The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation
by Ollie Johnston
from Disney Editions
Masters: Art Quilts: Major Works by Leading Artists (The Masters)
by Martha Sielman
from Lark Books
Abstract appliquéd shapes cascade across the surface of Ita Ziv’s brilliantly colored quilts, creating vibrant celebrations of life. Noriko Endo captures her deep feeling for trees in a stunning interplay of light, shadow, and leaves. Gloves appear in nearly every quilt by Jane Burch Cochran, representing probing hands and, sometimes, angel wings. John Lefelhocz’s fantastic imagery—including an airplane silhouette that lights up—grabs viewers’ attention.
Esteemed curator Martha Sielman contributes an illuminating essay for each of the 40 featured artists, who are showcased in eight-page features.
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Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusion
by Al Seckel
from Sterling
Chinese Art and Culture (Trade Version)
by Robert L. Thorp
from Prentice Hall
Lucid, authoritative, written with verve by two respected American scholars, this generously illustrated work provides an introduction to more than 7,000 years of Chinese art—from the pottery-making and jade-carving cultures of the Neolithic Age to contemporary Chinese artists working in video,installation, and performance media.
By placing the arts in context—in active engagement with societies, economies, and wider fields of culture—the authors of this much-needed general survey introduce a dynamic and continually evolving tradition rather than a sequence of isolated museum masterpieces. Although the story of Chinese art unfolds chronologically, the authors introduce relevant themes for each era that will deepen the reader's understanding of and appreciation for what they describe as arguably “the most abundantly productive, continuous artistic culture in the history of the world.”
Letters to a Young Artist
from Darte Publishing, LLC
"This pocket-sized book contains a collection of two dozen letters all commissioned from established artists to a fictitious ""young artist,"" a recent art-school graduate who is struggling with the moral and practical implications of being an artist in New York. The ""young artist"" asked a selection of his heroes, ""Is it possible to maintain one's integrity and freedom of thought and still participate in the art world?"" Responding artists--including Gregory Amenoff, Jo Baer, John Baldessari, Jimmie Durham, Joan Jonas, Adrian Piper, William Pope Lawrence Weiner and Richard Tuttle wrote back with advice (Gregory Amenoff: ""Keep away from art fairs.""); encouragement (Joan Jonas: ""The answer is the Work. To Work. To care about the Work.""); and cautionary tales (Adrian Piper: ""Young artist, it is highly unlikely that you will be rewarded professionally for reaching this point. Nor will it make you popular. On the contrary: you will develop a reputation for being Idifficult,' Iuncooperative,' Iinflexible,' or even Iself-destructive;' and treated (or mistreated, or ostracized, or blacklisted) accordingly.'). Twelve of these letters were originally published in Art on Paper. This book expands considerably upon that project."
Art Making, Collections, and Obsessions: An Intimate Exploration of the Mixed-Media Work and Collections of 35 Artists
by Lynne Perrella
from Quarry Books
This large format, full-color, inspirational book is about how artists use their collections to make artwork. The gallery-style format allows readers to see what artists collect, and the resulting spectacular artwork they make from it. The book will feature the collections and the artwork of thirty-five major mixed-media artists. The artwork will include journals, assemblages, altered books, as well as jewelry pieces, and detailed descriptions of the materials and techniques used, plus tips and insights into using unusual materials and collections.
Mixed-media artists are naturally collectors. They are fascinated by the stuff of life, and they are always looking for the right elements to add to their collages and journals. This book offers a juicy combination -- sort of a walk through an artist-filled flea market, and a gallery of the pieces created using these collections with tips and insights on collecting and creating, and how they go hand in hand.
Features a lineup of 35 contributing artists including:
- Lynn Whipple
- Graceann Warn
- Gail Rieke
- Beryl Taylor
- Keith LoBue
- Michael DeMeng
- Nina Bagley
- Susan Lenart-Kazmer
- and more
Art Making, Collections, and Obsessions features a beautiful collection of inspirational artwork. You'll enjoy artist's tips, creative ideas, and advice on working with unusual materials for collage.
Frida Kahlo
by Hayden Herrera
from Walker Art Center
Few artists have captured the public's imagination with the force of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. During her lifetime, she was best known as the flamboyant wife of celebrated muralist Diego Rivera. Theirs was a tumultuous relationship: Rivera declared himself to be "unfit for fidelity." As if to assuage her pain, Kahlo recorded the vicissitudes of her marriage in paint. She also recorded the misery of her deteriorating health--the orthopedic corsets that she was forced to wear, the numerous spinal surgeries, the miscarriages and therapeutic abortions. The artist's sometimes harrowing imagery is mitigated by an intentional primitivism and small scale, as well as by her sardonic humor and extraordinary imagination. In celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of Kahlo's birth, this major new monograph is published on the occasion of the 2007-08 traveling exhibition. It features the artist's most renowned work--the hauntingly seductive and often brutal self-portraits--as well as a selection of key portraits and still lifes; more than 100 color plates, from Kahlo's earliest works, made in 1926, to her last, in 1954; critical essays by Elizabeth Carpenter, Hayden Herrera and Victor Zamudio-Taylor; and a selection of photographs of Kahlo and Rivera by preeminent photographers of the period, including Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Gisele Freund, Tina Modotti and Nickolas Muray. The catalogue also contains snapshots from the artist's own photo albums of Kahlo with family and friends such as Andre Breton and Leon Trotsky--some of which have never been published, and several of which Kahlo inscribed with dedications, effaced with self-deprecating marks or kissed with a lipstick trace--plus an extensive illustrated timeline, selected bibliography, exhibition history and index.
E Pluribus Venom
by Shepard Fairey
from Gingko Press
E Pluribus Venom collects a large body of work produced by Shepard Fairey and presented at the Jonathan Levine gallery during his massive exhibition in the summer of 2007. Serving as more than just an exhibition catalog, this book expounds upon themes presented in the show. The title E Pluribus Venom which translates Out of many, poison is derived from E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one) an early motto adopted by the U.S. Government which appears on U.S. currency. The artist s thesis is that many becoming one, or a loss of power and influence of the individual in favor of homogeny is a symptom of a society in decline. E Pluribus Venom is comprised of artworks designed to question the symbols and methods of the American machine and American dream and also celebrate those who oppose blind nationalism and war. Some of Fairey s works use currency motifs or a Norman Rockwell aesthetic to employ the graphic language of the subjects they critique. Other works use a blend of Art Nouveau, hippie, and revolutionary propaganda styles to celebrate subjects advocating peace.
500 Tattoo Designs
by Henry Ferguson
from Thunder Bay Press
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