Yesterday I checked out the Taschen store which I have been meaning to visit for a while now. With gorgeous Beatriz Milhazes designed murals on either side, this long and thin space is full of shelves and shelves of their huge hardcover books. You are invited to turn the page of large scale limited edition art books and check out the many series on cities, interior design and architecture. It’s definitely worth the visit if you are in Soho NY anytime soon.
I had noticed the new Walton Ford book
they just published in another store so I had it on my “to buy” mental list. And while normally I would buy a thick book like that on Amazon for almost half the list price, at the store they had signed copies. I am such a sucker for a signed book, so I trudged through the rest of my shopping day with the extra 7.2 pounds. I’ve been a huge fan of Walton Ford for several years. I first ran into his work at a gallery just after graduating school. And when I learned he had also graduated from RISD many years earlier, I felt even more drawn to him. Then a couple years ago there was a major exhibition of his works at the Brooklyn Museum and I was amazed at the amount of work he had accomplished. The pieces are really big, some covered whole walls. At first you are taken aback by the scale, and incredible rendering of his watercolors. The pieces feel familiar at first because they are plays on the 19th century nature illustrators like John James Audubon. But then taking a closer look you realize the situations these animals are in are not normal. The images are full of symbolism, humor, and commentary besides being incredible paintings. And while there have been smaller monographs of Walton’s work before, this book finally feels appropriate. It’s large format and has a cloth bound hardcover. It’s nice to see the whole pieces span a full spread, but this book also has many details of each piece in full bleeds across the page- big enough to see all of the painstakingly tiny brushstrokes. Yesterday this book was available on Amazon for 40 bucks (I paid 70!) and it is well worth every penny. Today it seems they are having some sort of issue with it (maybe they were shipping it poorly?) so you can only buy it from outside sellers. But it should be back up soon and when it is, (It’s back to shipping on Amazon!) I highly suggest getting a copy for everyone on your xmas list. And if you are very rich or a very very devoted fan you might consider this much fancier edition.
