THIS MONTH: documenta 12, Tim Hawkinson, Neil Gall, Gilbert & George DVD, Breaking the Mould: New Approaches to Ceramics, Making Stuff: An Alternative Crafts Book, Jorge and Lucy Orta, Katja Davar, Momentary Momentum DVD, All Look Same?, Christian Marclay.

This month’s list will equally delight the lucky ones cruising around Europe for the flurry of contemporary art exhibitions and fairs- la Bienniale di Venezia, Art 38 Basel, documenta 12, and skulptur projekte munster 07- as well as those following the activities from the sideline. The areas that dominate June’s Hotlist- sculpture, ceramics, crafts, activism and drawing- resonate well with contemporary currents exhibited there and elsewhere.

We’ve just received Documenta Magazine No1, Modernity?- the first issue of the three part documenta 12 magazines project.  This stunning magazine explores the topic of Modernity and asks “Is modernity our antiquity?” and, “Which Modernity and whose Antiquity?”  The authors featured in this issue write about specific, local modernities, trace their dislocated or interrupted developments, and explore counter or parallel models of modernity.  The project includes an extensive collection of essays, interviews, photo reportages, features, interventions from artists and articles of fiction- and is considered a central component of the documenta exhibition, providing a vehicle for reflection and visual contemplation.

We’ve selected a few noteworthy titles highlighting current work in sculpture this month as well.  The first title is a beautiful limited edition book produced on the occasion of the Tim Hawkinsonexhibition at NYEHAUS in New York. Designed by Helicopter and encased in a soft, plastic sleeve, the catalog assembles gorgeous photographs of his sculptures as well as an essay by Steve Erickson. Another special find is the very first publication on painter and sculptor Neil Gall. His sculptures, comprised of duct tape, plastine, wire, wrapped tape, and fluff balls, form the unusual shapes utilized in his paintings, a contemporary take on the still life. Real living sculptures, so to speak. 

Gilbert and George, are the focus of a new DVD from JRP-Ringier. The Secret Files of Gilbert and George features an interview from 2000 conducted by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist for an exhibition at the Musee d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris. Their long-standing career has had an enormous impact, and this DVD is an essential addition to any art DVD collection.

Those following developments in contemporary sculpture would also want to pick up a copy of Breaking the Mould: New Approaches to Ceramics, a new survey of the field. Sculpture and ceramics often work in tandem, something this 208 page publication on Black Dog exemplifies. Editor Ziggy Hanaor profiles over 70 ceramicists, including Suzanne King, Simon Fell, Grayson Perry, Barnaby Barford, Marek Cecula and Amy Houghton. With 400+ dazzling colour reproductions, the book celebrates the exciting range of ceramic work produced today. 

Crafts in general have experienced a tremendous amount of revision over the past few years. Making Stuff: An Alternative Crafts Book shows how current makers meld the traditional and non-traditional to create novel forms. Gathering together over 50 projects with illustrations and directions from established crafters, this book will certainly be a source of inspiration for the seasoned crafter and novice alike. Projects include: how to knit an i-Pod cover; fashion a purse from your old school-ties; stitch one piece of fabric into a stylish smock-dress; turn an old jumper into a cuddly toy; make a notebook out of record covers; fold beautiful origami fairy-lights; and, knit unwanted t-shirts into a bathmat or weave a placemat. There are also a plethora of ingenious ways to customize your clothes, make your own jewelry, decorate your home, recycle your old possessions and fashion baby clothes and toys for the children in your life.

For another creative take on the “how-to” book, be sure to check out Jorge and Lucy Orta’s Pattern Book: An Introduction to Collaborative ProcessesMuch in the line of the participatory and instructive nature of this activist/artist duo’s work, which melds the boundaries between architecture, fashion, and sculpture, this book can be used as a resource for the reader to set up their own workshops and educational programs, and it includes detachable pattern sheets to be used as a starting point in the creation of new projects.

The ghost-like and poignant drawings of up-and-coming German artist Katja Davar are now available in book form thanks to the Drawing Room. An introduction by the Drawing Room’s Co-Director Kate Macfarlane and an essay by critic Tom Holert bring Davar’s charged pencil drawings to life.  For those more interested in animated work, JRP-Ringier has delivered a fantastic multi region DVD of the animated drawings displayed in the Momentary Momentum show that just closed in London’s Parasol unit foundation. Included are films by Francis Alÿs, Robert Breer, Paul Bush / Lisa Milroy, Michael Dudok de Wit, Brent Green, Takashi Ishida, Susanne Jirkuff, William Kentridge, Avish Khebrehzadeh, Jochen Kuhn, Zilla Leutenegger, Arthur de Pins, Qubo Gas, Christine Rebet, Robin Rhode, Georges Schwizgebel, David Shrigley, Tabaimo, Naoyuki Tsuji & Kara Walker.

