book of photographic images and a work of literary fiction, is a book whose images demand to be read, not just seen, and whose texts create their own sensory worlds. The combination creates a new vocabulary for the visual book.

The 'House of Love' itself is the Taj Mahal, but the Taj Mahal as a recurring motif that stands for a range of meanings - meanings made up of the truths and lies of night and day, love and illusion, attachment and detachment.

Through images of cities both visible and invisible, people real and surreal, Singh creates her own mysterious and ineffable, strange yet familiar language, using her trademark black-and-white photography and her newer nocturnal color work."

Etsuko Ichikawa

2011-07-29T11:34:00.008+02:00

Etsuko Ichikawa at work (source). Found via Josephine.

Poetic and beautiful, watching Etsuko Ichikawa drawing on paper with molten glass to create abstract work is almost a spiritual experience.

"The yin to Etsuko Ichikawa's soft-spoken, introspective yang is fiery, molten glass.

Handling it while aglow at 2100°F, she loops, stretches and presses the smoking mass of lava atop paper to create abstract drawings known as pyrographs.

Filmmaker Alistair Banks Griffin captures the dramatic choreography of Ichikawa's art in this short film for the Anthropologist."

See more of her work here, and hear her talk of the process here.

Sometimes In The Night Time

2011-07-28T12:17:00.005+02:00

Sometimes In The Night Time by Michael Kirkham (2006). Found via Julia Rothman.

A very sweet short film from British illustrator Michael Kirkham about being sad at night.

Monument.

2011-07-27T10:45:00.007+02:00

Monument. Photographs by Lynn Davis. Text by Rudolph Wurlitzer and Patti Smith. Arena Editions, 1999. 144 pp., illustrated throughout, 10,5x11,5". Images from photo-eye.

Book description:

"Over the years, Lynn Davis has become widely celebrated for her large-scale photographs of 'monuments' of the human and natural landscape from around the world.

Whether depicting the ancient pyramids of Giza, the temples of Cambodia, or the icebergs of Greenland, Davis articulates both the omnipotent forces of nature and the most resolute building endeavors ever undertaken by man.

Davis's aesthetic is cool and refined; her sparse composition and controlled modeling of light evoke solitude and contemplation.

Travel has become an essential component of Davis's work, building on a long-standing tradition of travel photography, particularly from the nineteenth century. Evident in her minimal imagery is a reverence for the monuments she visits for their grace of form and for the extraordinary feats of their producers.

Lynn Davis's photographs are accompanied by texts by Patti Smith and Rudolph Wurlitzer that contemplate the sheer beauty of Davis's photography and the context of travel in which they are produced."

Read Patti Smith's introduction here.

A limited edition of 'Monument' is available. The photographs has been "reproduced in color to accurately represent the rich tonality of her black-and-white prints".
It's limited to an edition of 50 signed, numbered and boxed editions and comes with an unpublished and signed photograph, which is only available with this edition.

The Heart Land.

2011-07-26T11:34:00.009+02:00

The Heart Land. Work by Mark Borthwick. Powershovel, 2010. 168pp., illustrated throughout, 21,6 x 28cm. Images from photo-eye. More in this video.

An artist book by Mark Borthwick made up of hazy, beautiful, dream-like photographs, poetry, drawings and splatters of paint, and focusing on nature and ecology.

Book description:

"British-born, New York-based photographer Mark Borthwick (born 1966) is famed for his blurry, sunsoaked photographs, a style that has crossed disciplines and gained him equal footing in the art, photography and fashion worlds.

Borthwick came to prominence in the mid-1990s with several major international exhibitions of photography; in 1998 his self-designed publication 'Synthetic Voices' won him the Art Directors Club (New York) Silver Prize for Book Design, and his 2004 DVD collaboration with Cat Power, 'Speaking for Trees', further enlarged his audience.

A musician, artist and poet, Borthwick conveys throughout his work an appetite for life recorded in snatched moments of bliss and delight: rainbow-like sun streaks are common effects in his photographs, as is imagery of youthful frolics in forests.

'The Heart Land' is conceived as an artist's book convening artworks, photographs and poems by Borthwick."

Rest in Peace Amy Winehouse

2011-07-24T09:32:00.017+02:00

Amy Winehouse. Other great performances: AOL sessions 6th of May 2004, Jools Holland and here, here, here and here for example.

I was very sad to hear of the death of Amy Winehouse at the age of 27. She's truly one of the most talented singers and songwriters of her generation.

I saw her live several times early in her career - a stand-out night for me was the Billie Holiday tribute (Billie & me curated by Neneh Cherry at the Barbican) where she more than held her own. The troubled life unfolding in the tabloids thereafter was sad to see, but I do hope her immense talent is what will be remembered. Rest in peace.

Read more here, here, here, here or here for example.

Bloody Moon.

2011-07-19T10:13:00.005+02:00

Bloody Moon. Photographs and text by Keiko Nomura. Toseisha, 2006. 80pp., illustrated throughout, 23,2 × 20,7 cm. Images from photo-eye.

'Bloody Moon' features the work of Japanese photographer Keiko Nomura.

As usual (and sadly) with the books published by Toseisha gallery there's very little information to obtain about the works.

However, from what I can understand from the Japanese I believe the photographs where taken over the course of six years (2000-2006) in Okinawa, Amami-Oshima, Taiwan, Hawaii, South India and Tokyo.

It focuses on a group of women and the natural landscape, playing up the sense of colour and strength.