Amelia’s Magazine | The Purple Book: Sensuality & Symbolism in Contemporary Art & Illustration – Review

The Purple Book - Laurence King, review
The latest offering from preeminent art publisher Laurence King is a huge purple and pink tome put together by two leading thinkers in the graphic design world. Angharad Lewis was behind the brilliant (and now sadly defunct) Grafik Magazine, and Angus Hyland is a partner with mega design consultancy Pentagram. Their beautiful joint creation sets out to explore the relationship between illustration and the written word when it comes to describing desire and eroticism.

The Purple Book_cover. The Purple Book - Laurence King, review
The Purple Book_cover. The Purple Book - Laurence King, review
Contributions from illustrators are paired with quotes, poetry and short stories from famous characters and writers such as the Marquis de Sade, Edgar Allan Poe and James Joyce. Most of the artists work in a predominantly monochrome or subdued palette, using fine line detail to create swirly lines and decorative patterns reminiscent of art nouveau, and there is an exemplary use of typography and layout throughout, the pale pink of the pages ensuring that even the most obviously erotic artwork never seems crass or in your face. At intervals a selection of the illustrators explain their working process, making this a must read for any fans of delicate decadence and erotic fantasy.

The Purple Book - Laurence King, review
The Purple Book - Laurence King, review
The Purple Book - Laurence King, review
Everything about the curation and design of The Purple Book has been thought through to make it as tactile and desirable an object as possible: one that you will want to hold and pore over, caressing the thick matte paper and marvelling at its weightiness. This publication is the antithesis of fast internet imagery: it’s one you’ll return to again and again, reminding you why beautiful books will never be usurped by the worldwide web.

Categories ,Angharad Lewis, ,Angus Hyland, ,Edgar Allan Poe, ,Erotica, ,Grafik magazine, ,illustration, ,James Joyce, ,Laurence King, ,Marquis de Sade, ,Pentagram, ,Sensuality

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Amelia’s Magazine | Central Saint Martins MA in Communication Design Graduate Show 2011: Review

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Su Kyung Lee's The Imaginative Battle
Detail from Su Kyung Lee’s The Imaginative Battle.

The Central Saint Martins MA in Communication Design graduate show was held earlier this summer in the spacious rooms of the high ceilinged Rochelle School. The quality was of an exceptional standard throughout, site and there were informative descriptions helpfully placed next to all the work.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Su Kyung Lee's The Imaginative BattleCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Su Kyung Lee's The Imaginative BattleCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Su Kyung Lee's The Imaginative Battle
Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Su Kyung Lee's The Imaginative Battle
Su Kyung Lee‘s The Imaginative Battle explored patterns of protection and destruction, website focusing on the visual aesthetics of destruction and chaos through patterns. Cells and germs became the camouflage, web splattered across and fired from tanks, rendered in glorious neon brights. An apt subject in these difficult times.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Matt NicholsonCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Matt NicholsonCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Matt NicholsonCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Matt Nicholson
Matt Nicholson showed his work half spat out of a digital printer. Inspired by his desire for high status objects he can’t afford Matt reproduced them for free, using printed paper patterns to create giant wall sculptures. They even retain functionality: the Lieca camera takes photos via a pinhole. Follow Matt Nicholson on Twitter.

Kanitta Meechubot six feet under yew treeCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Kanitta MeechubotKanitta Meechubot searchingCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Kanitta MeechubotCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Kanitta Meechubot
Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Kanitta Meechubot
I was totally enraptured by Kanitta Meechubot‘s enchanting collages. A Garden of Illuminating Existence repeated and matched the branching nerves and veins of the body in trees and natural forms: merging memories and landscape. ‘To produce a map of experience through the internal landscape which changes with the seasons, is to capture the beauty of the illimitable renewals and decays of our existence.’ The real beauty of these pieces, with names like Six Feet Under Yew Tree and The Season of The Soul, was the fine detail used to build delicate pictures in 3D, including not only old photos and engravings, but real dried flowers and paint splats.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Sarah LangfordCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Sarah LangfordCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Sarah LangfordCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Sarah LangfordCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Sarah Langford
Sarah Langford was inspired by the movement of water, it’s necessity and destructive capabilities. Using scientific measurements she created beautiful textures to produce abstracts: parts and fragments of rock formations, shells, glimpses of the landscape being ripped and shredded by the passage of time.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Gareth BarnettCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Gareth BarnettCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Gareth Barnett
Gareth Barnett was inspired by Brutalist architecture (my favourite, though not to live in myself…) and the hellish writings of the Marquis de Sade to create an investigation into the power structures and systems of control within an urban environment. The resulting 20 pictures were splayed across the wall, interlaced with projections. With names like Climax in Concrete and Fuck Me Building there was no escaping the ruptured baseness of his conclusions.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Carl PartridgeCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Carl PartridgeCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Carl PartridgeCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Carl Partridge
Carl Partridge looked to a place he’s never visited: America, believing that it’s easier to buy into the idealisation of America if you’ve never been. Using tiny shreds of paper and stickers, holographic beads, parts of adverts and marbled plastic he created delicate collages that seemed to question our love of consumerism. Follow Carl Partridge on Twitter.