Looking eastward, All Look Same? analyzes existing tensions, relationships and similarities among the work of Chinese, Korean and Japanese artists. The project aims to include these diversities and to confront them with the western reality. The selected works touch on all media, in particular photography, video-installation, but also painting and sculpture through a strong, new and unforeseeable aesthetic. The artists, some already established on the international scene, while others emerging in their native countries, highlight a landscape in enormous transformation.  Chinese artists: Cao Fei, Chen Qiulin, Chen Shaoxiong, Chen Xiaoyun, Hu Yang, Jiang Zhi,Kan Xuan, Li Shurui, Liang Juhui, Liu Ding, Liu Wei, Lu Chunsheng, Shi Yong, Wang Xingwei, Xu Zhen, Yang Yong, Yang Zhenzhong. Korean artists: Baik Hyunjhin, Choi Ho Chul, Gim Hongsok, Gook Im, Kim Beom, Kim Kira, Koo Donghee, Lee Hyungkoo, Lee Yong-Baek, Junebum Park, So Young Choi. Japanese artists: Makoto Aida, Chihiro Mori, Etsuko Fukaya, Manabu Ikeda, Kathy, Michiko Shoji, Ayoama Satoru, Sayaka Akiyama, Teppei Kaneuji, Tomoki Kakitani.

Lastly, this months don’t miss gift--
For this limited-edition boxed card set, Shuffle, Christian Marclay photographed the appearance of musical notation in his everyday wanderings--finding examples on shop awnings, chocolate tins, T-shirts, underwear and other unexpected places. This body of work reveals Marclay to be an obsessive photographic note-taker with a flair for uncovering musical "clues" hidden in the landscape and adorning our world--musical notes just waiting to be called into action. Each of the 75 images collected is presented on an oversized playing card, and the entire deck is enclosed in a distinctive package. Part Fluxus box, part John Cage-ian "chance operation" or Eames House of Cards, this highly collectible edition offers a compelling, serendipity-driven visual experience, as well as the components for a spontaneous musical score: a player need only shuffle the deck and let the cards fall where they may in order to produce a unique, experimental sequence. With text and instructions by Marclay.

DOCUMENTA MAGAZINE #12

An experimental magazine project by the creative minds behind documenta 12, the world's most important contemporary art event (June 16 to September 23, 2007) The documenta 12 magazines are a collective worldwide editorial project linking over ninety print and online periodicals, as well as other media. In advance of the exhibition in Kassel, documenta 12 magazines have opened up a central site for reflection and visual contemplation. Since early 2006, influential journals in the realm of art, as well as specialist publications operating in discursive fields beyond the major art centres, have been publishing and discussing contributions—essays, interviews, photo reportages, features, interventions from artists and articles of fiction—in relation to documenta 12’s three main themes: Is modernity our antiquity? What is bare life? What is to be done?

Taschen, March 2007, Softcover, 22.5 x 27.5 cm (8.9 x 10.8 in.), 224 pages, ISBN 978-3-8228-1532-8

$15.00

Tim Hawkinson

Catalog from the exhibition at NYEHAUS. Large and ensleeved in plastic, this catalog is beautifully designed by Helicopter. Includes images of the works on view with an essay by Steve Erickson.

Foundation 2021, June 2007, 10 pages, ISBN: 978-1-934171-03-5
Edition of 2000

$55.00

Neil Gall Shelf Life

Shelf Life is the first book dedicated to the work of the contemporary artist Neil Gall. Bold and experimental, Gall is enjoying a burgeoning international reputation. Gall employs variety of techniques, including modelling, assemblage and photography. He uses unconventional materials such as duct tape, plasticine and wire to create sculptures that form the basis for his haunting, complex paintings.

Black Dog Publishing, May 2007, Hardback, 192 pages, 220 colour ills, 11.0 x 9.0 in, ISBN10: 1 904772 73 0

$45.00

Secret Files of Gilbert and George DVD

For the last 40 years Gilbert and George have spanned the international art scene with as much insolence as elegance. Real living sculptures, they have developed a repetitive language around recurrent figures and themes: shit, piss, blood, tears, nudity, sperm, alcohol, drugs. Theirs is an oeuvre that has radically overturned conventions and thinking of the period, and which refers literally to homosexuality, exclusion, social and religious violence. This DVD features an interview, filmed in 2000 by the curator Hans Ulrich Obrist for an exhibition at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, and concentrates on the hysteria of the archive and the collection.

