Art Books with Rowan Morrison

Art Book Wishlist, January 2010

2010-01-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

Phillip Guston: Paintings 1947-1979
Hatje Cantz Publishers
Contributions by Michael Auping, Martin Hentschel, Christoph Schreier.
I've always admired and adored the work of Phillip Guston, but I still don't have a book! Unfortunately, according to D.A.P. this book is out of print.

A good alternative to the monograph would be this catalogue:
Phillip Guston Retrospective
Thames & Hudson, 2006Text by Michael Auping

I've been waiting for a good David Park monograph, and lo and behold, here it is finally:

David Park, Painter - Nothing Held Back
Helen Bigelow
Published by Hudson Hills Press, September 2009

"David Park, Painter: Nothing Held Back" chronicles the brief but remarkably prolific career of American painter David Park. In his 49 years, he became an integral part of the San Francisco Bay art community in the early 1930s, and is counted as one of the immensely gifted artists who were part of the Bay Area Figurative Painting movement in its nascent beginnings in the 1950s. Park, who was drawing in perspective by the time he was five years old, began his professional career before the age of twenty, apprenticing together with sculptor Gordon Newell for sculptor Ralph Stackpole's monumental columns that were being erected in front of the Pacific Stock Exchange in California. His work was widely exhibited during his lifetime at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Art and the California Legion of Honor. In addition, Park was a faculty member of the San Francisco Art Institute and later the University of California, Berkeley. Together with the 100 paintings featured, this monograph shows an artist who possessed a life-long passion for painting.

The Horror

2009-11-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

My appreciation of art began not with "fine art" at all. It started with an appreciation for creative and aesthetic mediums outside from the gallery, museum, or other "fine art" outlets. As I believe is common with many artists and art fans my age, I was led to fine art through cartoons, comic books, and advertising design. Skateboard graphics, album covers, and even breakfast cereal boxes were vastly more engaging than anything framed on a white wall, and it was a love of movies and music videos that led to me art college in the mid-1990s.

These days, I'm saturated with fine art. Running a gallery, publishing art books, and being a working studio artist trying to keep abreast of the art world has me constantly inundated with high art and the lowbrow art that is currently high art. Frankly, I often feel uninspired and weighed down by the constant barrage of "fine art" and "fine artists". I even take steps to try to stay out of the incessant stream of art world opinions and discussions, but they seem to find me anyway.

So when I'm looking for inspiration or just something to get the creative stoke flowing again, I head back to the roots and look towards non-art artworks to refresh me. Luckily, between the internet and a healthy stream of compilation art books, there are plenty of archives to reference and appreciate.

Nosferatu 1922

One of my current favorites is Horror Poster Art, edited by Tony Nourman and Graham Marsh. It was published in 2004 by Aurum Press in the UK and part of a large series of movie poster books by Nourman and Marsh. This 12 x 9 inch book features neaqrly 200 pages of full color reproductions from over 80 years of horror film poster art. From early silent movies to B monster flicks to foreign cinema classics and even more, this book covers some film favorites and some great design work for less-than stellar movies.

Hӓxan (Heksen) 1922
The Invisible Man 1933

The design of movie posters seems to be a lost craft these days, where artistic creativity and bold designs are almost always tossed aside in favor of giant celebrity headshots or photos with digital manipulated backgrounds.

Some of the really interesting pieces come from the foreign versions of American horror films, such as the Czech Psycho poster by Zdenek Ziegler or the Polish Alien (Obcy) poster by Jakub Erol. Often the artists making these posters were given only a title and brief summary of the film to work from. The Eastern European posters are famous for their abstract and conceptual designs. Awesome stuff.

Along with the bold images of the posters in the book there is commentary on the artists, the style, or other commonalities within the film subgenres.

Another great movie poster art book I own is Who Goes There?. It features 1950's horror and sci-fi movie posters and lobby cards. This was just a great era for charming B horror and monster movies, and often the posters and artwork (as well as art direction for the films) is far superior to the acting and story within the films themselves.

And, finally, a while back I purchased Vintage Hollywood Posters III. Rather than an art book, this is an auction catalog for a sale in June of 2000. This catalog covers far more than just old horror films, and has the bonus of having the estimated values of the posters printed under each image (they go for anywhere between $500 and $10,000).

All three of these books costs around $20 when I got them (the Horror Poster Art book was £19), but it seems like all three are out of print now. I'm sure you can find them around the net used, or lots of other similar books.

I'm very happy that lots of design media that originally created for promotion or packaging is now being appreciated as art... and that publishers are compiling books like these for us to enjoy.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness 1965

Field Guide

2009-10-16T14:16:00.001-07:00

I found Field Guide, by Derek Stroup, at OK in Los Angeles, an excellent design store that has a well curated art book collection. I knew nothing about it, and after a little research I know not much more. All I really need to know is that I like it, visually, and I think I "get" it, conceptually. It is simply a collection of black and white photographs of television antennae on the tops of homes and buildings.

As a huge fan of antiquated objects (I think I'll call them antiquations), I am growing to love artwork that deals with these things that have had there original purposes disappear or lose enough popularity to have them be discontinued. Viewmaster 3-D viewers, Super8 film, mimeograph prints, even now Polaroids (although these may be coming back). Without their popular qualities or original purposes these objects take on new aesthetic qualities, either in the aesthetics they create (like rub-on letraset lettering), or in the look of the objects themselves (like old cabinet arcade games). I can hardly bring myself to think of it, but soon enough things as common as newspapers and 35mm film negatives might only be found amongst artists and nostalgic purists. And don't even get me started on vinyl records and analog video.

The television antenna fit along these artistc lines perfectly when the book was first published in 2002, and even more so now that the final switch to 100% digital broadcasting has rendered these objects completely without purpose. The context of this book being a "field guide" gives an even bigger impression of these objects becoming rare and hard to identify, perhaps even verging on extinction.

Derek Stroup has published other books from bodies of artworks, some of which are available at Printed Matter online. I purchased Field Guide for $16, but it looks like the price can get into the $24 range. It is 4 x 6 inches in size, with 164 pages, including a good essay, "The Antenna in Architecture", by Eric Fredericksen. It is a first edition (edition size unknown), signed by the artist. My particular copy has some pages of the essay bound out of order, but I don't know if that is just my copy or for all of them.

You can find contact info and other art projects from Derek Stroup on his website: www.derekstroup.com.

Now get out there and enjoy looking at the television antennae in your neighborhood, or even things like telephone poles and hand-painted signs, cause they just might not be around for much longer.

Live for Deth

2009-10-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Bay Area artist and feline myth creator Deth P. Sun has recently released a new zine. You can always count on Deth to offer up a steady stream of quality art products (as well as ridiculous amounts of original artwork) on a regular basis. From giclee and serigraph prints to T-shirts, stickers, postcards, or beer cozies, Deth's signature characters are almost always available to be yours at a reasonable price. But my favorites have always been the zines.

Please Be Brave, which was released earlier this summer, is a self-published art zine is every sense of the word. Deth made the art, copied the pages, organized the production, and even hand trimmed the pages. It features a whole lot of images drawn from the deep, deep well of Deth's endless sketchbooks. It features impressive spontaneous renderings of both the world around us and Deth's popular mythical cat realm. With plenty of skulls, monsters, ghosts, mountains, junk food, swamps, swords, cameras, instruments, caves, cars, crystals, sea creatures, plant life, houses, toys, art supplies, head gear, birds, and just about everything including the kitchen sink.The pages are crammed with objects, and interspersed with the occasional epic scenario. And, for the first time I can remember, there are a few rabbits in there too. 24 pages, black and white.

You can order your copy direct from Deth, or at the Rowan Morrison online supermarket of art books, for $8.

