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Book this corner
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The British Library's ongoing exhibition of books on graphic designs is a sheer delight to even the uninitiated
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Life must be seen, before it can be known.
Samuel Johnson
IF YOU have time, patience, and a compelling urge to be transported to a dream world, it is time to head for the British Library. A touring exhibition on recent British graphic design for publication, The Book Corner, would surely lure your senses by the sheer variety of books and the wide range of styles and techniques they manage to embrace.
It is not necessary that the visitor should be an artist or a designer to benefit from the exhibition. It would be a bonanza, though, if one were to have some elementary knowledge and interest in art and design to enjoy the array of exhibits dealing with such diverse disciplines as graphics, architecture, painting, theatre, media, music, fashion and, digital technology. Even a cursory glance at the blurb and citation on many of the displayed books is a matter of sheer delight, although a slightly longer browsing would need hours, if not days, to complete a rich and rewarding experience.
"As with some of the most exciting material in the show, the aim of the fabric of The Book Corner is to seduce, but also to make sense," says the curator of the exhibition, Emily King, a freelance writer and design editor of Frieze magazine. "Not everything on display is elegant or lovesome, but all of the books and magazines here have employed design as a means of engaging with an audience... As you browse these shelves, remember that the spirit of this show is inclusive, it is a library, not a collection!"
But, the publications in The Book Corner are not classified in a library-like fashion. Instead, they are placed on the shelves by size. "This may seem illiterate but perfectly practical," says King. "Each book is numbered and can be located quickly and easily using the computerised catalogue. The Book Corner creates a reading room that is functional, but not at all conventional."
It is indeed an unconventional assemblage. Where else could you sight the well-structured Graphic Design, A Concise History by Richard Hollis (Thames and Hudson) rubbing shoulders with The Words Of Gilbert And George, a collection of statements, writings, manifesto art works, and interviews of the notoriously controversial but delightful duo, who have a penchant for creating paradoxes, which also, surprisingly, bring hope and passion to our life?
While Norman Potter's What Is A Designer: Things, Places, Messages addresses students and practitioners of architecture and design, setting forth the conditions under which design decisions and artefacts must show themselves to be socially answerable, Rick Poynor's Design Without Boundaries — Visual Communication In Transition chronicles and critiques the issues and individuals that made postmodern graphic communication from the mid-1980s to mid-90s such an exciting cultural activity. The same author (Poynor) in his Obey The Giant — Life In The Image World exposes the ambivalent reality beneath the seductive surface of contemporary culture.
There are some well-known books such as Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee & Walter Evans, a stunning blend of prose and images, offering at once, an unforgettable portrait of three tenant families in the Deep South and a larger meditation on the human dignity and the American soul. Walter Evans, the decorated photographer, has presented a marvellous 64-page photographic prologue to the book.
John Colapinto's About The Author, on the other hand, is a sharp and wickedly funny psychological thriller about fame, ambition, envy and murder, which Stephen King called "worthy of Hitchcock at his best".
On Foster ... Forster On is as curious as its title. There are some amazing visuals to go with the anthology of writings on and by Norman Forster. Alongside the contributions by some of the most respected commentators on architecture are essays by Forster himself — part memoir, part manifesto — addressing a diverse range of issues from his development as an architect to urban and environmental concerns.
Why Not is another superb collection of works by Why Not Associates in the10 years since the launching of their graphic design business, while Mmm ... Skyscraper, I Love You by Karl Hyde & John Warwicker is the map of a journey through the streets of NY, as shown through a series of breathtaking black-and-white visuals. Sampler 2: Art, Pop And Contemporary Music Graphics is an inspirational resource for graphic designers showcasing some of the most groundbreaking designs for small underground labels from around the world, and Specials Is Booth editions the latest selection of best new graphics which are wild, eclectic, and irreverent.
These are but a few of the 250 odd-books which are on display at the exhibition. It is noteworthy that most of the publications in The Book Corner have come from small to medium independent art and design publishers or from self-publishing art and design institutions.
(The exhibition is open till April 14, except on Sundays and April 9. For more information, call the British Library on 22213485.)
ATHREYA
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