This week I am very busy at Surtex so my good friend Matt Leines has graciously agreed to take time to tell us about some of his favorite books. Matt, by the way, is an incredible artist who I have written about a couple of times here and here. His work has been shown all around the world from Japan to Sweden. He has recently shown at Galleri Loyal and Roberts & Tilton. His work has been featured in all kinds of books and magazines including Live Through This, The Drama, Juxtapoz, and the current issue of Swindle. He has a show opening in London, Ontario on June 8th. And now for his favorite books-

I went to London a few years ago and checked out the Tate in sole hopes of seeing a Peter Blake in person. I thought for sure they’d have at least one on display since they own a majority of his work, but nope, everything was in storage. I was super bummed but the gift shop did it’s part to brighten my mood. This slim volume is the definitive book published on Blake so far. Sir Peter is best known for designing the cover of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper record but he’s also the originator of Pop Art, and the guy who Warhol lifted a lot of his ideas from(Blake was doing take offs on package designs years earlier than Andy). This book features a selection of his wrestlers paintings and amazing pictures of the artist’s collections. Even though there is still a lot of his work that has yet to be published, it was very refreshing to finally find this book after years of looking through the “B’s” for Blake and only finding William. Oh, and if you find yourself in Liverpool this summer, be sure to check out this . Hopefully they’ll have blown all the dust off by then.

© Julia Rothman 2007