This is what the new National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague is going to look like when it is completed in 2011.The design is by Future Systems of London."Its unique form and curvature is a reference to baroque buildings in Prague"The "building is placed on a white unpolished marble platform, with mirror finished stainless steel wings lifted up the perimeter edges to reflect the building from different angles.It is a green building with:-carefully controlled natural lighting sufficient for reading during 70% of the library's open hours;-natural cooling and warming of incoming air through a thermal labyrinth constructed in...
The Book Painting of Mike Stilkey
The piece is titled When The Animals Rebel. It occupies a 16 X 44 foot wall and consists of thousands of books LA artist Mike Stilkey has accumulated over the last few years via thrift stores and yard sales."Using pen and ink and acrylics, Stilkey has painted the books’ spines to depict a scene where wild and domestic animals are, as he puts it, “taking back their land,” while humans with detached expressions continue their daily routines, seemingly oblivious to the animals’ presence." The books became his paper.He is attracted to them “ sometimes by the title, or more the...
The Life Tree
You Are Here40" x 60"2 color screen printGreat typographical poster that "was originally meant to be a tongue-in-cheek, semi autobiographical but mainly fictional guide to graphic design for students. It soon spiralled (sic) out of control and became a bittersweet journey through the many different lives of a graphic designer."Created by the design firm johnson banksHere's a close-up of the top left section: Thanks to Lu Terceiro for the lead
Books in Pictures
This is the dust jacket of the first English language edition of Stefan Bollmann's Reading Women. It was published last year by Merrell with a foreword by Karen Jay Fowler. It is the first book devoted to the history of women reading in art. With one hundred color illustrations ranging from Simone Martini's Annunciation, 1333 which shows Jesus's mom Mary being a bit startled at having her reading interrupted by a golden angel, to Eve Arnold's photograph of Marilyn Monroe reading a copy of James Joyce's Ulysses. Each image is accompanied by a paragraph or two placing it in its...
Contemporary Artists Tackle Their Favorite Books
Artist: Melissa FormanBook: "Fragile Things" by Neil GaimanTitle: "An Authentic Illusion"Size: 26 x 32 inchesMedium: oil on panelThe exhibition is titled Literartistry and it is currently on view at the Corey Heldford Gallery in Los Angeles."As Michelangelo was inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy and John Everett Millais by Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet, each artist in Literartistry will base their piece on a book that has inspired or affected them."60 artists are represented offering visual interpretations of works that run the gamut from Dr. Suess to Neil Gaiman. A good portion of the show leans toward pop surrealismThe gallery has also...