Circles, Colour Structure Studies 1970/71

Bridget Riley, Circles, Colour Structure Studies 1970/71

Bridget Riley, Circles, Colour Structure Studies 1970/71
Softcover, 48 pp., offset 4/4, 245 x 260 mm
Edition of 1000
ISBN 978-1-905464-19-7
Published by Ridinghouse

$35.00 ·

This elegant, slim catalog accompanies Bridget Riley’s exhibition Circles Colour Structure: Studies 1970/71, shown at Karsten Schubert in London. This series of 22 gouaches was shown and published here for the first time, accompanied by an interview between the artist and her close friend Robert Kudielka, done in 1972, just following the creation of the works. “The studies I make have different purposes,” Riley said. “Obviously, many studies will be discarded en route to a painting, though they may still be interesting as visual statements.” A fascinating look at the process of this important artist.

Robert Holyhead

Robert Holyhead, New Paintings

Robert Holyhead, New Paintings
Softcover, 24 pp., offset 4/4, 205 x 275 mm
Edition of 1000
ISBN 978-1-905464-24-1
Published by Ridinghouse

$22.00 ·

This small but beautifuly produced exhibition catalog presents ten new paintings by the British artist Robert Holyhead. His work is marked by expanses of white ground left uncovered and traces of color at the canvas-edge where paint has been carefully removed from the surface. In dialog with Holyhead’s paintings is an in-depth essay by art historian Anna Lovatt. She discusses how the work is temporally bounded by the moment of the paint’s application and the point at which it begins to dry. Together, this group of paintings demonstrates the surprisingly diverse outcomes of this restricted situation.

Rex Reason (solid gaseous liquid synthetic)

Simon Patterson, Rex Reason (solid gaseous liquid synthetic)

Simon Patterson, Rex Reason (solid gaseous liquid synthetic)
Softcover, 116 pp., offset 5/1, 105 x 130 mm
Edition of 2000
ISBN 978-1-870699-13-6
Published by Book Works

$16.00 ·

Rex Reason presents the Periodic Table of the Elements in book form. A colour-coding system is set up (black for solids, blue for liquids and yellow synthetics) but where we might expect to find hydrogen, helium or lithium we find Yul Brynner, William Hogarth and Maria Callas. The selected names relate to the chemical symbol for each element: both letters must appear in the chosen name for example, Bertolt Brecht (Br, Bromine).

A loose logic prevails in the choice of names, for example names in red, gases, are from Greek myth or history and the yellow synthetic elements are given their proper names. However, Patterson disrupts this system with red herrings, mysteries and riddles that test the reader’s knowledge and that expose the inherent human desire to establish order and meaning.

Earth and Cave Architecture of Peter Vetsch

Erhard Wagner and Christoph Schubert-Weller, Earth and Cave Architecture of Peter Vetsch

Erhard Wagner and Christoph Schubert-Weller, Earth and Cave Architecture of Peter Vetsch
Hardcover, 136 pp., offset 4/4, 305 x 225 mm
English and German
ISBN 3-7212-0282-1
Published by Verlag Niggli

$49.00 ·

The architect Peter Vetsch of Dietikon, Switzerland is a controversial figure. No one is indifferent to him. His earth-covered-dwellings — often called “cave houses” — belong to the most highly individual, yet simplest and clearest design forms in modern architecture.

Foreword by Max Bill.

Solution 186-195: Dubai Democracy (Where Desert Dreams Come True)

Ingo Niermann, Solution 186-195: Dubai Democracy (Where Desert Dreams Come True)

Ingo Niermann, Solution 186-195: Dubai Democracy
Softcover, 128 pp., offset 3/1, 110 x 180 mm
Edition of 2000
ISBN 978-1-934105-17-7
Published by Sternberg Press

$19.00 ·

Using Dubai as a sort of modernist blank slate for urban and social renewal, author Ingo Niermann — a relentlessly creative artist whose tongue is firmly jammed into his cheek — confronts today’s most relevant cultural and technological developments with elixirs that are as pertinent as they are unbelievable. In the fifth book in the Solution series, Niermann sees Dubai, a sparsely populated piece of desert, become specialized as housing the global center for treating diabetes, called Sugar World. And the Gulf state will be Kumbaya-style universal, too, offering non-confrontational public spaces where both a state of total advertising and compulsive kindness, or what he calls a “personal humaneness account,” co-exist.

