Good news- Henrik Drescher has agreed to be interviewed for the blog about his new China Book series (which I have just gotten in the mail. yay!) and the rest of his work. I’m so excited since he has been a long time favorite artist of mine ever since this book, Turbulence, came out in 2001. And he continuing to produce fantastic artist books. So this week and next, or until I get his answers back, I am going to be posting about one of his books every couple of days to familiarize you with his work. (I’ve posted about one of his other books here if you missed it) And if you have any questions you’d like to have him answer leave them below in the comments and I can add them into my question list I’ll be sending him in the next couple of days.

This book Turbulence was one of the first “art books” I bought. I was in college and found it at the local shop and was just amazed not only how great the artwork inside was but also how interesting the book design was. The cover is die-cut with his illustrations coming through. Also between sections of work there are these incredible die cut pattern motifs. And to make it even better, the page after each die-cut page is a page of writings (text excerpts from Hindu Myths) and pieces of drawings printed on vellum- so the page after that one shows through underneath the text. The rest of the book is Henrik’s wonderful drawings, paintings, collages- whatever you can call them, each page is better than the next. He draws on all kinds of pieces of papers- faded lined notebook pages, accounting book pages, ripped up pages that have been taped back together, papers with notes scrawled in pencil, pages with children’s handwriting, graph papers and colored papers. These pages are sometimes collaged together either thoughtfully creating some sort of narrative or seemingly random creating an outstanding composition. Then it seems again they might be painted, inked, smudged, taped, cut-out or written on. I know one question I’d like to ask Henrik is how he works on his drawings- does he do one to completion with scraps of paper and numerous supplies around him or come back to them again and again over time adding to them? There are just so many layers to rest your eyes in. You can pick up a copy of this book right here and get excited to see much much more of his work this week and next. Also here’s his site to check out.

© Julia Rothman 2007