JRP Ringier, Multi region DVD. Running time 35:00

$32.00

Breaking the Mould: New Approaches to Ceramics

Breaking The Mould: New Approaches to Ceramics is an astonishing collection of the most exciting ceramic design today, exploring the increasingly varied ways in which the boundaries of pottery design are being extended and challenged by contemporary makers.

Black Dog Publishing, May 2007, Paperback, 208 pages, 400 colour ills, ISBN10: 1 904772 76 5

$39.95

Making Stuff: An Alternative Crafts Book

Making Stuff is an eclectic craft book for the new millennium. It is a testament to a trend that is only going to get bigger. Whether you are a seasoned crafter looking for new ideas or a novice who still doesn’t know how to cast on, this book is for you.

Black Dog Publishing, October 2006, Paperback, 144 pages, 232 b/w and colour ills, 10.0 x 7.5 in, ISBN10: 1 904772 61 7

$24.95

Jorge + Lucy Orta Pattern Book: An Introduction to Collaborative Processes

Jorge+Lucy Orta Pattern Book: An Introduction to Collaborative Practices presents projects by renowned artists Jorge and Lucy Orta. Their art melds fashion, architecture, design with social activism, reflecting how Jorge and Lucy operate not only as artists, but as campaigners, community mediators and educators.

Black Dog Publishing, July 2007, Paperback, 160 pages, 219 b/w and colour ills, ISBN10: 1 904772 75 75

$29.95

Katja Davar

Produced following Katja Davar’s first solo exhibition in the UK, this catalogue focuses on a body of work which makes reference to the threat of deluge explored by Leonardo da Vinci in his drawings and his treatise on water. Katja Davar explores sub-traditions of pictorial representation through her drawings, animations and embroideries on canvas, creating fictional worlds inspired by literature and the multiple images and political issues to which we are all subjected.

Introduction by Kate Macfarlane, (Co-Director, The Drawing Room) and essay by Tom Holert, (a writer and researcher based in Berlin and regular contributor to Texte zur Kunst and Artforum.

The Drawing Room, Hardback, 56 pages, 28 x 24cm, 43 full colour plates, ISBN 0-9542668-7-0

$32.00

Momentary Momentum Animated Drawings DVD

A multi region DVD published for the exhibition of the same name and devoted to animated drawings. Included are films by Francis Alÿs, Robert Breer, Paul Bush / Lisa Milroy, Michael Dudok de Wit, Brent Green, Takashi Ishida, Susanne Jirkuff, William Kentridge, Avish Khebrehzadeh, Jochen Kuhn, Zilla Leutenegger, Arthur de Pins, Qubo Gas, Christine Rebet, Robin Rhode, Georges Schwizgebel, David Shrigley, Tabaimo, Naoyuki Tsuji & Kara Walker. Published with parasol unit foundation, London, to accompany the exhibition Momentary Momentum, 3 March – 22 April 2007.

JRP Ringier, Multizone DVD running time 100.00

$32.00

All Look Same?

Analyzes existing tensions, relationships and similarities among the work of Chinese, Korean and Japanese artists. The project aims to include these diversities and to confront them with the western reality. The works selected for the exhibit 2094 CHINAJAPANKOREA touch on all media, in particular photography, video-installation, but also painting and sculpture through a strong, new and unpredictable aesthetic. The artists, some already established on the international scene, while others emerging in their native countries, highlight a landscape in enormous transformation.

Electa, Bilingual Italian/English, 268 pages, ISBN 8837046065

$50.00

Christian Marclay Shuffle

For this project, a limited-edition boxed card set, Shuffle, Marclay photographed the appearance of musical notation in his everyday wanderings--finding examples on shop awnings, chocolate tins, T-shirts, underwear and other unexpected places. This body of work reveals Marclay to be an obsessive photographic note-taker with a flair for uncovering musical "clues" hidden in the landscape and adorning our world--musical notes just waiting to be called into action. Each of the 75 images collected here is presented on an oversized playing card, and the entire deck is enclosed in a distinctive package. Part Fluxus box, part John Cage-ian "chance operation" or Eames House of Cards, this highly collectible edition offers a compelling, serendipity-driven visual experience, as well as the components for a spontaneous musical score: a player need only shuffle the deck and let the cards fall where they may in order to produce a unique, experimental sequence. With text and instructions by Marclay.

Aperture, June 2007, Boxed Set of Cards, 7 x 4.75 in. / 75 pgs / 75 color., ISBN: 1597110388

$29.95