This also seems like a good opportunity to celebrate some of the other great Deth P. Sun zines of the past. Let's start with one from about 5 or so years ago, called 40 Drawings.

With, you guessed it, 40 drawings of gods, monsters, cats, and other epic things, this zine is pretty slick for a handmade photocopied affair. I really don't know much about its production or stuff like that, but it is interesting to note that while the subject of Deth's artwork was similar then to what it continues to be, it is clear his style has evolved and gotten a bit more refined since 40 Drawings was made. The zine also features a lot of the "humans-in-animal- costumes" art, a theme which has become much less frequent in Deth's work.

Next up is the classic Oakland zine. Based on a map to his girlfriend's house party and originally drawn and made during Deth's brief time living in Los Angeles, Oakland highlights some clever cartographic skills along with a loving local view of the neighborhoods and shops of the East Bay through the artist's eyes. This zine has been a constant best seller and has been reprinted several times.

A little known fact is that there are, in fact, two different versions of the Oakland zine among its several reprints:

A reissue from 2007 features a bunch of images of photographed details from the city of Oakland reprinted from Deth's magnificent (and completely unknown) Polaroid collection. Deth has told me the he is not going to reprint this zine again, so you had better get yours while the getting is good.

And finally, A Knife In The Dark, which is as close to a complete Deth P. Sun hero's quest narrative as we are likely to ever get.

Epic landscapes, heroic battles, and momentous journeys are all told with a small narrative bit of text to go with each piece of art. This zine, like Oakland, is small in size but a real treat. Just to get a few tidbits of narrative text that isn't completely abstract and actually ties the images together in sequence is real nice. Now out of print, if you find one of these you should snatch it up because it is unique and very enjoyable.

And, finally, I would be a fool not to spend a bit of space here going over the merits of I See It All, the only full-on book of Deth's artwork currently available. Rowan Morrison published this book earlier this year and it was pretty successful right off the bat. This book faithfully reproduces 64 pages from a sketchbook made by Deth P. Sun in March of 2008. It features hundreds of sweet drawings, landscapes, and handmade typography. The roots of Deth's fine art evolve upon the page. I really love this book and am proud to have helped with its production. Here are just a few sample pages:

I See It All> is a real testament to how prolific and productive Deth is when it comes to drawing. He filled an entire sketchbook (including over 40 pages that weren't used for the book) in about 5 weeks! The man can draw it all, from landscapes to architecture to weapons to stylized lettering.

- 7" x 10"
- Limited 1st Edition of 500 copies
- Rounded Corners
- 64 single sided pages (128 pages total)
- 100% recycled paper, soy-based inks and perfect bound with animal-free glue

I See It All is available at Giant Robot stores and other fine art bookstores, or order your copy direct from Rowan Morrison and get some free Deth stickers or postcards with every book. Despite this book being published this year we are nearly sold out so get on it.

Order yours online here

I was stoked to see such variety in I See It All, and continued in his latest zine, Please Be Brave. An artist with talent and popularity like Deth's can be easily tempted to get a little too comfortable and slip into "giving the people what they want" and not challenging themselves. It is always great to get a little retrospective perspective to highlight some progression. I always look forward to see what Deth P. Sun will come up with next and hope he continues to push himself while staying on point and true to his epic vision.

You can always get a lot more of Deth's artwork from his website at www.dethpsun.com. Thanks for sticking through this long post. What can I say... Deth makes a lot of awesome zines.

Spring Lounge

2009-08-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, YES! Mel Kadel has recently self-published another amazing art book. Mel's first two art publications, Rough Cookie and Honey Pool, are two of the highlights of my ever stacking and sun-faded collection. Always top sellers for the few days our artist's bookstore has them in stock, Mel's artwork has a way of connecting to almost everybody and the craftsmanship that goes into her books is just astounding.

If you haven't already, you can read my review of Rough Cookie here and my review of Honey Pool here. I continue to stand by all my gushing comments for the artwork and the books themselves. Spring Lounge takes the bar that Mel has already set ridiculously high for herself and kicks it up a notch. All the things that made the previous books great is still here, but the artwork has slowly progressed. The work has gotten a bit more complex, yet somehow more accessible. The pacing of the images, from symbolic landscapes to figurative interactions to detailed patterning, is well managed. The colors are perhaps a little bolder, and the few more risks are taken.

The high point of the book comes with the two-page, 16-paneled storyboard piece that has just about everything you could ever want from a Mel Kadel illustration. I won't reproduce it here in the blog because it is just too damn good. It is a step up, or a step sideways, and I always admire an artist willing to push themselves and see where thing can go (even when the risks don't reap rewards). When the experiments do pay off, like we have here, it's pure gold.

Like the previous books, Spring Lounge is full-color inkjet printed onto coffee soaked paper. I hear each page is hand-soaked, hung to dry, and hand-fed into the printer one at a time by the artist herself. The printing is near perfect. The book smells like coffee. The cover is a 3color screenprint onto fancy printmaking stock. The book is 6" x 9" and has 40 pages. Hand signed, dated, and numbered from an edition of 100. Retail price of $24. Minds blown.

Frankly, these books, at these prices, with art this good, with art printed this well, in editions this limited, are starting to make all other small-time art publishing projects look like piles of garbage. Mine included. Spring Lounge is so awesome I really can't praise it enough (though I'm trying). You can see more images from the book and of Mel Kadel's artwork at melkadel.com. Spring Lounge is available for purchase direct from the "buy" section of Fudge Factory Comics, or we still have two copies available (as of August 8th) at Rowan Morrison Online Artists Bookstore. You should buy yours now or be an idiot and wait two years and buy it for several hundred dollars.

And, once again, I can't resist the crass plug for the limited edition Mel Kadel serigraph from Rowan Morrison Publishing. Only $20, signed by the artist, shipped flat, and we only have about 25 left.

Blackstock's Collections

2009-06-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

If you know me at all, you know I like art books. Another thing I like is collections of things (thus my own art series, Junk Pirate). I also like drawings. Put all these things together and you have the current favorite in my art book collection: Blackstock's Collections.

Published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2006, this book features a huge collection of Gregory Blackstock's drawings of collections of thing. All kinds of things. Divided into thirteen categories such as "Our Famous Birds", "The Noisemakers", "The Vehicles", and "Architectural Collection", then further divided into individual artworks based on specific collections within these categories. Each artwork features anywhere from two to several dozen items within the specific collection, articulately rendered and labeled in pen, pencil, crayon, and sharpie marker. Visual lists. All these objects, with their individual details and subtle differentiations, have been created from memory. Yes, from memory.

You see, Gregory Blackstock is a savant. Savant Syndrome is a remarkable condition in which a person with autism or another developmental disability has some extraordinary genius or ability that stands in stark contrast to their other limitations. Often, if not always, these amazing abilities as coupled with a photographic memory. Coupled with intense motivation and practice, and in Blackstock's case, a supportive family and art community, these amazing abilities have created a body of work that is an amazing document of the world around him, and all of us. From this work Blackstock has been labeled an "anthropologist of the everyday".

Unlike much "Outsider art", Blackstock's work lacks emotion and reveals nothing of an inner, personal world. Remarkably, his success in the art world has motivated him towards more work that is created with the intention of being showcased.

While it is hard to separate any work like this from the exceptional and rare memory talents and patience of its creator, I feel Blackstock's drawings have an appeal much beyond the 'freakshow' aspect. This art would be a nearly impossible thing to create from a normal mind (considering it was made without reference material), but that isn't what makes this work enjoyable. The talent feels genuine, and the drawings are compelling in and of themselves, an aspect I often find lacking in other Outsider art.

