How close is body art to book art? Pretty darn close if you follow the reasoning of Arthur Jaffe. Jaffe, the founder of the seminal Jaffe Center for Book Arts at Florida Atlantic University, "saw tattooed people as walking books, because, after all, what is tattooed skin if not printed narratives, illustrations and designs? They are also telling a story,"Jaffe goes on to remind us that "prior to paper, books were printed on parchment and vellum – the skin of animals – so the book metaphor is not a stretch."So why not study the art of the body? Here lies...
Christophe Gowans: One for The Record Books
The premise for Christophe Gowans' project, The Record Books, is a simple one, "If best-selling albums had been books instead..."Gowans, a graphic designer and art director by trade, transforms well-known albums into imaginary book designs. In many ways contemporary book design, especially cover design, can trace its roots to the graphic design of album covers from the 1960's and 70's, though one might not be propelled to buy an album by its cover as they would a book, the design of an album cover was an essential and integral part of the offering. There are over 100 examples in Gowans' Flickr stream.There...
Campaign Graphics: New book explores the poster in Presidential elections
"Political art is nothing less than an illustration of the skirmishes and stalemates that created and continue to animate the American experiment … Fortunately, the Library of Congress has preserved all of these examples for future generations to see." - Brooke Gladstone from the preface for "Presidential Campaign Posters From the Library of Congress." Images include among others: Andrew Jackson portrayed as a king to invoke voters’ memories of royal rule; Jimmy Carter as a Christ-like savior of his nation; Gerald Ford as "The Fonz" ("Fordsie") keeping his cool against Reagan during the 1976 primaries; and Ronald Reagan as "Rambo" ("Ronbo")...
book patrol TV: episode 3
Welcome to the third episode of book patrol TV. This time around we feature the full episode of The Twilight Zone's Time Enough at Last featuring Burgess Meredith as Henry Bemis, a banker with a book problem, as well as the late Mike Wallace's complete 1958 interview with Aldous Huxley. Also included : The official trailer for The Raven, a pop up wedding proposal, Mark Strand reading The Poem of the Spanish Poet, a look at the Bay Area's Free Book Exchange, a trailer for Matt Kish's Moby Dick in Pictures, Ralph Fiennes reading "Th' Expense of Spirit in a Waste...
In The Stacks: The Astor Free Library at the NYPL
This is the latest installment of In the Stacks. A series dedicated to exploring the digital archives of the leading libraries, institutions and organizations of the known universe. At the prompting of his close friend, Joseph Cogswell, John Jacob Astor set aside $400,000 for the creation of a free public library. When it opened in 1854 The Astor Free Library was one of the first public libraries in the United States. It was also one of the most progressive institutions on the planet.The library was open to anyone from anywhere who was older than 14. It was one of the...