The Printed Path

Here are a few books I have picked up in various places throughout the summer:

 

This one fascinated me following the letter press demo I was at - some great ideas

 

175 artists are profiled and 'the media, influences and themes that shape their practice' are described succinctly - quite sharp.

 This one is strange in that it is an attempt to portray information graphically rather than simply through words..... its very colourful, anyway!!

 

This is v new - Vol 4 of an old friend - admittedly a number of artists are repeated from previous vols , but new images - I still feel that these books are indispensable for anyone wanting to be au fait with contemporary art practice

 

I picked this up in one of my favourite shops - a remainder store on Georges St. in Dublin - the actual title is ' Newspeak - British Art Now from the Saatchi Gallery, London' - so at least you know where it is coming from;  it is a small bit pretentious  and even a little parochial,....and satisfied with its own coolness, but the publisher is Booth-Cliborn Editions who have produced some interesting volumes in the past.

 

Here are two artists who have always been very high on my personal list; Calder's mobiles really caught my imagination in the 60s; Durer's draughtsmanship is, I believe still without parallel and those woodcuts....

 

 

 

This is the second volume of Richard Noyce's work and I believe there is another on the way - this is, of course more directly related to printmaking but again it is right up there with contemporary practice - again mandatory reading for printmakers.

 

 

This is the catalogue for Circulation .... a small bit of ego -waving!!!

 

 

 

Journals are also making an impact:

 

Kiblind  is a free art magazine that is distributed throughout France and I picked it up in a hotel in Marseille during the summer - it has a good website  -  kiblind.com  - which is worth visiting

 

Just yesterday, I picked up this:

 

This seems to be a re-branded version of the journal I have previously bought because the editorial staff are the same but the layout is completely different. I have just noticed what is written along its spine:

 

No one love art like we love art - our experts show you how to love it safely

 

I hope this is some sort of an exercise in deep irony.

 

Anyway, there seems to be a lot more ad content but I must show you one entry from the 'Listings and Classified' section:

 

 More irony ....... or what?

The last thing I would like to talk about is a review from London Review of Books; this is a regular column on art shows -'At Tate Britain' - which attends various big exhibitions and this one is really interesting in that it is a 2 -page (usually max of one, or even half) in depth on ' Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life'.  What is perhaps surprising is strength of positive feeling expressed in this piece. It would certainly seem as if there is a reassessment of Lowry's abilities and his place in modern art.
On the other hand, I wonder is this perhaps part of what appears to be an increasingly introverted view England (Britain?) seems to be taking of itself. Maybe this is a slightly more subtle version of the apparent rise of nationalism all over Europe - and maybe the world.

That said the Lowry show is fascinating on his drawings but does not mention his late landscapes which I always thought where quite arcane:

 

Wuthering Heights -Lowry        - not what you might expect