Blackstock's Collections has 144 pages in color, plus an essay on the discovery of the artist's work and his first exhibition and an excellent essay of Savant Syndrome as it applies to Blackstock's work. Both essays are enjoyable, educational, and easy to read (a rarity for art book writing these days). It is available at almost every bookstore (find it on Amazon here) with a retail price of $19.95. My own copy of the book is falling apart at the binding, but this is less a testament to shotty craftsmanship than to my own brutish handling of my art books.

LINKS: another good review of Blackstock's Collections at moleskinerie.com

an online article about Blackstock by Darold Treffert, MD, who wrote the essay in the book.

Garde Rail Gallery's artist page from Blackstock with other good links

I See It All by Deth P. Sun book signing event

2009-04-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 24th
6:00 - 8:30 pm

Giant Robot San Francisco Presents:

The Clouds Caught On Fire

2009-03-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

Recently self-published, The Clouds Caught On Fire features two years worth of collaborative drawings and paintings from San Francisco Bay Area artists Rich Jacobs and Billy Sprague. I have become aware Sprague's work through his zines and prints, and while I didn't initially recognize Jacob's name, his oval-headed dark-nosed head illustrations are very familiar. The works in the book were created as the artists continually exchanged individual pieces until one or other declared the art done. The art is very loose and unpretentious and the whole publication has the feeling of two artists friends having fun.

For the most part, the artwork looks like it is coming from one mind, which often isn't the case with many artistic collaborations where each artist's area of participation is easily recognizable. There are occasionally pieces where one artist's hand feels more dominant, but the results from page to page are remarkably cohesive.

The works are generally heavily layered mixed media abstractions. Loose patterning and hand-drawn textures are built using markers, opaque paints, washes, stencils, and photocopies. Sometimes a bilateral symmetry develops, other times more figurative works take form. These are often created upon found objects and used papers: braille, sheet music, maps, envelopes, even vinyl records.

The Clouds Caught On Fire is a full-color book, with 120 glossy pages. 8" x 10". Perfect bound. It is available in three edition: a softcover version for $35 (featured in photos), a hardcover for $60, and also a deluxe edition available only direct from the artists that features extra prints and stencils and stickers and stuff.

It was created in 2008 using the popular print-on-demand (POD) service blurb. If you aren't familiar with the several POD printer now online, here is a very quick primer: You upload your designed pages (or use their template) and using digital printing techniques they produce a relatively high quality full color book. You pay per book with no minimums, and there are price breaks for large quantities. Never before has low quantities of full color books been available so easily. These printers usually will sell your book online through their website, and some act as a "subsidiary publisher".

The advantage of POD is that it makes books like The Clouds Caught Fire possible. There is not a lot money that needs to go up front, and since books are printed as they sell, you won't get stuck with unsold inventory. "Color books in low quantities" makes doing a private edition for an exhibition or something possible.

The problems with POD is that, while it may be affordable to make a color book for yourself, the pricing allows very little room for profit. Certainly there is no room for wholesale discounts. That leaves an artist with the options to sell the book directly or through the POD website and even then these books can get expensive. And I won't begin to get into the whole ISBN issues or some of the insane contracts out there.

All added up, and then factoring in that I had to pay sales tax and shipping for one book, Clouds ended up costing me almost $50. In this case, it was worth it; It feels good to know your money is going direct to the artists, and I appreciate the potential to have some rare and valuable self-published works from artists I enjoy. Something you won't find in a bookstore. But these kinds of dollars are a gamble if you aren't familiar with the artist's work and can't see the book beforehand.

I am currently working on a more comprehensive blog that discusses POD printing and pricing. In the meanwhile, you can get this book direct from the artists or online at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/514628. You can also find some of Billy Sprague's zines on the Rowan Morrison online artist's bookstore and zine emporium.

Damien Hirst: On The Way To Work

2009-03-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

Like it or not, Damien Hirst is on top. Currently in his mid 40s, he has well surpassed Jasper Johns as the wealthiest living artist, and any discussion about excesses in art in either content or collection revolves around him. Last year, Hirst and his business manager, Frank Dunphy, bypassed the gallery system (which already worked on only 10% commission for Hirst) by having their works sold directly to collectors through Sotheby's. Despite the economic downturn, the 223 "new" works (many of them were recreations of old favorites... 5 sharks in tanks and 83 new butterfly collages) sold for nearly $200,000,000 dollars, exceeding expectations. One piece, the Golden Calf, an animal with 18-carat gold horns preserved in formaldehyde, sold for 10.3 million pounds. Not dollars, pounds. And I'm not even going to go into the whole diamond encrusted skull thing.

On The Way To Work is a collection of 12 interviews between Hirst and longtime friend Gordon Burn, spanning the years 1992 to 2000. The words are raw and off the cuff, with plenty of cursing and drinking stories in the mix. Sprinkled throughout the text are beautiful images of Hirst's artwork (including his terrible early assemblages), and candid photos from his childhood in Leeds and student years at Goldsmiths, University of London. At over 200 pages, it still is a quick read. More so than almost any other text based art book I've come across.

The interviews are casual, which gives a look at a celebrity without his guard up. The topics cover fame, money, the use of the art scene as a participant in the work, his own rise with the help of collector Charles Saatchi, his obsession with death, the work of Francis Bacon (whom Hirst considers the greatest artist of the 20th century), how to get a shark, the young British artists, and all other topics along those lines. Hirst upholds his anti-intellectual persona, but still comes across as deathly serious about art and its place in society.

Sure, Hirst can often come across as an asshole, and contradicts himself on more than one occasion, but in the end these things help to present him as, above all else, fearless. To speak with passion and certainty in the face of the likelihood of proving yourself wrong is admirable. When it is mixed with a bit of barroom charm and a sincere passion for the subject it is hard to not be enthralled. Nobody likes an asshole, but it can be admirable to see someone who is not afraid of being an asshole when it comes to express his opinions.

The most interesting passages of the book are Hirst's discussion of his "color dot" paintings... more specifically how these paintings are made by others. When one of his many assistants wanted one of these paintings (that she had painted) as a gift, Hirst refused. His argument was that if she wanted the painting for its aesthetic value, she could paint one for herself. It was the fact that the painting was "a Hirst" that made her want it. She wanted the value of his signature, not the painting itself, which her own hand had created. The honesty and frankness in this discussion is refreshing. The issue of who is manufacturing the artwork of famous artists is rarely discussed, least of all by the artists themselves. And it is hard for Hirst not to look like an asshole in this situation, but he talks very openly about it. Fearless.

The book ends with the sale of Hymn, a giant bronze reproduction of an anatomical toy, which sold for a million pounds (and Hirst was later sued over). This is towards the beginning of his relationship with Frank Dunphy, which is a whole groundbreaking and heartbreaking saga in itself... One that is still being written. With the more recent sales of Hirst's restaurant decor as original works of art (a thing that, in the book, Hirst swore would not happen), and the continual upping of the ante with collectors, dealers, precious materials, and animal carcasses, it is clear that the timeline covered in On The Way To Work is just the beginning.

One The Way To Work is a fantastic read. It is insightful, unscripted, and fascinating. "Great art is when you come across an object and you have a fundamental, personal, one-to-one relationship with it, and you understand something you didn't already understand about what it means to be alive." I highly recommend this book for anybody into Hirst's work, or anybody who likes reading about artwork and the art business in general.

The book has a retail price of $50, and can be found online for a bit less with some looking. There are also several other books of Hirst's artwork out there.

I also encourage you to read more about the relationship of Hirst with Frank Dunphy in this article from the Wall Street Journal online: The Man Behind Damien Hirst.

Catalogue - "Sherie' Franssen: Driving Into the Ocean"

2009-01-27T14:54:00.000-08:00

So this'll be my last entry for catalogue fever. ...and your last chance to go see this show as it closes January 31.

