John Stezaker print Untitled 2011 available from Whitechapel Gallery

Digital pigment print (Giclée)
Paper stock: Somerset Enhanced Velvet 255gsm
388 x 318mm
Edition of 150 + 5 artist proofs, signed and numbered by the artist
£230 (Members £207)

Newly released from the Whitechapel Gallery, a rare opportunity to own a Stezaker print, get it here.

Artist Information
John Stezaker engages with the ceaseless flow of images that has been a consequence of mechanical reproduction, mass media and popular culture.  This limited edition, created specially for the Whitechapel Gallery takes a vintage film still as a point of departure. By subtly cropping the portrait of an alluring cinema starlet, Stezaker focuses the viewer’s attention on the threshold of sight and blindness. With minimal intervention, he reconfigures the vintage film still and offers it up to a new reading.

John has been a highly influential figure in the British art scene. He has taught some of Britain’s leading artists and has exhibited widely across the UK and Europe from the early 1970s to today, as well as contributing his writings to several publications. Juxtaposing disparate sources, his work creates compelling new images.

There is also a catalogue for the exhibition published in association with Ridinghouse, get that here.

With over 120 illustrations, this monograph presents the first overview of John Stezaker's work on paper from the 1970s onwards, featuring his found images, collages, image fragments and a selection from The 3^rd Person Archive. Essays by Dawn Ades and Michael Bracewell, as well as a conversation between the artist and curators Daniel F. Herrmann and Christophe Gallois, place Stezaker's work in a historical context and analyse his methodology and practice.

ISBN 978–1– 90546–433–3, softback, 224pp, 100 colour illustrations, 27 x 22.5 cm, co-published by the Whitechapel Gallery and Ridinghouse. 

This catalogue is available in the Whitechapel Gallery bookshop for the duration of the exhibition for the special exhibition price of £20.00 (Members' price £18.00). 

SAM TAYLOR-WOOD Escape Artist (Green and Red) print - has arrived

My new Counter Editions Sam Taylor -Wood print Escape Artist (Green and Red) arrived this morning and it is marvellous! Much larger than I was expecting (no bad thing) it's tonal qualities are fantastic, those blacks are a beautiful rich black and the wooden floor looks amazing.

Now I need to get it framed, oh and buy a house with lots more walls - this one is full!

Currently still only available as a pre-launch special price of £550, you need to use this link otherwise it is not listed on their website. Get ordering now, this price is sure to rise fast as the edition sells out.

UPDATE - Price to rise on 6th of February! Buy now!

Jenny Saville and Glen Luchford - Closed Contact deluxe edition

This is the deluxe edition of the exhibition catalogue for the Closed Contact exhibition by Jenny Saville in collaboration with photographer Glen Luchford.

 I comes in a perspex display case, this is the etching on the back.

 The book is very large format, extremely glossy pages. Unfortunately this makes the book very delicate, there are slight corner bumps on this copy, just from movement within the case.

 This limited, deluxe edition should have a signed and numbered print with it, this is sadly lacking in my copy - in fact I have never seen one available for sale with the print included. The price of the catalogue alone is very high, I can only imagine how much it would be worth if complete with print.

New Sam Taylor-Wood print at Counter Editions

Sam Taylor-Wood

Escape Artist (Green and Red) 
2010 
Limited edition of 175 
Special pre-launch price £550 (normal price £650. You save £100.)

• Light jet digital c-type on Fuji Crystal archive paper
• 56.5 x 82 cm
• Signed, and numbered by the artist on the reverse.

Taken from her iconic series Escape Artist, Sam Taylor-Wood has produced a new print exclusively for Counter Editions - Escape Artist (Green and Red)(2010). Reminiscent of the artist’s earlier Self Portrait Suspended series, these photographs show the artist similarly suspended mid-air, in this case from brightly coloured helium balloons. "I have to hide my face in the pictures. It is a combination of hiding the grimacing pain - because I think that destroys the photograph - but it is also because I don't think you need to see my face." She said the pain was necessary as the photographs were a response to her fight against cancer. "I made them shortly after I was no longer referring to myself as an ill person," she said. "There is a definite sense of physical freedom from the constraints of illness”. Indeed, there is an air of the escape artist, of the magician, to these works. The artist does seem to be performing a miraculous act of levitation. The balloons surely aren’t enough to stop her slumped descent to the hard ground below. And so what is holding her up? Perhaps nothing less than an act of faith.

I've just ordered one of these, get yours here.

Beth Dow - Fountain, Stanway

Fountain, Stanway is a platinum palladium print by photographer Beth Dow in an edition of 25 from her In The Garden Series.

The platinum palladium print process gives a fantastic warm delicate tone, particularly well suited to this image. I love it! I purchased it via the Jen Bekman gallery a couple of years ago, these are the same people who are behind the 20x200 website, indeed the have several of Beth's images as editions. Not sure why anyone would pay $2000 for the inkjet prints from them, that is more that I paid for this and it is a totally different class, it looks amazing in the flesh.

Period Eye: Karen Kilimnik's Fancy Pictures

Period Eye: Fancy pictures is the book of the exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery that also included the Royal Little Red Riding Hood print. It is currently selling for $203.21 on Amazon US or £175.18 on Amazon UK. I just picked up this copy used (near fine condition) for £4!

John Stezaker - Masks

I love these montage works by John Stezaker, I have no idea why they work, but they really do. Shows an exceptional isight into the way the eye and brain interact. This book was published by Ridinghouse but now seems to be out of print, at the time of writing there does seem to be a couple of copies still available here.

Jenny Saville - Migrants exhibition catalogue

I bought this rare monograph by Jenny Saville a couple of years ago on eBay, can't remember how much I paid for it exactly, I think it was about £100. I can be sure I paid a lot less than the $920 that is the cheapest I can find it for currently online. Pictures below for those not willing to take out a home loan to buy a book.

Brighton Bunny Boy by Carmen Soth

This is a fun little zine by Carmen Soth - not sure how much input dad Alec had, but he has published it through Little Brown Mushroom. No doubt my wife thinks I'm mad for paying money for this, my daughter liked it though! (and it was only $7)

Raymond Meeks Orchard Series - Crime Victim Chronicle with Deborah Luster

Crime Victim Chronicle is the first volume of the new Orchard series of collaborative journals by acclaimed photographer and photobook maker Raymond Meeks.

Published by Silas Finch, this collaboration with Deborah Luster comes in three differing editions. These pictures are from my Sustainer edition.

Get yours here - I covet the Patron edition, but funds did not allow on this occasion. I only paid $125 for my sustainer edition which is now listed for $165, so it looks like prices may increase as the editions sell out - move fast!