On view at the NY Art Books Fair. Left: J and L Books. Right: DAP.
It was heartening to see that as the publishing landscape makes room for Kindles and vooks and online magazines complete with flippable “pages,” there is still interest in beautiful, impractical artist’s books. Printed Matter, the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to publications made by artists, presented the fourth annual NY Art Book Fair, October 2-4 at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City. (more…)
World of Men, © Lou Beach 2009
Lou Beach is best known as a collage artist and illustrator whose imagery, in the tradition of Hannah Hoch, John Heartfield, and Joseph Cornell plus a good dose of René Magritte and Salvador Dali, is always witty, with a compelling narrative and aura of mystery. In my career as an art director I’ve known and collaborated with Lou for years and recently became addicted to his Facebook status updates, where he publishes snippets of original fiction. I was immediately struck by how closely his skill with words tracks to his talents as a visual artist. Some stories appear in serial format like a soap opera, others are standalone bits, and all are irresistible reads, feverish little jewels with a dark noir-ish glint. (more…)