"Sherie' Franssen: Driving Into the Ocean" at Dolby-Chadwick Gallery, San Fransisco is a remarkably straightforward painting show, and the accompanying catalogue is equally so. I've liked her work for a while now, and I'm impressed that she works in relative autonomy. She lives and works in Orange County, and enjoys success and attention, but isn't so overboard- hyped that it just gets annoying. She's got really great cadaver drawings on her website too.

The catalogue, 8.5" x 11", full color with a short forward, is of high quality and worth buying if you are a fan of painting. However be warned that it doesn't contain every work in the show. "Waist High", 2008 (77" x 81"), which isn't in the catalogue, was one of my personal picks, as it was a little bit of a departure (from her usual format of overall compositions) with a viscous, buttery blob of brushwork in the upper-center of the canvas. Even the size of the brush is a lot bigger, so it feels like more a bold decision, and offers sort of a resting place.

Sherie' Franssen, "Waist High", 2008, 77" x 81". Courtesy of Dolby Chadwick Gallery

Catalogue - "Abstract & Figurative - Highlights of Bay Area Painting"

2009-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

3rd entry in my catalogue fever installments...

"Abstract & Figurative - Highlights of Bay Area Painting", at John Berggruen until February 28, is a jaw-dropping collection of my all time favorite painters from the Bay Area, and maybe ever. There are a lot of paintings in the show from private collectors, and unless a museum (and it would probably have to be in California) organizes another mega exhibit, the paintings will probably go back into privacy for a while.

Familiarize yourself already. Fortunately, the catalogue for the exhibit will give you a leg up. It's a 10" x 10" softcover, and all artwork has been re-photographed just for the publication. No repeats, or archival images. Steven Nash wrote the introductory essay, and after that are just plates, plates, plates. Nice ones, too. My only qualm with the show is that Joan Brown is conspicuously absent, even though it's just because nothing of hers was available, and I was a little less moved by the inclusion of Wayne Theibaud just because his visual treatment is so different.

Contact the gallery for a copy and get yours now. $30 bucks.

David Park, "Figures in a Landscape", 1953, oil on canvas, 29 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches, courtesy of John Berggruen Gallery

Catalogue - "Amy Sillman: Third Person Singular"

2009-01-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

2nd entry for catalogue fever.

"Amy Sillman - Third Person Singular" at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution.

Note: If, like me, you're on the west coast (and, like me, unable to have seen this particular exhibition of works), New York painter Amy Sillman is currently one of six contemporary painters in "Oranges and Sardines" at Hammer Museum. Go see it if you get the chance, it's up until February 8.

The catalogue for "Third Person Singular" is a 7" x 9" hardcover edition with full color plates, and contains an interview between the artist and Ian Berry, and an essay by Anne Ellegood. The reproduction and page quality is really nice.

Her paintings are honest, with little dogma, and a nice variation on the concerns of abstract expressionism. There is history, decision-making, and discovery. I just feel like looking at a painting should be a journey that takes the viewer through the various intellectual and physical processes of the artist. This is her expressing with paint what words cannot do.

Oddly enough, I'm glad I chose this one over the catalogue for "Oranges and Sardines". It just seemed like the better choice...
Check www.si.edu to get your copy.

Amy Sillman, "S", 2007, Courtesy Smithsonian Institute

Catalogue - "Gerhard Richter: Paintings from Private Collections"

2009-01-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

I'm becoming an exhibition catalogue fiend. I'm even starting to like them a little more than the big-fat monographs and surveys. In four upcoming blog entries I will talk about the catalogues (current and past) that I've scooped up recently:

"Gerhard Richter - Paintings From Private Collections", Hatje Cantz leans a little closer to being a monograph that accompanies an exhibition. There are over 80 works spanning 40 years of the artist's career. There are essays by Gotz Adriani and Dieter Schwartz. I don't think this exhibit (which judging from the catalogue looks remarkable) will travel to the US, but we should keep our eyes open (and please correct me if I'm wrong). Even though there are some Richter paintings that I am totally annoyed by, they are all valid in the realm of contemporary painting, and then there are enough that are absolutely fantastic! Hey, my opinion is based on my own criteria for liking a painting, so it's all open for discussion, and I do appreciate comments.

Hardcover, 7.5 x 11.25 in. / 184 pgs / 105 color / 14 b&w.
Distributed by D.A.P. Check your local artist bookstores and museum stores, or check back with us at Rowan Morrison, I'm thinking of ordering a few...

Cover image courtesy of D.A.P

Apenest Volume 2

2008-11-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

Apenest is an experimental publishing/printmaking project run by Cody Hoyt and Brian Willmont. They've published several print editions, as well two volumes of full color group art publications. The latest offering, Apenest Volume Two, is a tremendous compendium of contemporary artists and illustrators. Printed large (9.75" x 12"), thick (208 pages) and bright with lots of extras like stickers and postcard inserts, a slipcover, and a large offset print, Apenest is a steal with a retail price of $30. With a limited run of only 1000 copies, I contacted Mr. Willmont to find out just exactly what he knew that the rest of us didn't. It turns out that each artist involved donates an original to a portfolio that is then sold help cover the printing costs... an idea so simple and effective that I wish I had thought of it myself. Brian was nice enough to answer some questions for the Rowan Morrison Art Books blog.

Here is our interview:

How did Apenest get started? How much pre-planning and investment was involved and how much just evolved “organically”?

Cody and I were printmaking majors at MassArt together, we were already involved in a collective called “drawing club” with which we had done a small artist book with b+w and color photocopy and silkscreen. We got really into the book-making project so we decided to do something impossibly big (for us at least). It pretty much evolved organically from there, we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but I think its better that way. It’s a lot of work and who knows if we would have done it if we had known, I hadn’t even heard of InDesign at that point! We actually started making T shirts at first because we thought we’d make enough money for printing!

What is up with the name “Apenest”?

I like the name a lot; I think it implies community, that we’re all in this together. We actually made a huge list of names and wrote them on a blackboard, then we called everyone we knew and asked them to vote, it was a democratic process and I think the best name won!

How are artists selected for the books and prints? Is there a submission process?

We hand select our artists, many are friends and the rest we’ve admired from afar. We’ve only accepted one submission so far, though we love getting artist submissions, we’re pretty particular.

The work in vol. 2 is pretty diverse... Are there any overall themes that were intended or later discovered? Are there types of art you are drawn to more than others?

We seem to gravitate toward graphic work in general, the types of pictures that can grab you immediately but don’t let go as they’re layers unravel.

Have you had any problems with any artists, legally or otherwise?

I think that with anything to do with art, you just have to believe in what you are doing 100% and you can’t let anything bring you down. We’ve had our share of people that we were relying on fuck us over, but we’ve been resourceful and everything has turned out better because of it. You have to roll with the punches, and if you want to get anything done you’ve got to do it yourself. Forgetting the problems helps too.

Where is the book printed and what was the process for finding a full color printer?

Our first book was printed by Thomson Press in India, we picked up a copy of “ZING Magazine” because we liked the look, I don’t remember if it had noted the printer or if we contacted them to find out. We ended up have ridiculous problems including strikes on the peir’s in India, customs holding up the book and then homeland security abducting it afterwards. It sucked.

The second book was Printed at ‘Shanghai Tenth Printing Factory Co. LTD.’ In China. My brother lives in Shanghai and hooked us up with his friend who is a print broker, this helped us a lot because he was willing to answer tons of questions and give us tons of quotes for all the different ideas we had.

It’s really important to shop around and get quotes from different companies, prices for different setups can vary a lot from printer to printer.

How has the project worked out financially? Is the selling of a portfolio to offset costs working thus far? Basically, how’s business?