Beth Salter CSMCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Beth Salter CSMCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Beth Salter CSMCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Beth Salter CSM
For marvellous hand done typography look no further than Beth Salter. She was inspired by private conversations overheard in public surroundings. Me too, I love them! But mainly her bright letters were just a lot of fun. Follow Beth Salter on Twitter.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Ann-Kathrin SchubertCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Ann-Kathrin SchubertCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Ann-Kathrin Schubert
For The Fear of Life Ann-Kathrin Schubert had decorated discarded plastic bottles to become the most tropical of fish, tribal in their boldness.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Jesus Madrinan Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Jesus Madrinan
Jesus Madrinan had taken a series of portraits in London nightclubs: Good Night London featured some suitably inebriated yet oddly disillusioned creatures.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Golbanou Moghaddas
Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Golbanou Moghaddas
Golbanou Moghaddas was influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer‘s philosophy of existence typified by unrest. Strange fattened figures tumbled from a bony etched pelvis filled with birds. Painterley strokes combined with fine etching skills.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Alexa Galea
Alexa Galea was inspired by human desire to control and tame nature and the wild, particular with reference to European folk art and ritual.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Oat Montien
Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Oat Montien
Oat Montien explored the relation between ritual and identity in contemporary interpretations of Thai traditions.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Paraskevi FerentinouCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Paraskevi Ferentinou
Paraskevi Ferentinou explored the ‘agency of furniture‘ in the role of children’s growth.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Ying-Chen LuCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Ying-Chen Lu
Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Ying-Chen Lu
Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Ying-Chen Lu
Ying-Chen Lu worked with 3D papercutting to create exploding type and depth in landscapes.

Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Aindri ChakrabortyCentral Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Aindri Chakraborty
Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Aindri Chakraborty
Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Aindri Chakraborty
Central Saint Martins Communication Design Degree Show 2011 Aindri Chakraborty
I could easily have missed Aindri Chakraborty‘s work which was nestled in a grimy corner, but I’m glad I didn’t as it was really rather wonderful: Heritage through Glass explored how the glass cabinets in museums separate the tangible object from the intangible visitor, and how stories are passed down the generations. People Tree and Conversations with Baba featured frantic truncated shapes, fire people and vomiting heads.

Categories ,3D Papercutting, ,A Garden of Illuminating Existence, ,Agency of Furniture, ,Alexa Galea, ,America, ,Ann-Kathrin Schubert, ,Arthur Schopenhauer, ,Beth Salter, ,Brutalism, ,Camera, ,Carl Partridge, ,Central Saint Martins, ,Climax in Concrete, ,collage, ,Communication Design, ,consumerism, ,Conversations with Baba, ,Folk Art, ,Fuck Me Building, ,Gareth Barnett, ,Golbanou Moghaddas, ,Good Night London, ,Graduate Shows, ,Heritage through Glass, ,illustration, ,Jesus Madrinan, ,Kanitta Meechubot, ,Last and Found, ,Leica, ,ma, ,Marquis de Sade, ,Matt Makes Stuff, ,Matt Nicholson, ,Oat Montien, ,Paraskevi Ferentinou, ,People Tree, ,Ritual, ,Rochelle School, ,Sarah Langford, ,Six Feet Under Yew Tree, ,Su Kyung Lee, ,Thailand, ,The Fear of Life, ,The Imaginative Battle, ,The Season of The Soul, ,typography, ,Ying-Chen Lu

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