PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts, on view at the Walker Art Center from October 14, 2022 to February 26, 2023, is a sweeping survey of the artist’s nearly 50 year career, featuring works across from painting to sculpture to performance. Treating the artist’s career as an epic tale, the catalogue borrows many of its formal cues from the first edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Oversized “drop words” traverse the body of the book, which is printed throughout in black-and white on a single uncoated paper stock. These material choices echo the artist’s own take on Arte Povera and his paintings that treat letters as pure form. They also resonate with Kounellis’s interest in the fragment as both a historical signifier and a source of artistic drama. A more extensive discussion of the design of the book is available on the Walker website: walkerart.org/magazine/on-designing-jannis-kounellis-in-six-acts
BOOK INFORMATION
Trim Size: 7.68 x 9.45 inches
Number of Pages: 432
Binding Method: Perfect bound
Paper: Munken Print Cream
Typefaces: Times Now Semibold
CREDIT INFORMATION
Creative Director: Emmet Byrne
Art Director:
Book Designer: Ben Schwartz
Jacket/Cover Designer: Ben Schwartz
Illustrator:
Photographer:
Picture Editor:
Production Director:
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Other Credits:
Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts
Category
Book and Cover
Description
Winner - AIGA 50 Books | 50 Covers of 2022
Book Title: Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts
Design Firm/Agency: Walker Art Center
Publisher: Walker Art Center
Author/Editor: Vincenzo de Bellis
Juror Comments
“Almost every work we discussed brought reflections on the role the design was playing—leading, supporting, resisting—here it's completely inextricable. The book and the design feel like one singular whole. Basic formal building blocks like contrast, texture, and scale are given the room and clarity of purpose they deserve and allow us to see this artist himself afresh.”
“An incredibly visual catalog despite being printed in black and white. I love that the page numbers change size and placement to indicate the content type, as well as the deckled, untrimmed foredge, reminiscent of older book production.”
Winner Status
- 50 Books Winner
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