The portfolio works great, it allows us to combine all of our resources and produce something way bigger and better and more affordable than we would be able to come close with otherwise. The portfolio for just the base price of printing, all of the import fees, taxes, posters and stickers that come with the book are paid for by a combination of proceeds from the first book (or in its case the proceeds from t shirts) and the design work we do. I'm not sure if we’re set up to make any money, our primary concern is making the next one way better and more involved that the previous. We’re still going and growing and we aren’t paying for it out of our own pockets anymore, that’s a good sign I think.

Is vol. 3 in the works or any other projects?

We just finished a Bill Dunlap print and an Apenest print that we’re really excited about. We have a couple of prints in the works and ideas for smaller books that might come before Vol. 3. We’re getting ready to begin Vol.3 and will be looking for new collectors who might be interested in the project.

We’re really excited about publishing prints, the whole idea behind making a book was the notion of the accessibility of art and I think that prints are the other side of the coin.

We curated our first gallery show this spring at Iceberger Gallery in San Francisco. It was a still life show called ‘Sunday Painting’, that was really fun and hopefully we’ll be doing more soon!

Any general (or specific) advice for folks looking to self-publish an art book? Any advice for artists wanted to get work published by others?

Find money, that’s the hardest part and without it you can’t do a whole lot, so don’t put something together and then go looking for money, it might take a while. Also a book can be anything, get resourceful and use a variety of printing methods to cut cost as well as increase the awesomeness of the book. Photocopy, silkscreen, digital printing, rubber stamps, stencils, and hand drawn elements are all great fun.

As far as getting published goes, I really don’t know. Be polite, don’t make anyone work to see your art, and don’t ask how to send a submission, just send it. People get a lot of email and have little patience so the best thing to do is get yourself a website, blog, or flicker and just introduce yourself, tell them you think they (they’re publication, gallery, whatever) are awesome and send a link.

If you could be any Star Wars character, who would you be and why?

I’ve got my own Jedi mind tricks….

----

Thanks to Brian for taking the time to answer my questions. If your burning thirst for more Apenest info has yet to be quenched, check out this awesome Apenest interview recently posted over at Beautiful / Decay.

Obviously, you can purchase Apenest Vol. 2 at the Rowan Morrison online bookstore. You can also get it right on tap over at apenest.com. They also have Volume 1, lots of prints, and even more info.

Oh yeah, I should probably at least list the artists who have work in Apenest Volume 2. Some of them even have little interviews or artist statements.

John Copeland, Denise Kupferschmidt, Justin B Williams, Sophia Dixon, Bill Dunlap, Corey Arnold, Andrew Schoultz, Joseph Hart, Cody Hoyt, Paul Wackers, Grimaldi Baez, Brian Willmont, Corey Corcoran, Fighting, Mark Chariker, Eddie Martinez, Jeremy + Claire Weiss, Anthony Sobiech, Elton Lovelace, Zac Scheinbaum, Deep Slumber Lake, Whitney Claflin, Eric Saline, Meghan Tomeo, Chris Wawrinofsky, Travis Neel, Rebecca Gordon, Suzy Coady, and Alex Lukas

Raymond Pettibon - The Pages That Contain Truth Are Blank

2008-11-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

Raymond Pettibon – The Pages Which Contain Truth Are Blank

review by Paul Sweitzer

I first encountered Raymond Pettibon’s art through Black Flag record covers and flyers for old LA punk shows, and was always a fan of these drawings. Its only been in the last few years I’ve started encountering a larger body of his work and have been getting pretty excited to learn more about him and the influences behind his drawings.

For anyone who has only seen a portion of his works, it is impressive to see what a range of styles he has and how prolific his work is outside of the context I was familiar with him in.

The work featured in this book shows off the entire range of Pettibon’s work, featuring his drawings of baseball, surfing, and trains in addition to his more classic dark comic-like drawings. Seeing all of these together gave me a bigger appreciation for how influential Pettibon’s vision was on the culture of the late 80s and early 90s music scenes, as many of the drawings embody the cynicism and black humor of Generation X.

One of my favorite parts of this book is that it features two different essays exploring the meanings and influences behind Pettibon’s art. Since this book was first published in Germany, the first essay is written with a big focus on explaining the references to southern Californian culture to an audience that didn’t grow up inundated by this vision. This perspective gives the work a really interesting distance, and it’s fascinating to see how Pettibon’s work is made relevant to a completely separate culture than the one it inundates.

The second essay, by Luca Beatrice offers a somewhat more familiar perspective on Pettibon’s work that focuses on his place related to pop artists. Beatrice links Pettibon with icons Andy Warhol, John Cage, and Kim Gordon as a visionary part of modern American art and culture.

Featuring 136 plates as well as two essays exploring themes in Pettibon’s work and his place in the art world and American underground icon. The Pages Which Contain Truth Are Blank offers an insightful analysis of Pettibon’s body of work and is great as both an introduction to his art and as a further analysis for people who are already fans.

The last copy of this book is currently available in the Rowan Morrison online artist's bookstore for $26 plus shipping costs. Click here.

You can check out the online review of Raymond Pettibon: the Books 1978-98 here.

Scarecrow

2008-10-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

Yes! After many months of talking and several more months of planning and a few trips to the printers shop to ask dumb questions and then only a few weeks of drawing but then a few more months designing and printing and here it is:

Scarecrow, the new artist's book from John Casey. 64 pages of unseen drawings from the center of the subconscious. Published right here at Rowan Morrison!

Casey’s drawings are a carnival of the grotesque, depicting human bodies deformed by their own inner emotions. Inspired by his own fascination with “fictitious human morphology” and the expression of his inner psyche, Casey’s work exists as a study of how we might look if our physical state reflected our emotional one.

John Casey’s work have been exhibited in the Bay Area in the DeYoung Collection, Swarm Gallery, SFMOMA Artist’s Gallery, and the di Rosa Preserve, as well as in Miami, Los Angeles, Nashville, Seattle and Berlin.

Scarecrow is printed with black and rust-red soy inks onto 100% recycled natural toned papers. There are also several secret "ghost" pages which are printed with silver ink on black papers that look just gorgeous. The book is 6" x 9", has an introductory essay by James Kaufmann, perfect binding (with animal-free adhesives), and is an edition of only 500 copies. Printed and bound at 1984.

It gets even better... each book is hand numbered and signed by the artist himself. And thanks to our powerful influence over the publishing industry, this bad boy is available at a reasonable retail price of only $20. Wholesale terms available.

Scarecrow gets unleashed on Devil's Night, October 30th, and to celebrate we are having a book release party right here at Rowan Morrison in Oakland and you are invited. John will be showcasing some original drawings from the book, as well as answering your oddball requests and signing books. That's 7-10pm at Rowan Morrison Gallery (330 40th St.) in Oakland, CA. As always, this event is free. There will be candy.

If you can't make it to the event, you should be ashamed, but you can still get your copy of Scarecrow on the Rowan Morrison website. Click the John Casey Scarecrow link here to get more info about the book, see more images, and order your copy (we are already taking pre-orders now).

John Casey's blog: bunnywax.com

Some recent press about Scarecrow on:

Book By Its Cover - The World's Best Ever - Little Paper Planes blog

Special Blend #14

2008-09-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Long before he rocked my foundation with his amazing book of papercuts, my little Japanese pal, Ryohei Tanaka, has been making crazy art zines that can hardly contain his astronomical creative prowess. Dating back into the late 1990s, Ryohei has been self-publishing his comic strips, prints, poems, observations, sketches, found art, and writings as zines and editions. Luckily, I've been on his bandwagon from the day I met him and have been entertained by his artwork for half of my life.

During his final few years of art school in Northern California, Ryohei published a series of about 10 issues of Special Blend zine over the course of about 12 weeks. Each little zine was made from a single sheet of paper, cut and folded to make 8 action packed pages. If you ever see these anywhere, get them.

