Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Jean Pigozzi's Contemporary Collection

While in the MICA library the other day, I stumbled upon the fantastic exhibition catalog "Arts of Africa: Jean Piogzzi's Contemporary Collection" published by Skira / Grimaldi Forum Monaco. I was first drawn to the book because of its materiality. It is pretty large, heavy and has a beautiful cover. It's got a smooth vellum-y finish, but then the front and back covers are soft and plush as though it may have a foam filling. The book's spine is a beautiful bright gradient, which lead my unknowning eye to pull it off the shelf. Once I opened the book, I was not only impressed by the unique work being cataloged, but also the progessive layout. The final and introductory essays in the catalog are nestled in to nice, tight boxes central on the page with meaty white boarders. Then as the reader progresses to the section of images about the work, the images become full bleed, and the informative text exists in separate inserts through out the book. The artist bios in the back are also quite different and informative. So smart! Really, really, lovely.

According to the book's colophon, The graphic design was completed by Salut Public of Bruxelles. I advise checking out the rest of their work. I don't often get to design many publications, but their work is inspiring, fresh and certainly engaging. The site's not in english- but still navigable.






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