Christopher Williams, Secession
Softcover, 96 pp., offset 4/duotone, 210 x 297 mm
Edition of 5000
ISBN 9783865600417
Published by Walther König
$25.00 ·
In late 2005, Vienna’s Secession gallery exhibited work by the influential Los Angeles Conceptual artist and master of appropriated commercial imagery, Christopher Williams, alongside work by the Dutch collaborators Jeroen de Rijke and Willem de Rooij. The show was documented in two separate catalogues — one for each artist (or artist team) — and this volume presents the work of Williams only. It includes photographs of a model showcasing a shower door, cameras and camera parts, corncobs, car interiors, bicycles and other elements of the urban landscape. Viewers may be familiar with some of the work, which was featured in 2006 on the cover of Artforum. The de Rijke and de Rooij volume of this two-part catalogue is not available here.
Art, Christopher Williams, DAP, Jeroen de Rijke, Photography, Secession, Walther König, Willem de Rooij
Frances Stark, A Torment of Follies
Softcover, 96 pp., offset 4/1, 200 x 310 mm
Edition of 5000
ISBN 9783865604644
Published by Walther König
$40.00 ·
This exhibition catalogue disguised as an artist’s book presents recent work by the Los Angeles artist, writer and all-around favorite, Frances Stark. Taking as her starting point the novel Ferdydurke by the esteemed Polish author Witold Gombrowicz, Stark explores two key aspects of the novel, according to Andras Palffy, President of the esteemed Viennese exhibition space, Secession — “the individual’s right to uncertainty or immaturity and all possible forms of masquerade” and “deception towards one’s environment.” Whereas Gombrowicz took on the sinister political developments of 1930s Poland, Stark aptly and humorously attacks the hierarchies, systems and pigeon holes of the contemporary commercial art world. Of special note are the very effective optical illusions embedded in the images reproduced here.
Andras Palffy, Art, DAP, Frances Stark, Martin Prinzhorn, Walther König, Witold Gombrowicz
Hans Ulrich Obrist and Enzo Mari, The Conversation Series 15
Softcover, 88 pp., offset 4/1, 135 x 210 mm
Edition of 5000
ISBN 9783865604019
Published by Walther König
$25.00 ·
Volume 15 of
The Conversation Series features a riveting dialogue between series editor and cultural catalyst Hans Ulrich Obrist and the renowned Italian designer Enzo Mari. More concerned with theoretical issues in design than commercial success, Mari is one of the most thoughtful and intellectually provocative designers of the late twentieth century. His work as a product and furniture designer, as well as a writer, teacher and artist, has proved influential both to his peers and to younger generations. In this volume, Mari discusses his iconic designs for cutting-edge production houses Danese, Olivetti and Castelli, his experience of the contradictory aspects of postwar Italy and his unique take on the design trends of the 1960s and 1970s.
Enzo Mari was born in 1932 in Novara, Italy. He has most recently completed a series of tubular aluminum chairs for Vienna’s Gebrüder Thonet and a collection for the Japanese home store Muji.
Art, Criticism, DAP, Enzo Mari, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Walther König
Mark Leckey, 7 Windmill Street W1
Hardcover, 162 pp., offset 4/4, 160 x 230 mm
Edition of 2000
ISBN: 978-2-940271-34-4
Published by JRP|Ringier/Walther König
out of print
condition:
fine, minor shelf wear.
Mark Leckey’s best-known video, Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999), is a 15-minute journey into urban British youth culture from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. Leckey’s presentation of twenty years of dance hall material does not, however, result in a documentary work: the video is rather a visual essay with hedonistic promises of club culture, the birth of funky chic, and the cultural shift of the rise of Acid House. Active in music production through donAtella, a glam-trash duo formed by the artist and Ed Liq, Leckey also makes live performances, CDs, and sound installations. Plunged into the lowbrow of culture, Leckey is one of the most perceptive cultural readers of Western societies.
This publication is the first to be dedicated to his work. Conceived as a source book of his working methods and fields of interest, it has been edited by the artist and features images of his main productions, as well as a wealth of other visual materials he has gathered through the years. In addition to original contributions, it includes reprints of texts from Michel Leiris and the 19th century-writer Walter Pater, as well as song lyrics. Designed by NORM in close collaboration with the artist, this printed project takes the shape of a hardbound drawing book, accentuating the idea of a point of departure rather than arrival.
The book was realized on the occasion of Leckey’s solo exhibition at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Migros in Zurich, a co-edition with König Books London.
Art, Criticism, Culture, DAP, Dimitri Bruni, Fashion, Graphics, Heike Munder, JRP|Ringier, Manuel Krebs, Mark Leckey, Museum für Gegenwartskunst Migros, Music, Neil Mulholland, Raphael Gygax, Sport, Used, Walther König
