Monday 5 November 2012

Mini Reviews: The Vittra Attacks, Hannah Hoch: Picture Book and Evidence: The Art of CandyJernigan


SwitchedThe Vittra Attacks by Amanda Hocking
Published: 12th July 2010
Publisher: Tor
Series: Trylle Trilogy #1.5
Page Count: ?
Synopsis: A never-before-published bonus story, “The Vittra Attacks,” set in the magical world of the Trylle which can only be seen in the new edition of Switched.
Review: As mentioned above The Vittra Attacks is a very short bonus story at the back of Switched which I reviewed earlier this year, and honestly I think I enjoyed it more than Switched. Getting to know about characters from the other society of Trolls was far more interesting and fast paced and I kind of hope we get to experience more of their lives in the other two books and from what I read here the meetings of the Vittra's again will be worth sticking with the series.
4 / 5 stars


Hannah Hoch: Picture Book
Hannah Hoch: Picture Book by Gunda Luyken
Published: 15th November 2010
Publisher: Green Box
Page Count: 44
Synopsis: A central figure in the Berlin Dada circle, friend to Kurt Schwitters and Piet Mondrian and lover of Raoul Hausmann, Hannah Hoch (1889-1972) is probably the most important female artist from the German modernist period. She is best known for her pioneering works of photomontage, which briskly juxtapose mechanical and organic forms, ancient and contemporary bodies, symbols and text drawn from brands and headlines, also edging feminism, commodity critique and other political concerns into the mix. "It is striking how contemporary to us much of Hoch's work feels," Luc Sante wrote recently, "in its sexual politics, its humor, its gleeful appropriation of anything and everything at hand." In 1945, Hoch made this fantastical full-color children's book, which chronicles the adventures of the four mythical creatures Runfast, Dumblet, Snifty and Meyer in an enchanted garden, combining photomontage with the hallucinatory plant imagery she had come to favor. It is published here for the first time.
Review: As most of you may be aware I'm an art student and just before starting we had to write an essay on Dada art with reference to a book as well as internet sources, I decided to just go ahead and buy an affordable book on the artist I was basing my essay on. The only part I needed for the essay was the last two pages where the only writing part was but the rest of the book was beautiful, I love Hannah Hoch's collaged photo-montages and a lot of them are rather adorable. 
3 / 5 stars

Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan by Candy Jernigan
Published: 1st July 1999
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Page Count: 144
Synopsis: For eight years after her untimely death in 1991, the evidence of artist Candy Jernigan's life was stored in a quiet Manhattan basement. Drawers and shelves were crammed with paintings, collages, drawings, journals, and eclectic installation pieces like "Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall"-composed of, well, ninety-nine small laboratory bottles of beer on a wall. Little known until now outside a circle of New York's artistic avant- garde, Jernigan's one-of-a-kind talent is finally brought to light in "Evidence." The works collected here reveal a fierce and funny creative spirit, an artist whose commitment to documenting life as she really found it led her not only to record sample swipes of the food she consumed, but also to stuff a roadkill rat and lovingly arrange it in a diorama. Jernigan's method - using the precision of a scientist to reveal the souls of discarded objects - makes her advocacy of the overlooked at once surprisingly charming and thought-provoking. Including four gatefolds, "Evidence" is an art book that gives readers a witty, transformative vision of the stuff that composes our lives - and bears witness to the genius of a truly original thinker.
Review: During my first few weeks in my Art class one of the teachers placed a few books out amongst them this caught my eye, I only wish I could have spent more time looking at the pages properly rather than just skipping quickly before being told to get back to work but Candy Jernigan's work is collections of food stains, cigarette books and eventually bits and pieces to recall her travels around the world - tickets, receipts, toilet paper, fluff! It was rather fascinating really.
4 / 5 stars

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