Since its release in 2011, “D.E.S.I.G.N.,” by Polish author Ewa Solarz has enchanted kids and the design-minded parents who read it to them. “I keep on hearing that D.E.S.I.G.N. is someone’s children’s favorite book,” says Solarz. “It might be that children simply like to know different things. Design is…
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Classified as a Surrealist, American artist Joesph Cornell is best known not for his abilities as a painter or a sculptor but as a collector. Cornell took pleasure in the hunt and liked to spend his time scouring secondhand shops for books, faded photographs and other small treasures—which he…
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by Vivianne Lapointe A graduate of the Academy of Art in San Francisco, Corey Arnold has been fishing for about as long as he’s been taking photos. Every summer Arnold runs a commercial salmon fishing boat in Bristol Bay, Alaska, obsessively documenting the grueling nature of “fish-work” with an unrivaled…
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Our crafternoon with stencil-guru Ed Roth and his new style-focused book
Drawn to stenciling years ago as affordable form of art, stencil artist Ed Roth is now an industry wizard, applying his chosen medium to everything from postcards to rugs. Roth, a talented artist and natural teacher, recently stopped by CH HQ for a fulfilled crafternoon using the stencils from…
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The cultural significance of this widespread medium condensed in a fascinating new book
Since its genesis in 1839, photography itself has evolved tremendously as a medium, with the very essence of its output forging culturally significant technological, social and artistic movements. In Prestel’s new visually compelling tome, “Photography: The Whole Story,” editor Juliet Hackering and her team tackle the daunting task of…
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Reflecting on pin-up photography’s hottest femme fatale
In a time of rampant racism and sexism, before the word feminism had entered the American lexicon, there was a culture of taboo surrounding scantily clad pin-up girls that was dominated by men with cameras. In a scenario where women were always on one side the lens, an industrious…
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Berlin’s leading design book shop welcomes world renowned illustrator Olaf Hajek and more
As ardent readers of Gestalten‘s stellar art and design books, we’ve been wanting to visit their storefront, Gestalten Space, ever since it opened last year in Berlin. Tucked away in a cobblestone alley in Mitte, Gestalten Space sells the imprint’s own publications along with a well curated selection of covetable design objects, while the exhibition space in back allows for an expansion to the work of the artists and designers they publish. Demonstrating a wide scope, in April they exhibited photographs from Jorg Bruggemann’s book “Metalheads,” followed by a selection of the best new Japanese communication design from the Tokyo Art Directors Club.
Right now Gestalten is celebrating “Black Antoinette,” their second monograph by illustrator Olaf Hajek, with an exhibition that runs through July. A collection of Hajek’s work from the past three years including editorial contracts, commercial portraits and personal pieces, “Black Antoinette” continues Hajek’s visual language of colorful botanical headdresses and folkloric influences with a distinct handmade, tactile quality akin to woodblock, not seen is most contemporary illustration. The look stems from the fact that Hajek never starts his work on the computer, but with paint on paper, wood or gray board. He does use a scanner, but only to send his work to clients—never as part of his illustration process.
The new book sets itself apart from Hajek’s previous publications with a style that has become more “free and painterly,” as Gestalten puts it, and less committed to absolute perfection. “Hajek masterfully melds influences from West African and Latin American art to create surreal juxtapositions of fairy tale fantasies and disordered realities. His magical realism enriches the perspective of anyone viewing his work,” and, we’d like to add, allows him to masterfully tread the fine line between commercial illustration and fine art.”
“Black Antoinette” runs through 29 July 2012 at Gestalten Space, where you can also buy the book. Copies will be available in the US within the coming months.
Gestalten Space images by Perrin Drumm
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