Following his graduation, he was able to snap off three more issues in the following 3 years, but these were much larger in size, page count, and ambition. These bigger issues of Special Blend featured the artwork of friends, lots of writing in both English and Japanese, and the never-ending torrent of sketches and comics coming from his own pen.

It all culminated in March of 2003 with the Special Blend art exhibit at Gallery AD in San Jose and the amazing issue #13. Then Ryohei moved back to Tokyo.

Ryohei continued his prolific creative output in Japan, release several new one-page-into-8-pages zines called Good Flat Communication and focusing on his papercut artwork and T-shirt printing. All was good.

Then, in August of 2008, Ryohei returned to the United States to participate in the epic You Only Excist Because of Us art show at Giant Robot in SF. During his two weeks preparing for the show and camping out in various couches and studios, Ryohei not only made more amazing artwork than I could in a year, he also dropped a special treat on us... Special Blend #14.

Special Blend #14 picks-up right where we left off with lots of artwork to make you jealous. There are papercuts that are even more amazing than the amazing ones from before (made even more outstanding once you have seen him cut one out in just a few minutes), caricatures from popular movies, excerpts from recent sketchbooks with drawings of family members and friends, lots of "Engrish" from Japanese packaging, and some rather twisted and disturbing comic strips involving defecation and superheros. Oh yeah, and, my personal favorite, pictures of things in the street that look life robot faces!

Ryohei only made 50 of these zines for release in the US. Most were given away or sold at the Giant Robot show, but there are still a few copies available while supplies last from us here at Rowan Morrison. Only 5 bucks. Signed by the artist. Special Blend is what zines are all about.

Click this link to purchase Special Blend #14 from Rowan Morrison

Click this link to check out Ryohei Tanaka's website

David Schnell, Tom McGrath & Dan McCarthy

2008-07-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

We apologize for the missing photos... we're working on finding them.

My name is Narangkar Glover and I am a painter in Oakland. I'm the one who's responsible for most of the painting books that we carry in our Art Books Store. In this entry I review three different catalogues by contemporary painters, and give you my response to each. It's hard for me as an artist to separate the "book" from the art within the book. What's more important? Or is the wholeness of it that should speak to the owner - the combined efforts of the images (the work), the writing, and the design? Personally, when I open an exhibition catalogue, I usually skip past all the art speak and get to the good stuff: the plates, so a big concern is whether the work has been well reproduced.

The catalogue for "Hover" by David Schnell is one of my favorites from the vast inventory of D.A.P. catalogues, and was published by Hatje Cantz.

It's a soft bound, glossy cover book that measures about 9.5" x 13". The first few pages of text consist of several rather concise essays in a variety of languages, or the same essay translated a few times (I can't really tell, but think is cool). Every essay is demarcated with a different fluorescent colored paper ... very design-y ... which I like. Then you get plate after plate of high quality reproductions of his paintings, which are sort of like colorfully abstracted exercises in linear perspective - and very well executed ones at that. Schnell is one of the Liepzig School, contemporary painting's forerunners in art today - and I think I recall seeing a bunch of the Leipzig painting at the Saatchi Gallery in '05. Painting students are going hog-wild for this style of work, and suffice to say, are deriving the shit out of it. Nonetheless, I can't even help but be influenced by Schnell's balance between finely measured and rendered linear perspective (but not in a literal or pictoral sense), and his loose, colorful, and dynamic paint handling, history and decision making. If you are a painter alive today, even if you want to reject his "system", I recommend this book.

Next up is "Tom McGrath: Paintings 2002-2007" published by the Zach Feuer Gallery.

It's a hard cover, cloth bound book measuring about 8" x 10" (landscape). The opening essay by Robert Hobbs, and Art Historian, is like eleven pages long and totally skip-worthy, unless you are a total whore for absorbing every iota of art writing (why?). Each page has one plate, very well reproduced, and no text. The accompanying list is at the back of the book with another, far more concise essay by artist Kevin Zucker, and it's more anecdotal, and therefore more fun to read. And that's about it, book-wise. McGrath's work is compelling in this catalogue. His paintings are painterly renderings of American landscapes taken from the POV of a car windsheild drenched in rain: abstracted surface, yet depicting or alluding to some pictoral scene. But then I'm thrown off by the last three night-time landscape paintings of city lights from atop a hill, which have nothing to do with the car series, and are not as good of reproductions either. But rather than try to make sense of it, I'll move on... Again, a good catalogue if you are a fan of contemporary painting.

... On to a book titled "Dan McCarthy", presented by Anton Kern Gallery and published by The Journal Books.

This is a thick and comprehensive monograph of McCarthy's work to date. Again, the plates are gorgeous reproductions. His paintings are loose and thinly layered washes depicting "statuesque" and often grotesque figures upon rather blank fields, and look to be at first glance, water media on vellum, but are indeed oil on canvas. I think he's expressing a pretty ubiquitus contemporary painting style, where the figure is illustrative and has an ironic hint, rather than expressive, gestural or personal. I think a lot of young painters today derive not only their working style from this formula, but their subject matter as well. There are some images I prefer, and these are in the category of "statuesque", like San Blas Commune (cover), Race, and North/East. All in all, not being a huge fan of "tongue-in-cheek", "nostalgia", or "symbolism", or the use of the phrase "not of this world", I withdraw from alot of the work after reading the accompanying essay by Nick Stillman. It's about eight pages long, consisting mostly of dropped references and quotes, which for me, is circumventing the REAL purpose at hand, which is what, I'm not sure - something along the lines of a commentary on hippie culture? I'm going to go ahead and pass this along to my friend Jacob Tillman, who was just here a minute ago.

We don't actually carry any of these books, but they can be found in a myriad of ways, most easily from the DAP website. Until then, go to our website for stuff we DO carry. I do hope to begin to carry DAP's Painting People: Figure Painting Today soon. Thanks for reading!

Paintings in Art Books; Paintings of Art Books

2008-06-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

I used to have a subscription to New American Paintings. For those not familiar, New American Paintings is a juried exhibition in book form, released bi-monthly, and published by Open Studios Press. Each issue is for a different US region and contains 3 works from about (or exactly) 40 artists. While mostly of paintings, other works of art such as drawings, prints, and installation images are also eligible. Each issue costs $20.

I say I "used to have a subscription" because after a few years I got bored with it. While each issue shows a very diverse set of works, I have come to realize that each issue shows the same diverse set of works. That is to say, you are going to get 10 abstract artists, 6 figurative artists, 4 installation artists, 5 illustrators, 2 people who paint landscapes, 1 textile artist, 1 Ed Ruscha wanna-be, and so on. The pattern was remarkably obvious and surprising considering each issue is juried be a different person. After a few years I let the subscription expire.

So one day, while needing to create shelf space, I decided to cut out all the artwork I really liked, put it in a binder, and give most of my New American Paintings collection away. The one issue I kept completely intact was 2004's Number 49, the Pacific Coast issue. The main reason I kept it was the work of Donald Bradford, a painter and professor at the University of California Extension, San Francisco.

Donald's acrylic and oil paintings in the book were delicately rendered images of... art books. Presented opened with foreshortened perspective, these paintings were some of the first I have seen to incorporate art publishing and its connection to artists and art history. The paintings are both clever, personal, and celebratory.

Donald has also done painting series of art book stacks, art books and cards, floral designs, and other ephemera from his studio bulletin board. I think it represents an artist's connection to not only the images that inspire them, but the actual, tangible vessels of these images... books, cards, and printed matter.

What I really liked was the statement to go with Donald Bradford's paintings:
"I recently drove from the Bay Area to Los Angeles to see a couple of major museum shows that featured two of my favorite artists. I found the work incredibly moving. But what excited me just as much was the thought of buying the two hard-bound catalogues and taking them back home where I could flip back and forth between the images and their detail shots and read about the artists' thoughts and processes. I love looking at books."

