Jiří Kovanda
Published by University of Jan Evangelista Purkyne & Galerie Výtvarného Umění v Chebu/Gavu Cheb, 2010, 288 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 22 × 24 cm, Czech/English
Price: €28

A monograph on the work of Jiří Kovanda, on which Markéta Stará writes about the book’s production: “(Kovanda’s) aim to dissolve the line between art and life brings him to manipulate familiar objects from the outside world and incorporate them into works that, outside of the gallery context (and sometimes even within it), could easily be overlooked. This near invisibility resonates with Kovanda’s efforts to escape artistic trends and avoid any reductive framing. Although it could be argued that his oeuvre hovers on the border between kitsch and high aesthetics, his goal is to test the possibility of their equivalence and thus to deconstruct the distinction between art objects and utilitarian objects. It is exactly this endeavor that brought Kovanda to use the occasion of the publication of a catalogue to transform the book into an art object and make it the subject of his latest exhibition.”

#2010 #jirikovanda #painting
Jiří Kovanda
Published by University of Jan Evangelista Purkyne & Galerie Výtvarného Umění v Chebu/Gavu Cheb, 2010, 288 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 22 × 24 cm, Czech/English
Price: €28

A monograph on the work of Jiří Kovanda, on which Markéta Stará writes about the book’s production: “(Kovanda’s) aim to dissolve the line between art and life brings him to manipulate familiar objects from the outside world and incorporate them into works that, outside of the gallery context (and sometimes even within it), could easily be overlooked. This near invisibility resonates with Kovanda’s efforts to escape artistic trends and avoid any reductive framing. Although it could be argued that his oeuvre hovers on the border between kitsch and high aesthetics, his goal is to test the possibility of their equivalence and thus to deconstruct the distinction between art objects and utilitarian objects. It is exactly this endeavor that brought Kovanda to use the occasion of the publication of a catalogue to transform the book into an art object and make it the subject of his latest exhibition.”

#2010 #jirikovanda #painting
Jiří Kovanda
Published by University of Jan Evangelista Purkyne & Galerie Výtvarného Umění v Chebu/Gavu Cheb, 2010, 288 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 22 × 24 cm, Czech/English
Price: €28

A monograph on the work of Jiří Kovanda, on which Markéta Stará writes about the book’s production: “(Kovanda’s) aim to dissolve the line between art and life brings him to manipulate familiar objects from the outside world and incorporate them into works that, outside of the gallery context (and sometimes even within it), could easily be overlooked. This near invisibility resonates with Kovanda’s efforts to escape artistic trends and avoid any reductive framing. Although it could be argued that his oeuvre hovers on the border between kitsch and high aesthetics, his goal is to test the possibility of their equivalence and thus to deconstruct the distinction between art objects and utilitarian objects. It is exactly this endeavor that brought Kovanda to use the occasion of the publication of a catalogue to transform the book into an art object and make it the subject of his latest exhibition.”

#2010 #jirikovanda #painting
Speaker Receiver
Moyra Davey
Published by Sternberg Press, Berlin, 2010, 160 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 17 × 24 cm, English
Price: €255 (Out of stock)

Produced on the occasion of the exhibition Speaker Receiver at Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, 17 June–29 August, 2010.

This monograph brings the diverse aspects of Davey’s work together. It features “Index Cards”, a new piece of writing by Davey, in which she reflects on subjects such as a recent illness, her personal mapping of Paris and her habit of reading newspapers. Rather than formulating a systematic argument, the essay unfolds in a series of short “takes” or fragments.

Photographs distributed in order of their appearance within the texts interrupt the various writers’ contributions. Furthermore, for Davey’s own essay, and for the interview, the artist chose to reproduce her photographic “Mailers”, a unique series and format of work that Davey likes to refer to simply as “mail art”.

#2010 #kunsthallebasel #moyradavey #sternbergpress
Wenn alle Künste untergehn (card)
Daniel Spoerri
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2010, card (colour ill.), 10.5 × 14.7 cm, German
Price: €8

Featuring the work Wenn alle Künste untergehn, die edle Kochkunst bleibt bestehn, 1969

*Please note these items are secondhand and have some traces of previous ownership.

#2010 #danielspoerri #ephemera #invitecard
The Fatigue Empire
Cosima von Bonin
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2010, 320 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 18 × 23 cm, German / English
Price: €70

Produced on the occasion of the exhibition Cosima von Bonin, The Fatigue Empire at Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, July 18 – October 3, 2010.

Cosima von Bonin came of age as an artist in the 1990s amid the storied art scene in Cologne. In her practice, mixed references to art history, popular culture, and music are seen in tandem with a destabilising approach to craft and domestic activities. Many of her recent installations are populated with casts of cartoonish fabric characters – fish, whales, mushrooms, dogs, rockets – whose endearing appearances conjure a range of contradictions: delight and horror, softness and rigidity, and humour and sorrow.

With essays by Yilmaz Dziewior, Mark von Schlegell, and John Welchman. Designed by Yvonne Quirmbach.

#2010 #cosimavonbonin #markvonschlegell #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig #yilmazdziewior #yvonnequirmbach