Christian is a very talented painter friend of mine. A while back when we were in school, he made this beautiful book. It’s all silkscreened onto black paper with a sewn binding. (I think he actually bound it by running it through an industrial sewing machine.) The book starts with a character going on a walk in the middle of the night and each page tells of a different place he goes- outer-space, the city, the ocean, a party. When he sees the sun coming up he decides to go home to bed. It makes a great children’s story. The composition of each page stays the same with the guy at the top and pattern below him. Between some pages are cut-out pages of buildings. I love how handmade this book feels. Silkscreen can often get very tight and restricted because of its nature of creating flat even color. Somehow Christian is able to break that boundary really nicely giving the book an almost painted feel. Also the bright colors on black paper is so striking. Only 20 copies of this book were made so I am sure they all have happy homes but I still wanted to share it as inspiration. You can see more of Christian’s work here.

© Julia Rothman 2007