Saturday, March 30, 2013

Glad Påsk & Happy Easter!



'Bright Easter sunshine
And clear skies of blue
Wish all things you wish for
Is what I wish you'

Happy Easter! Hope it's a wonderful time with family...

Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Dressing Gown Month.



The Dressing Gown Month. By Dionisia Tzavalas. Nobrow Small Press, 2012. 16pp., illustrated throughout, 14,8x21cm. Limited edition of 50.

Book description:

"Dionisia Tzavalas, a recent graduate of the Kingston Illsutration BA, has created a beautiful book detailing snippets of life in the urban sprawl of her native South East London.

Her images are full of tension and loneliness and although somewhat brutal in their depictions of human relationships they show a wry humour and even a tenderness which is what makes this book so pleasing.

Screenprinted by hand in black ink on white paper, this edition is of only 50 copies signed and numbered by Dionisia herself. The book all also features an unfolding dust jacket."

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Things to Say.



Things to Say. By Jürg Lehni & Alex Rich. Nieves, 2010. 16pp., illustrated throughout, 19,5x25,5cm.

More here.

Book description:

"Before Viktor there was Hektor, a relatively simple spray-can output device driven by two motors. Both are amalgams of digital and mechanical technologies - collages of tools invented for other uses.

Far from being closed mechanical devices - black boxes between creative impulse and output - the concern of Hektor and now Viktor is the nuanced interaction between the user and the technologies of communication.

In response to the position of such technologies, Lehni together with Alex Rich started an ongoing e-mail correspondence about various devices, systems and technologies with which their work had a resonance.

Lehni and Rich constructed an archive 'A Recent History of Writing & Drawing' and which inspired their installation at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2008).

Upending assumptions that any one kind of communication is more authentic, more direct or more valid that any other, 'A Recent History of Writing & Drawing' finds meaning, texture and poetry in the most unlikely places.

'Things to Say' (Viktor) is the first in a series of collected drawings produced in collaboration with invited guests to perform with Viktor every Thursday evening at the ICA throughout the duration of the exhibition, curated by Emily King."

Monday, March 25, 2013

Modesty Blaise//Monica Vitti




Outtakes from and trailer for Modesty Blaise (1966).

I l-o-v-e Modesty Blaise, I love Monica Vitti, I love this film.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Apples and Olives.



Apples and Olives. By Lee Friedlander. Fraenkel Gallery, 2005. 64 pp., illustrated throughout, 9,75x10,25". Images from here.

Yesterday was the first day of spring, I didn't notice...


Book description:

"Lee Friedlander’s book, 'Apples and Olives', is a tribute to his long love of visual complexity.

Photographs of apple trees in New York State and olive trees in France, Italy and Spain from 1997–2004, make up the body of this series of natural landscapes.

Throughout the seasons, Friedlander is able to capture striking compositions that seem to be shot from just inside the reach of a tree’s furthest twigs, leaving the expanding, branching limbs to fill the frame."

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Firework Studies.



Firework Studies. By Pierre Le Hors. Hassla Books, 2011. 320 pp., illustrated throughout, 4,875x7,125". Edition of 500 copies. Images from here.

Book description:

" 'Firework Studies' is a book compiling photographs of fireworks in the night sky.

By constraining nearly all tonal values to stark blacks and pure whites, the trails, explosions and clouds of debris are reduced to a series of simple repeated formal elements: arced lines, spherical bursts, and randomly dispersed particles.

I made no effort to limit digital artifacts resulting from pushing the image files past their conventional range; the resulting noise becomes hard to distinguish from the texture of the fireworks themselves."

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Charles Bukowski/Nirvana


Charles Bukowski's poem 'Nirvana'. Short film directed by Patrick Biesemans. Links here and here (more also on the 2011 kickstarter).

"The film has the slow, meditative pacing of a Terrence Malick film, the same kind of obsessive dwelling on the details of a lost mid-century America.

An apple pie, the slow-motion sway of the leggy waitress’ sky-blue dress as she walks toward a snow-covered window - none of these details bear the slightest trace of kitsch.

Instead they are objects of wabi sabi, the Japanese term for impermanence. Nirvana is forever, life is temporary." [<<<link]

Friday, March 15, 2013

Sarah Vaughan/I Got Rhythm


Sarah Vaughan performing 'I Got Rhythm' - with a pretty kick-ass back-up band!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Fluorescent Seas of Fog.



Fluorescent Seas of Fog. Edition Patrick Frey N° 64. By Andreas Züst. Text by Peter Weber, with a diary entry by Andreas Züst. Edition Patrick Frey, 2007. 160 pp., illustrated throughout, 10x7". In German and English. Images from here and here.

Book description:

"These photographs from the estate of Andreas Züst are dealing with the phenomena of seas of fog which are illuminated from below by the lights of our civilisation, and therefore become fluorescent.

'Fluorescent Seas of Fog' contains the most important aspect of Andreas Züst’s 'Sky'-series.

These photographs were taken on top of the mountain Bachtel in the canton Zurich, Switzerland, in 1999 and 2000, only a few months before Andreas Züst’s premature death.

Züst has beautifully captured the phenomena of winterly seas of fog that are illuminated from below by street lights, buildings, civilization in general.

Swiss author Peter Weber called this 'Fluorescent Seas of Fog'.

Peter Weber also wrote an additional, poetic and literary text to go with these images. He used to collaborate with Andreas Züst since mid of the 1990s, both chasing after aesthetically impressive, scientifically interesting natural phenomena."

Sunday, March 10, 2013

A Dame Called Murder

A Dame Called Murder. By Robert O. Saber (a pseudonym of Milton K. Ozaki). Graphic Books 111, 1955. Cover Art by Walter Popp. Source for pic and info here and here.

"He Took His Chances With - A Dame Called Murder."

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Space Race.



Space Race. By Tom Clohosy Cole. Nobrow, 2012. Concertina style book (136cm unfurled), illustrated throughout, 23,5x24,1cm.


Book description:

"In another installment in our bestselling concertina series, Tom Clohosy Cole leads us through the defining moments of that tense, tumultuous, and exciting phase of the Cold War known as the Space Race.

A great tool for young historians and art lovers, 'Space Race' covers the USSR’s early triumphs of space exploration on one side the USA’s race to the moon on the other, all in beautifully illustrated style.

'Space Race' is not just a stunning work of art though, as it includes an illustrated fact sheet detailing important breakthroughs in space travel on both sides of the Iron Curtain between 1957 and 1975, making it a fantastic tool for educators as well as a fun way for young historians to explore a defining period of the 20th Century.


Nobrow’s Leporello have become one of our most popular products, selling to all ages and demographics. Their dual purpose as a book and as a frameable print have become a fun way for people to own great art affordably as well as enjoy fun and innovative narratives and educational content.

Rise and Fall, our first in the series, is now in it’s second edition of 6,000 copies and as one of our best sellers has set the precedent for a very successful series."