“Ingo Niermann is the author and brain behind some of the most intriguing and bizarre intellectual speculations of the last years.”

—Fabrizio Gallanti, Abitare

Four Over One

Phil Chang, Four Over One

Phil Chang, Four Over One
Hardcover, 64 pp., offset 4/1, 240 x 320 mm
Edition of 500
ISBN 978-087588720-4-9
Published by LACMA

$39.00 ·

In Four Over One, the Los Angeles based artist Phil Chang employs the format of an artists book to explore ideas of economy and obsolescence. In collaboration with designer Jonathan Maghen, Four Over One is structured around Chang’s interest in how new outcomes arise from an antagonism between perceived and actual forms of value. The photographs that appear in the book were created using expired photographic materials exposed by an archival book scanner. Through a sparse display of color, black and white, and half-tone photographs, in conjunction with a restrained typographic treatment, Four Over One employs an economy of scale in order to consider the roles of abstraction, methods of art production, and modes of distribution in our contemporary culture.

Artforum 500 Words.

Kidnapping Mountains

Slavs and Tatars, Kidnapping Mountains

Slavs and Tatars, Kidnapping Mountains
Softcover, 96 pp., offset 4/1, 20 x 26 cm
Edition of 1250
ISBN 978-1-906012-19-9
Published by Book Works

$32.00 ·

Kidnapping Mountains is a playful and informative exploration of the muscular stories, wills, and defeat inhabiting the Caucasus region. The book is comprised of two parts: an eponymous section addressing the complexity of languages and identities on the fault line of Eurasia, and Steppe by Steppe Romantics, a restoration of the region’s seemingly reactionary approaches to romance.

You Killed the Underground Film or the Real Meaning of Kunst bleibt… bleibt…

Wilhelm Hein, You Killed the Underground Film or the Real Meaning of Kunst bleibt… bleibt…

Wilhelm Hein, You Killed the Underground Film or the Real Meaning of Kunst bleibt… bleibt…
Softcover, 120 pp., offset 1/1, 150 x 210 mm
Edition of 2000
ISBN 978-3-00-020345-9
Published by Passenger Books

$25.00 ·

The texts in this book relate to Wilhelm Hein’s eponymous film project, which he has been working on since 1989. The film now comprises about 15 hours of 16mm film, in black-and-white and color. “Wilhelm Hein demands that the viewer of his film be free of any preconceived idea of cinema,” writes critic Cecile Chich in the first of two excellent essays on this epic work-in-progress. The book also includes black and white photos, a lengthy interview with the German auteur and a filmography. Includes texts by Cécile Chich and Marc Siegel, an interview with Wilhelm Hein and photographs by Annette Frick.

The Uncertain States of America Reader

Noah Horowitz and Brian Sholis, The Uncertain States of America Reader

Noah Horowitz and Brian Sholis, The Uncertain States of America Reader
Softcover, 204 pp., offset 1/1, 155 x 255 mm
Edition of 2000
ISBN 978-1-933128-21-4
Published by Sternberg Press

$35.00 ·

What do artists read? What articles, books, reviews — and cartoons, cookbooks, memoirs and film scripts — influence their work? Here are some answers from the participating artists in the Uncertain States of America exhibition in Oslo and London in 2005. This book, a companion to the exhibition catalog, is an eclectic compilation of material that gives the reader a deeper insight into the influences that created the show. From Dora Apel’s Art Journal article on Torture Culture to Giorgio Agamben’s Le Monde piece on his refusal to visit the United States because he will not allow electronic archiving of his fingerprints, this is a thought-provoking reader for our times. Contributions by Julian Stallabrass, Johanna Burton, Isabelle Graw, Andrea Fraser, Pamela M. Lee, Miwon Kwon, Matthew Jesse Jackson, Jack Bankowsky, Chris Kraus, David Barringer, Bernadette Corporation, Seth Price, Kirk Varnedoe, Tim Griffin, Ralph Rugoff, Matt Wolf, Hamza Walker, Paul Chan, Giorgio Agamben, Critical Art Ensemble, Gregory Sholette, Alan Gilbert, Robert Morris, Iain Boal, T.J. Clark, Joseph Matthews, Michael Watts, Dora Apel, Kymberly N. Pinder, Molly Nesbit, Trisha Donnelly.

