My wife, who is the most amazing person on Earth, and a brilliant writer, has just written a book called Everyone Remain Calm. It’s a collection of short stories published by the Joyland imprint at ECW Press, and is now available on Amazon. It’s a wonderful read and you should definitely check it out if you enjoy things like laughing and feeling like a better person.
A few months ago I wrote about Candy Chang‘s Before I Die project in New Orleans that engaged passersby to complete the prompt “Before I die I want to…” on the side of abandoned buildings using provided chalk. As an extension of the project she’s created a limited edition set of painted chalkboards with a similar prompt. Via her web site:
Each Before I Die painting is 48″x12″ on birchwood ply and individually handmade with care. The wood is sanded, primed, and coated with a layer of black chalkboard paint, and the back is stained with a natural finish and handstamped and signed by yours truly. Also includes three brass plated D-Ring hangers attached to the back, a 4″ hardwood chalk holder, and a colorful stick of chalk.
The boards are $150 each. Check ‘em out at the Civic Center. Side note: also cool in the Civic Store. (via plenty of color)
Textile artist Jen Bervin has created something wholly peculiar and wonderful in her project The Dickinson Fascilies. During her lifetime Emily Dickinson tried to avoid publication, referring to it as “the auction of the mind,” and yet she continued to write, completing some 1,700 poems.
Between approximately 1858 and 1864, Dickinson grouped her poems into small handbound packets, later called fascicles. They are very humble bindings: stab-bound with twisted red and white thread and tied off teeteringly near the folded edge. The stitch held the stacked folded sheets together but made them a harder to open. [...] Her fascicles and fragments were dismembered, regrouped, scissored, and marked by her various editors as they changed hands and often her poems have been restructured and changed considerably for print.
Interested in the editorial patterns Bervin abstracted the editor’s notes, punctuation and other details from Dickinson’s poems and used cotton and silk thread to embroider the marks on enormous cotton sheets nearly 6′ tall by 8′ wide. I’m seriously geeking out over these. A fascinating idea. (via quipsologies)
(click images for detail)
New work from artist Annie Vought who delicately cuts away the white space from handwritten letters and scribbles. It seems her work has increased dramatically in its scale and complexity since I posted about her last year. See her work at Unspeakable Projects in San Francisco as part of her joint show “You Are A Bitch” with Hannah Ireland through April 21.
In 2004 I moved from Chicago to Prague to finish a writing degree through Columbia College. For six weeks I wandered the narrow cobblestone corridors of Prague, drank beers the size of my head, and in my spare time read the complete works of Franz Kafka. We’re talking every single book including The Castle, his technically unfinished novel that is in essence, madness. I wouldn’t say that makes me any kind of authority on his work, but I will say that these incredible covers by Peter Menelsund, the art director for Knopf (that owns publishing rights to all of Kafka’s work), perfectly captures the essence and concurrent themes in much of his writing. Even the use of Mister K, a font based on Kafka’s own handwriting is surprisingly pitch-perfect and not gimmicky as one might expect. And the eyes:
So, as you can see, I’ve gone with eyes here (not the first or last time I will use an eye as a device on a jacket-book covers are, after all, faces, both literally and figuratively, of the books they wrap). I find eyes, taken in the singular, create intimacy, and in the plural instill paranoia. This seemed a good combo for Kafka- who is so very adept at the portrayal of the individual, as well as the portrayal of the persecution of the individual.
The books will be available in June or July of this year. (via coudal)
Massachusetts microbrewery Just Beer has released a limited edition case of IPA with a 12-chapter detective melodrama printed on the labels.
“The Case of the IPA” is a hard-boiled detective farce printed chapter by chapter on 12 bottles of a newly released India Pale Ale. Each 22 ounce bottle not only has 22 ounces of brilliantly deduced IPA, but also 1 of the 12 chapters of the story. Each case has 12 bottles, which makes for the entire tale told in a case. And so, the Case of the IPA is indeed a case of the IPA.
Brewed by Harry Smith, written by Paul Goodchild.
Dave Eggers has just published his first collection of illustrations, It Is Right to Draw Their Fur.
Printed in time to coincide with a gallery show in San Francisco, this is Dave Eggers’s first collection of drawings. Most of these works are of unusual mammals, most often accompanied by slogans with ancient, heroic, or just plain odd overtones. This 14″ x 19″, full-color package is a combination of 26 large-sized prints and an accompanying booklet.
(via quips & cool hunting)
You should follow Colossal on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram. You can also subscribe to the Colossal weekly email digest or get amazing things in the mail via Quarterly.
sculpture • installation • paper • illustration • home • street art • posters and prints • portraits • wood • animation • typography • painting • video art • multiples • books • drawing • animals • people • recycling • light • food • stop motion • birds • Chicago • architecture • water • nature • black and white • music video • lighting • body • advertising • anatomy • maps • furniture • trees • history • documentary • kids • plants • faces • tableau • miniature • toys • collage • social • landscapes • timelapse • interactive • computers
If you're interested in advertising on Colossal, please get in touch with Nectar Ads.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
© 2010-2013 Christopher Jobson, all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. I try my best to attribute images, videos, and quotes to their creators and original sources. If you see something on Colossal that's misattributed or you would like removed, please contact me. The Colossal logo and name Colossal are the trademarks of Christopher Jobson.