Donald Bradford's artwork can be found on his website: donaldbradfordart.com

Honey Pool

2008-05-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

I know I've said it before, but it really can't be said too many times... Mel Kadel is the bee's knees. And while the growing demand for her original works on paper are rapidly pricing her artwork out of our hands, you can still get your grubby mitts on some handmade Kadel goodness for less than a case of imported beer. But you had better get on it quick because the Mel bandwagon is getting pretty packed.

Honey Pool is the follow-up to last year's blockbuster, Rough Cookie, and much like The Empire Strikes Back to Star Wars, this sequel amazingly tops an already legendary original. Similar to Rough Cookie in many regards, Honey Pool features 40 pages of Mel Kadel's beautiful pen and ink artwork on coffee-soaked papers. Both figurative and decorative, this book is hand printed by the artist herself in full color on coffee-soaked paper, with a 4-color screenprinted cover. Each book is signed by the artist and limited to a first (and I believe only) edition of 100.

All of my glowing praise of Rough Cookie (read the review here), applies to Honey Pool, only even more so. The amount of labor that went into the construction of this book, not to mention the artwork it features, is just staggering. The fact that it is being sold for only $24 is ridiculous. I sincerely hope that Mel never wises-up and starts to charge and appropriate amount for her publications, cuz I'm hooked and I would surely pay whatever she asked.

You basically only have one chance to own this book, and that is right here and right now. We here at Rowan Morrison have been fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to sell about a fifth of the edition of Honey Pool... and we are just about sold out. We have, like, two copies left. So if you happen to be reading this and I haven't updated it to say, "Sorry, sold out", yet, then you are one lucky person. Click this link to own your copy of Honey Pool! $24 plus shipping. -Sorry, sold out-

And if you are a real Kadel fan and not just some poser, you will also want to own her limited edition serigraph, "Power Like A Flower", offered exclusively from Rowan Morrison. This is an edition of 100, signed and numbered by the artist. These won't be reprinted so get on it. $20 plus shipping, or buy 'em both from the Rowan Morrison online art bookstore and combine the shipping, yo!

Bad Asses

2008-04-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

I recently got a fat pack of books from the folks over at Blue-Q, a company mostly known for making bacon air-fresheners and magnets of cats' butts. They have launched a pretty wide line of small-in-size art and photography books that range in price from $4 to $8 each. Not bad. Just at a glance it was easy to see that Mark Todd's Bad Asses was the cream of the crop.

Originally self-published as photocopied, 14-page zines (called Bad Ass's), this 104-page masterpiece is printed in black with red and brown highlights and shadows. The only thing soft about this book is the cover. It features portraits of heavy dudes, chicks, and cars from television, film, comics, music, and sports (well, ok, pro wrestling). Each drawing is accompanied by a little bit of text somehow relating to the subject.

Quickly, off the top of your head, think of a Bad Ass...
Chuck Norris - he's here. Pam Grier - she's in there. Rambo - right there. Jo from the Facts of Life - no problem. Darth Vader - yup. Johnny Cash - page one, motherfucker.
Almost all of your favorites are here: Bigfoot (the monster truck, not the creature), Mr. T, Skeletor, Lita Ford, Robocop, the Batmobile, Bruce Lee, Wonder Woman, Miss Piggy, and the DeLorean from Back to the Future.

If you are looking for spot-on renderings and anatomical correctness, you should get as far away from this book as possible. Mark Todd has created a very successful illustration career from "drawing badly" and this book highlights the charm and hilarity created from crude likenesses. Strangely, the selections within "Bad Ass Rides" are pretty well drawn. I find cars hard to draw so this kinda surprised me a bit.

What sets this publication atop the huge, huge pile of crudely drawn artworks (so hot right now) is the little tidbits of writing to go with each Bad Ass. Sometime they are simple descriptions or quotes from the films that feature each characters, and other times they are little personal anecdotes from Mark Todd's interaction with the character. Such as the first time he heard a Blondie song (to go with Bad Ass Debbie Harry), or how he used the cape from his Darth Vader costume as a kid to dress up as Dracula the next year.
Even better are Mark's opinionated commentary on some of the featured characters, such as labelling the Flying Monkeys from the Wizard of Oz as "total assholes". Or writing of K.I.T.T. (the car from Knight Rider), "That voice was kind of annoying. So smug. 'Michael' this, 'Michael' that."

So, yeah, Mark Todd's book, Bad Asses, is, well, bad ass.

Links: Mark Todd's Website - order the original zines here - order the book on Amazon here

The Americans

2008-03-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

I really don't know how to judge a photograph beyond the instincts of "what I like" and "what I don't like". Though several Intro to Photography classes in both high school and college (as well as a degree in film/video) have given me a basic understanding of exposure, printing, contrast, and composition, I am still at a loss to explain what makes a good photo. I am even more puzzled when presented with what has been declared a great photograph that I just can't connect with. Certainly there is something more... more than subject matter, more than when things are printed correctly, or intentionally incorrectly. There is a connection that I cannot grasp that makes a photograph pleasing and provoking. And then there are images that are important (whether these qualifications lie within subject matter or technique or both is not for me to say). Things really get exciting when the importance of a photograph is in harmony with this unspeakable connection. It all feels right.

In 1955, fashion photographer and photojournalist Robert Frank received a grant from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to travel the US and photograph its citizen and society from all angles. With his wife and two children alongside for part of the journey, Frank traveled continuously for two years, capturing almost 30,000 pictures (83 of which made the exhibition and publication). Upon returning to New York in 1957, Frank befriended Beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, who shared similar experiences of rambling travel across the United States and a unpolished presentation of the cultural American landscape.

Originally finding it difficult to get a publisher (it was published in Paris in 1958 before a US edition in 59), Frank's association with the Beats and Kerouac's introduction to the US edition helped the work gain widespread popularity despite harsh criticism of the work as "sloppy", "muddy", and "drunken". It has gone on to be considered a giant step forward in raw journalistic photography and has become the most popular photography book of all time.

The Americans has been reprinted in different editions many times, the latest being the deluxe 50th Anniversary Edition from publisher Gerhard Steidl. It uses modern scanning and tritone printing techniques. Some of the images are cropped a little wider in this edition as well. And, apparently, two images have been switched out entirely. The original Kerouac introduction is again presented. This book will be released in June in conjunction with the new tour of The Americans photo exhibit (coming to SFMOMA in mid-2009).

I must say that many of these images strike me visually and powerfully beyond their subjects and context. Often in much darkness and hazy focus, the architecture and portraits do seem truly American and offer a counterpoint to the antiseptic portrayal of Americans in the 1950s. While this sub-genre of "honest, ugly portraiture" has become the norm with contemporary young photographers, I can imagine how amazingly fresh and brutal this work seemed 50 years ago. The Kerouac essay is some classic Beat ramblings, which I enjoy. Like I've said, I don't really know why a photo works for me but this book definitely feels good without beeing "feel-good".

Special thanks to the folks at D.A.P. for flowing me a press copy of this edition for this review. There is a great essay on The Americans by Brian Appel over at artcritical.com. The images in this review were taken digitally by me from my copy of the book, so don't judge the photographs by them.

the Bloom Screenprinted Journal

2008-02-22T17:16:00.001-08:00

For me, the little details make a big difference. I can spot an offset print in a pile of Xeroxes a mile off. I immediately noticed when skate deck graphics started being applied with heat transfers instead of screenprinting (it was back around 2000), and I can tell the difference between super8, 16mm, and 35mm film (and video, of course) at a glance. And don't even get me started on optically printed vs authentically captured slow motion (am I alone on this one?!?). So when I first spied a box of these bad boys on the floor at Bloom Press in Oakland, I knew I'd struck gold.