Put About: A Critical Anthology on Independent Publishing

Maria Fusco and Ian Hunt, Put About: A Critical Anthology on Independent Publishing

Maria Fusco and Ian Hunt, Put About: A Critical Anthology on Independent Publishing
Softcover, 194 pp., offset 4/1, 190 x 255 mm
Edition of 2000
ISBN: 1-870699-70-X
Published by Book Works

$40.00 ·

Put About: A Critical Anthology on Independent Publishing presents a timely discussion about independent publishing and publishing by artists, focusing on books where the makers keep control of every aspect of production through to distribution. Combining an interest in what and why publishers and artists feel compelled to deliver such materials, together with the economic models, audience and networks of association that can give independent productions a wider cultural presence, this book features a broad range of written and visual pieces alongside ‘case-studies’ from a selection of contemporary international publishers. Contributors include: John Baldessari, Simon Bedwell, Michael Bracewell, Andrea Brady, Cabinet Magazine, Bonnie Camplin, Maurizio Cattelan, David Dibosa, Matthew Higgs, Stewart Home, Lucy Lippard, Emily King, Gunilla Klingberg, Jakob Kolding, John Miller, Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky, Aleksandra Mir, Stéphanie Moisdon, David Osbaldeston, Raymond Pettibon, Lynne Tillman, Nicolas Trembley, and Axel John Wieder.

Everything Must Go

Jim Shaw, Everything Must Go

Jim Shaw, Everything Must Go
Softcover, 150 pp., offset 4/1, 8.25 x 10 inches
English and French
Edition of 2000
ISBN 2-919893-23-8
Published by Smart Art Press

$25.00 ·

A survey of his career from 1974 to the present, Everything Must Go is the first catalogue to incorporate the full range of Jim Shaw’s profoundly original and idiosyncratic work. From the massive 170-piece multimedia work My Mirage to his Thrift Store Paintings, Dream Drawings, and Dream Objects, Shaw has created a fantastic visual narrative that references diverse outside sources, moments of personal history, and fragments of our collective cultural consciousness. His highly individualized “outsider” perspective has established Shaw as a seminal figure in Europe and the United States, and he has contributed significantly to the influence of Los Angeles in the international art community. Essays by Amy Gerstler, Doug Harvey, Mike Kelley, Noëllie Roussel, and Fabrice Stroun.

Falling Into Place

Heather and Ivan Morison, Falling Into Place

Heather and Ivan Morison, Falling Into Place
Softcover, 144 pp., offset 4/1, 155 x 215 mm
Edition of 1500
ISBN 978-1-906012-09-0
Published by Book Works

$30.00 ·

In this beautiful, limited-edition artist’s book, British artists Heather and Ivan Morison continue their inquiry into cultures of self-sufficiency and the topography of escape, bringing together sketches, drawings and an engrossing narrative: part science fiction, part history, part autobiography and part fairytale. The Morisons represented Wales at the 2007 Venice Biennale with their timber structures Pleasure Island and Fantasy Island, which were inspired by the hand-built shelters associated with the “back-to-the-land” movements of the ‘sixties and ‘seventies. As they write, “It got to the point where I just had to get out. That’s when I built my first escape vehicle.”

Copy

Sarah Kueng and Lovis Caputo, Copy

Sarah Kueng and Lovis Caputo, Copy
Softcover, 80 pp., offset 4/1, 195 x 260 mm
Edition of 200
ISBN 978-3-940215-07-9
Published by Passenger Books

$25.00 ·

This picture book documents how these two young Swiss product designers have copied objects seen at international design fairs over the last few years. Each of these copies is juxtaposed with the original, mostly on a double page spread. Using a precise approach, they exaggerate significant aspects of the original. In this way the dialog between the original and the copy represents an homage to the authors. Moreover, the originality of the copy shows what inspirational reading this makes. This wonderful artist book shows the Swiss duo’s incredible sense of humor besides their original vision and innovative design. An edition of 200 copies.