Book Review: Rex Ray Art & Design

Title:Rex Ray Art & Design
Author:Rex Ray, Douglas Coupland (Foreword), Steven Skov Holt (contributor), Michael Paglia (contributor)
Publisher:Chronicle Books
Published: October 2007
Pages:160
Price:$40.00 CDN

This is a beautiful book. Rex Ray is an amazing painter/collage artist whose unique colour sense and whimsical compositions are just plain fun. Which is something you don't see much of in contemporary art. Ray himself says of his early collages "they began as simple, personal exercise, a way of forgetting everything I know and getting lost". I think there is a quality of that in all of his work, where you can see he's lost himself in crazy colours and twisting shapes seeing how far he can go.

The book has a foreword by Douglas Coupland and a short essay by Michael Paglia, I much prefer Coupland's intro. Paglia's is too formal for my taste, while Coupland's is relaxed and conversational. However, the best glimpse into Ray's art and his method is an interview with him by Steven Skov Holt at the back of the book. In it Ray is very revealing about his process. I love his description of choosing colours, he talks about purposely working under at night under bad light because it would result in unusual colour combinations he wouldn't have dared use under good light, but ultimately were so wrong they were right. He goes on to describe how he will force himself to start with colours he hates and then work with them. It's fascinating to me his very deliberate process since I had assumed his vivid palette was a result of an innate colour sense, rather it seems to be something he works hard for.



One thing I don't understand is the inclusion of Ray's graphic design work in this book. It isn't as strong as his painting and collages and doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the work. That said the book is very nicely designed, I especially love the faux wood grain spine that continues into the books inside cover, referencing the vintage feel of Ray's work as well as his use of wood panel.

Book Review: Andy Warhol Giant Size

Title: Andy Warhol: Giant Size
Author: Editors of Phaidon Press
Publisher: Phaidon
Published: February 21, 2006
Pages: 624
Price: $ 125.00 (US)


Andy Warhol once said, "don't pay any attention to what they write about you just measure it in inches", for that reason alone he would have been thrilled with this book since it's 2 1/2 inches thick. Chronicling Warhol's career from his years as a commercial illustrator to his later work with the artist Basquiat the book is a testament to the sheer volume of his work. It's strangely fitting that the man whose work explored notions of commercialism and mass production should have left behind such a large inventory.
This is the only book on Warhol I have seen that gives equal attention to his entire career from movies, magazines and paintings as well as biographical information. The book includes information on his life and analysis of his art but far more revealing are the many personal photos, letters and reference material that fill the pages. Espically interesting are reference photos of some of his silkscreens, for example a contact sheet that shows the various compositions he considered for his hammer and sickle series. His many fabulous quotes are also spread throughout the book such as, "...because when you do something exactly wrong, you always end up with something right" all of which make it clear Warhol was a master of the soundbite. This is defintly a book to own, just make sure your book shelf is reenforced.

Book Review: Crave Vancouver

Title: Crave Vancouver
Author: crave party
Publisher: crave party
Published: 2008
Pages: 240
Price: $19.95 (CDN)

Crave Vancouver features "over 100 spots and women you need to know in town", with spotlights on everything from boutiques and spas to cafes and publicists. Published by CRAVEcompany a network of businesses that strive to connect entrepreneurs in new ways.
It's exciting to see so many unique Vancouver businesses and the women who own them featured in one book. Many of the stores are familiar to me but some definitely deserve furthur exploration, like the Marimekko store!

This book is full of great content, but the design makes it hard to find and exhausting to look through. The book isn't organized into relevant sections like spas, restaurants etc., instead it's in alphabetical order and there isn't even a table of contents. The page layouts are quite busy and the type is too big and too crammed in.

Okay, I got that out of my system. I don't want to knock this book too much because I do think the content is great and it's inspiring to see how many creative successful business women there are in Vancouver.