Technically, this publication has no title. It occupies that foggy landscape between zine and journal and art book and book-as-art. It is only knowing that its creator, Nat Swope, encourages us to contribute to the book with our own images and writings that I designated it the Bloom Screenprinted Journal, although I don't think that title really does it justice.

What few constants there are in this publication are that it is 5.5" x 8.5", about 40 pages, saddle bound, with quality paper covers and a custom embossed Bloom logo. Within those boundaries, the content of each copy of the journal is a seemingly random mix of multi and single color screenprinted artwork, photocopied art, skateboard photos, found ledger and graph paper, vintage newspaper classified ads, various colors and textures of paper, portions of serigraph tests and misprints, political posters, completely blank pages, and other tasty treats. No two journals are even close to being the same.

Nat spent many years screenprinting the T-shirts for most of your favorite bands before he struck out on his own seven or so years ago to start a sticker, poster, and fine art screenprinting company, Bloom Press. Bloom is know for its service and proficient craftsmanship, so the quality of the journals surpasses many mass-produced papergoods. Nat also notices and cares about the details.

You are lucky to even get a silkscreen cover these days, so to have a book like this that features bold, multi colored, screenprinted artwork throughout is a real treat. It is hard to sum it up with just a few photos since each spread of each book is unlike another. Even the covers are unique.

The big finish is that the Bloom Screenprinted Journal is only five bucks. Only somebody running an awesome printing business could price these so low. You can order your copy from the Rowan Morrison online shop here. One will be sent at random and it may or may not feature some or none of the images in this blog, but they are all awesome. If you live in the Bay Area you can browse the batch of them in person in the gallery. Or, contact the master over at Bloom Press to order directly. I bought 3 of 'em.

Bad Teeth Books 5 - Draw Some More

2008-01-30T13:46:00.000-08:00

Glenn over at Bad Teeth Comics now has the esteemed distinction of being the first person to contact me about submitting an independent art book to the Rowan Morrison Art Books Blog and then actually following-up and sending me the book. This feat is made all the more impressive as it was originated halfway around the Earth from the marsupial producing country/continent of Australia. While I couldn't guarantee that I would like what was being sent to me, I have total support for anybody putting there work out there on their own. Like I've said, "Bad art is better than no art". And, I have even more respect for anybody willing to flow me some free goods.

Luckily, Draw Some More, the 5th book from Bad Teeth, is neither "bad art" or "no art" and is quite easy to enjoy. It presents a broad creative vision incorporating comic strips, pop-culture video stills, snapshot photographs, art installation views, graffiti photos, original fine art, skateboarding, and other tasty tidbits. While the mix of subjects and mediums might initially seem a bit disconnected from each other, the more time I spent with this book the more cohesive a vision it became. A portrait of an artist, his influences, and the subsequent expressions began to emerge. Most importantly, it was a vision I could relate to. I feel like I've been drawing from the same collected, popular influences... comic books, skateboarding, hipster art, video games, sarcasm, the movies of my youth (Nightmare on Elm Street, Robocop, Goonies...), partying, and junk food. This connection is all the more pleasing when I consider this artist and I have lived on opposite ends of the planet.

However much I might understand these inputs, I still feel this book presents an undeveloped statement. It has all the exciting rawness and excitement of a young artist, but it lacks the refined vision and thoughtful craftsmanship of experience. The artistic mediums represented in the book (street art, pop reference, party photos, comic strips) don't really support one another. Someone without a context of the wider scope of "hipster art" would get lost pretty fast. When any artist puts it ALL out there, the danger of being viewed as a "jack-of-all-trades, yet master of none" is present.

In my opinion, the weakest link in the book is the Hamburger Eyes-esque photographs. Maybe it is just me, but I've seen all these photos before. Someone puking... check. Someone tagging... check. Ugly old person in public... check. Tattooed hardcore singer on stage... check. I think the overall book would have been stronger without these, but maybe it's just me getting bored with that stuff.

The object itself is 5.5" x 8", 100 pages, perfect bound, black and white (with color cover), printed on various tinted papers, with most pages either being full-page or bisected into two images. Other than web links, there is no publication data or writing at all. I would have preferred straight-up white paper, and maybe an edition numbering, but that is just me nit-picking. My interweb research has come up with a retail price of $15, but I don't know if that is in US greenbacks or Oz-dollars (AKA dollaradoos), and what the difference would be either way.

In summary, Draw Some More stands tall in the world of art zines and is a fun and fascinating work from a young artist working in a lot of mediums. I look forward to seeing the evolution (and hopefully some refinement) in the Bad Teeth books series (the next one is already in the works and slated for a mid-2008 release). Unless it has a picture of some dude in a hotel room with a bunch of cash fanned out on the bed in front of him... in that case I'm over it. Let this book inspire you to stop waiting for whatever it is you are waiting for and put your art out there. Hell yeah.

Order your own copy of this and some other Bad Teeth books and products at the Bad Teeth web store.

other links for Bad Teeth Comics: website - myspace - blog

EC Horror part 2 - The Vault of Horror

2008-01-23T15:34:00.000-08:00

In 1977, with the debut of the Complete Weird Science, Russ Cochran began publishing a series of deluxe reprints of the entire EC Library of New Trend (Horror, Suspense, and Crime comics from 1950-1955) as well as New Direction (1955-56) and some of the Pre-Tend comic books. 29 Years later, in 2006, with the release of The Complete Picto-Fiction, the series was finally completed in 2006.

Every issue from every title was presented chronologically in 2 to 5 volumes of smyth-sewn bound hardcover editions. The volumes are all compiled in a handsome hardboard slip case with color printing. Gorgeous. Each page is reproduced directly from the original artwork when possible, which was often thanks to the extensive preservation and storage by Cochran's friend and partner, EC Publisher William Gains. The artwork was presented in oversized black and white, which reveals the details and nuances of the amazing line work of contrast of the art. The stories and editorial essays are printed on crisp art-quality paper stock with the covers for each issues in full color on glossy paper. Each set originally sold for around $100 each, I believe.

Ever the fan of the EC Horror comics (I had been buying the Gladstone and Russ Cochran Publishing newsstand reprints since I was 13 years old), I impulsively sprang on an online auction for a used set of the Complete EC Library edition of The Vault of Horror. No regrets at all on this one. A bit faded (especially volume 3) on the covers, the pages are pristine and for under $150 bucks.

Compiled in the set are all 29 issues (#12-40 (the numbering continued from the previously titled War Against Crime)) of the Vault of Horror, each with cover artwork and one story by Johnny Craig. All the EC Horror Ghoulunatic characters (aka the Cryptkeeper, etc.) are present, and the ultra-talented stable of EC artists are at the top the game. The books are durable for re-reading, and the narratives still pack a punch half a century after being first published. There are even adapted tales from author Ray Bradbury.

As bold and beautify as the black and white reproductions are, I can't help but miss the colors of the original comics. Apparently Russ Cochran agrees because he and Gemstone publishing are currently in the process of printing the hardcover EC Archives again, but this time in full color. My other beef is with the editorial essays from various comic historians. I found these to be a bit over-literate and abstract for my taste. Once again, the new EC Archive books being currently created feature writing from modern creative celebrities like Spielberg, John Carpenter, and George A Romero.

I really can't recommend the entire EC New Trend comics enough. Even the Science-Fiction ones are all right. You can find back issues of the 1990s newsstand reprints of most of these titles for as little as one or two bucks each. Many agree that they are one of the crowning achievements of the medium. And they are gory and violent as all hell.

Read On:
Russ Cochran interview about the new EC Archives
Details and ordering of the Complete EC Library ($700 for Vault!)
My previous Blog about the Tales From the Crypt Official Archives book and EC's history