Tuesday, April 30, 2013

design performance

ray johnson is not only one of my favorite artists, he also did some great book cover design for new directions in the 60s. it's hard to find a list of all the ones he did, but i know about these three.
he's so raw and solid. perfect ease! my hero!
"The Roman Sonnets of Giuseppe Gioachino Belli"

"in the american grain"
this is the only one i own, and one that i paid tribute to/was inspired by/ripped off for an album project i worked on. his is better. i love hands. and books.

"illuminations"
it is simply impossible to find fault with this silvery masterpiece of lettering and exploitation of the print process. it is greatness!

are there more of these that you know about and i don't? wanna trade me a book for some art? i've decided i want to collect all these paperbacks now and put them on a shelf to look at and hold. just now i have decided this.

also, i'm not sure many people realize this, but you can design books, do drawings, do performances, make pottery, make songs, weld sculpture and anything else you want all at the same  time. you don't have to just do one thing because you went to school for it or because you need to build a career doing one thing and trying to land a client or get a gallery show. unless you really want to, and in that case, carry on. you can do whatever you want and try to be good at it!

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