Diamond Dolls

Diamond Dolls is an artist book by Hormazd Narielwalla, co-published by Concentric Editions and EMH Arts, London. It takes the form of a limited edition (300 copies) made as an artist’s book in 3 Acts.

Diamond Dolls is a sumptuous artist’s book that originates from a sequence of Hormazd Narielwalla’s highly distinctive paper collages. The below image shows the front cover...

Conceived as a sculptural object in three parts and designed to stand like a series of shoji screens, the original collages are printed front and back to reveal the ‘artifice’ of cutting and pasting involved in their construction, while the foiling of paper edges and details of de-bossed abstract patterns, gives the opening and arranging of the book a tactile and performative quality.

Thirty six images carry a running motif of Bowie’s ‘Ziggy Stardust’ persona, each of which is defined by elaborate, decorative costuming. Cipher-like, the figures reference the Japanese gender-fluid traditions of kabuki and onnagata, which influenced Bowie in his approach to challenging conventions about sexuality.

The books are litho printed by PrintSmith on our Omnia 200gsm. Omnia was chosen for it's dead flat matt characteristics plus a tactile feel but as you can see, with great colour reproduction. PrintSmith printed this project using their expanded colour gamut process, which makes for the super bright colour rendition of the works along with super sharp detail, which as you can see from these images is amazing.

The concertina folded pages are printed front and back to reveal the of cutting and pasting of the original construction, below shows a detail...

The finished size of each three books is 240x165mm, portrait and each book is a 28pp concertina. The below image shows how the pages fold over as a conventional book, when folded up.

The full extent of the long concertina...

This superb book is currently being exhibited at the Eagle Gallery in Farringdon Road (until 7th August), the picture below, shows the book (and the slipcase) at the exhibition.

There is also an installation in the window at Essie Carpets on Piccadilly.

This is a truly stunning piece of work and has been exceptionally well received in the artworld. A superb piece of print and finishing by Fenton at PrintSmith. Thanks to Hormazd Narielwalla, EMH Arts and PrintSmith for the images.

https://www.narielwalla.com/

http://www.emmahilleagle.com/exhibitions/current-exhibition/

https://www.printsmith.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.07.2021

David Magee at the Saatchi Gallery

Last week the Saatchi Gallery hosted the seventh edition of START (now STARTnet) with Parallel Contemporary Art, founded by David and Serenella Ciclitira. STARTnet and the Saatchi Gallery share a passion for discovering new art scenes and emerging artists worldwide provide this dynamic environment for artists, curators, collectors and new enthusiasts to engage with new international talent.

So in these uneasy Covid times, I made a visit to the Duke of York's in Chelsea, where the gallery was very well prepared for social distancing.

I specifically went to see the work of David Magee, who is an Irish artist. He published his twenty-five year retrospective, Oustide in 2017 which won international awards in Paris, New York, Tokyo, and London. I wrote about this award winning publication previously HERE.

This new series of pictures is from his ongoing series Atlantic.

The award winning book, Outside, was published by Concentric Editions and printed in Vivid Colour™ by Boss Print in London (with just a little paper supplied by Fenner Paper). A copy of this award winning book was on display...

“For over 30 years, I have been making photographs Outside. My aim is to provide an antidote to the world we now inhabit, a world of excess, over-branding and mass production. My intention is to offer the viewer a point in time to reflect and be drawn into a world of oneness, contemplation and tranquility. To engage the viewer with the experience of being immersed in the landscape and the spirituality of nature. Earth, Water, Air... are the recurring elements that I work with. It is my relationship with and my interpretation of these elements that forms the basis of my photographs, once I am absorbed in the landscape. The location itself is totally secondary to the feeling. The feeling is everything.”

https://davidmageephotography.com/

https://www.concentriceditions.com/
https://www.bossprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.10.2020

Pentagram Papers 48

Pentagram Papers are an anthology of documents, cataloguing areas of interest of the partners behind the world renowned design firm, Pentagram. They are produced to be given to clients and colleagues of the firm and have been produced since 1975. The quirky booklets cover a range of curious, entertaining, stimulating, provocative and occasionally controversial points of view.

This is the latest edition, produced by one of the most recently appointed partners in the London office, Luke Powell. The title of this edition is "Long Lens, Wide Angle" and the subject is the Magnum photography cooperative, founded in 1947.

Size is 210x140mm, portrait with an 8pp cover and 48pp text.

The text pages are printed on Omnia 150gsm and it is a great example of just how well this paper prints, having said that, images such as these would look pretty good on anything! The high bulk of Omnia gives this 48pp publication a respectable 6mm spine.

Click on images to enlarge

Omnia was chosen is because it would beautifully reproduce the wide variety of very different images and feel special - with the reproduction that you would expect on a silk or gloss but with a natural tactile uncoated feel.

I must make a special mention about the printing, which is exceptional. Print is by Boss Print, based in West London and it is is printed offset litho using their Vivid Colour™ process. This colour technique has been combined in this project with the mono images being printed in duotone using two blacks (see above) and as you will see from the detail image below, the colour reproduction is superb.

The publication is section sewn in 12pp sections as you can see above and the thread used is black coloured thread which coordinates with the cover (below image).

The cover is printed on an embossed coverboard from that well known "Hull-based" paper merchant! ...and I must point out that it is printed black litho onto a white board with the type and keylines reversed out - but what about the black edge? I hear you ask. Well, the cover has been colour edged black, so there is no white edge. Great attention to detail by the printer Boss Print.

Design for this edition is by Luke Powell's team at Pentagram. This is a really special piece of print. Beg or steal a copy if you can...!

https://www.magnumphotos.com/
https://www.pentagram.com/
https://www.bossprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.02.2020

Outside - David Magee

Outside is a limited run hardcover book which is a twenty-five year retrospective by landscape fine-art photographer David Magee. The book accompanies an exhibition shown at the Herrick Gallery in Mayfair in February.

The 116pp book, contains words and 48 images from the exhibition, which is a selection of Magee’s work, taking in landscape photography of scenery in Ireland, Greece, India and the US.

The book is 310mm square and is published by Concentric Editions. Printing is by Boss and uses their Vivid Colour process and the result is truly spectacular!

The book is printed on a variety of text and cover papers from our friends at that other well known "Hull based" paper merchant including the cover material on Iwahada Rockskin from Takeo in Japan, but the book also includes a number of French-folded chapter sections, as well as short page tip-ins on our lovely Offenbach Bible 60gsm.

The great news is that it's just been announced that the book has been awarded a Silver Award at the 2017 Tokyo International Foto Awards

The Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA) receives thousands of international entries, which are judged by an equally international Jury. During May, there is an exhibition of TIFA award winners at the CA Gallery, just in case you happen to be in Japan....

Congratulations to David Magee, who I have known for many years. Speaking about this retropsective book, he says “In my photographs, there is no real sense of time or specific place. The location is totally secondary to the feeling.The feeling is everything. I aim to portray not just what exists, but what is not obvious; that imperceptible element that stirs emotion and a sense of contemplation…”

https://davidmageephotography.com/home

https://www.concentriceditions.com/shop.php?1

https://www.concentriceditions.com/

https://www.bossprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.04.2018