Something concrete

Murray GM January 3, 2019

On a visit to Portland I popped into a great little fashion/design boutique called Johan (as I can never resist anything Scandi sounding). I got chatting with the owner and found out she’d spent time in Malmö and Lund - small world. Then it got even smaller, all (at least a lot of) her books were supplied by The Idea of the Book who I know through the Letterform Archive. Anyway, as traveling I had to limit myself to just one purchase so grabbed; anthology of concretism edited by Eugene Wildman. Mostly because my shelves are severely lacking in the concrete poetry department. Here’s a taste:

So I decided to go some way to rectifying the shortage. The fabulous Red Fox Press (also discovered via Letteform Archive) recently issued a great set of small editions that included this little beauty from Derek Beaulieu. Love his Letraset work and his tendancy to give things away of twitter and IG. Also I particular love the packaging it came in, lovely touch.

A few more pics from Red Fox Press here: http://www.paperposts.me/posts/2017/11/24/letterform-archive-tables-of-pure-delight.

Shortly after I spotted that Derek Beaulieu had a Georges Perec related piece; L’Echec de Perec. Published by the wonderful French small press MA Bibliothèque, so I had to grab that and a few more items.

Thus 2018 bought with it a cascade of coincidences and connections so I thought I’d share them and start the year off on a solid, concrete foundation.

Some unposted gems from 2018

Murray GM December 31, 2018

Here are a few items that I didn’t feel I could put a full post together for back in 2018. Either it’s because they only have a few pics or they were items I’ve spied elsewhere so didn’t have much extra info for them.

Coca-Cola Advertising Manual

Spotted this at the Letterform Archive back in June. It’s a massive landscape brand and advertising guideline for Coke. And it’s amazing, covering approach, point of sale and adverts. I think it’s from the 50s but will need to check with the guts at the archive.

This page is particularly amazing. An interactive point of sale planner with ‘mind of the viewer’ annotation.

The insanely skilled printing of Ramano Hänni

This is another Letterform Archive gem. The piece Typo Bilder Buch is incredible as it’s hand printed on kitchen towel! I think I remember Ron from the archive saying that one of the pages has over 13 passes but I might be wrong - it could have been even more.

Court by Nirvana Paz from Gato Negro Ediciones

Came across Gato Negro Ediciones at the 2018 SF Art Book Fair at Minnesota Street Project. Fantastic small press from Mexico City specialising in riso print. I picked up this fabulous photo essay book. The black print makes it feel almost like these are charcoal sketches - incredible photography and production work.

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2018's paper additions

Murray GM December 28, 2018

I haven’t posted much recently (been busy on this: 23 Years in the Making. But here’s a quick overview of what’s I’ve acquired this year. Some of which I’ve had time to post about, others I will hopefully get to post on in the new year.

First the posts:

*San Francisco's 1970 Study for Urban Design*

*The Glorious Data Visualisations of Kohei Sugiura*

*Celebrating W.A Dwiggins, the first "graphic designer"*

These should be coming soon ;)

Now that’s what I call Neofuturism - brilliant artist manifesto from Joseph Young et al.
All That is Evident is Suspect - fantastic OuLiPo collections from McSweeney’s
Never Use Futura - something for type geeks by Douglas Thomas
W.E.B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits - wonderful book and reprint of Du Bois’s data visualisation from Princeton Architectural Press
Science of the Secondary - issue #9: the plate, of this fantastic journal from Singapore
The Lost Diagrams of Walter Benjamin - fascinating little book from Ma Bibliothèque
La Biblioteca de Babel - wonderful little book from Ma Bibliothèque
L’Echec de Perec - great piece by Derek Beaulieu from Ma Bibliothèque
The Shadow Line - another wonderful little book from Ma Bibliothèque
Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo - the incredible Pence alternative from the John Oliver and the Last Week Tonight show
Anthology of Concretism - fabulous collection via the idea of the book
Lubalin 100 - yet another wonderful book from Unit Editions
The Card Catalog - the history of the card cataloging system at the Library of Congress

Can’t believe I missed this one off the list:

The Court - a photo essay by Nirvana Paz from the amazing Mexican small press Gato Negro Ediciones (riso specialists)

Damn Everything But the Circus

Murray GM July 1, 2018

To my shame, I only discovered Sister Corita Kent in the last few years. I came across her through her work with John Cage and the brilliant 10 Rules they created for the Immaculate Heart College Art Department. Last year SF MoMa featured some of her more political prints in the "Get with the action" exhibition (who's title comes from Kent's work). Every piece stopped me in my tracks. The colour, the type, the attitude, incredible work!

Damn Everything But the Circus was created in 1970. It's a collection serigraphs of inspiring quotes each representing a letter of the alphabet, the title coming from e.e. cummings' poem:

Damn everything but the circus!

...damn everything that is grim, dull,
motionless, unrisking, inward turning,
damn everything that won't get into the
circle, that won't enjoy, that won't throw
its heart into the tension, surprise, fear
and delight of the circus, the round
world, the full existence...

Pretty good mantra for life, and seems to sum up Corita Kent nicely - who would have been 100 in November (check out the proposed celebrations)

I spotted this book of the work and although nothing can do justice to the colour of the original prints this book it pretty damn good. Unfortunately the cover of copy I picked up is a little battered but inside the pages are in beautiful condition. It's a riot.

Check out a few spreads:

So take a hint from a nun from the sixties and not only:

but:

The Glorious Data Visualisations of Kohei Sugiura

Murray GM March 17, 2018

It's taken me a while to post this and I know a few people have been eager to see the contents, so here it is:

『時間のヒダ、空間のシワ … [時間地図]の試み：杉浦康平ダイアグラムコレクション』
or
Experiments in "Time Distance Map": Diagram Collection by Kohei Sugiura

I saw this on the brilliant Instagram account: Collectible from HongKong (a must for any lovers of rare and interesting design books). And even though my Japanese is non existent I couldn't resist its blend of amazing data visualisations and beautiful book design. Here's a few words from the Editor's site, Mariko Yokogi about the book:

"Kohei Sugiura, a Japanese graphic designer leading its industry since 1950s, has published the book compiling his diagram works so far since 1960s. I joined this book project as an editor in the chapter of his talking with Seigo Matsuoka, a Japanese prolific author and director, and in other featuring chapters as well. Many designers of the same period had focused on the visualization working in the commercial field. On the other hand, Sugiura chose the cultural field like a book design, public projects and so on as the stage of his design activity. He is also a pioneer of infographics design in Japan. You can see his design philosophy in many diagram works including "Time Distance Map" he named as a general term. About spaces, cities, people's lives and the world of classical literature, he has been showing graphically by handling a enormous amount of data for years. This book introduces them and also try to analyze them using the latest digital technique by young architect and creators. It is written in Japanese only but so much images are appeared in it, then you can enjoy his design and get to know the history or one of aspects on graphic design in Japan."

It's a wonderfully visually indulgent item. From the spot foil on the jacket (repeated underneath on the cover!) to the fold outs and end pages. Some of the visualisation work is truly amazing, utilizing 3D both diagrammatically and anaglyphic (for 3D glasses). Here are some of the spreads: