Puppets

Morton Bartlett: Secret Universe III

Published by Walther König, Köln.
Edited and with foreword by Udo Kittelmann, Claudia Dichter. Text by Lee Kogan.

When the freelance photographer and graphic designer Morton Bartlett (1909–1992) died at the age of 83, his relatives found 15 chests among his possessions. Each chest contained a half-life-size doll and its accessories: 12 girls and three boys, a wardrobe of hand-sewn clothes, black-and-white photographs of each doll as well as countless studies and archival materials. Bartlett began designing these dolls in the mid-1930s, studying anatomy books and histories of costume, and learning to sew and mold with clay to make them as true to life as possible. Each doll entailed a huge amount of labor, taking up to a year to complete; Bartlett created costumes and wigs for each one and then staged them in lifelike scenarios and photographed them, documenting a family he had never had and creating a body of work that would remain unexhibited during his lifetime. The third installment in the Bahnhof Museum’s series on outsider artists, this volume examines Bartlett’s extraordinary lifelong obsession.

PUBLISHER
Walther König, Köln

BOOK FORMAT
Paperback, 8 x 9.75 in. / 104 pgs / 36 color.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 8/31/2012
Out of print

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2012 p. 91   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9783863351625 TRADE
List Price: $39.95 CAD $53.95

AVAILABILITY
Not available

Paul Klee: Hand Puppets

Published by Hatje Cantz.
Essays by Christine Hopfengart, Alexander Klee, Felix Klee, Osamu Okuda, Tilman Osterwold and Eva Widerkehr.

Between 1916 and 1925 Paul Klee (1879-1940) made some 50 hand puppets for his son, Felix, of which 30 are still in existence. For the heads, he used materials from his own household: beef bones and electrical outlets, bristle brushes, leftover bits of fur and nutshells. Soon he began to sew costumes. These characters and small works, do not pretend to be great art, but at the same time, they are superbly imaginative, sweetly reminiscent of Klee's relationships with his family, and beautifully illustrative of the artistic and social developments of the time. Readers will see the chronological proximity of Dada and Kurt Schwitters's collages in Klee's Matchbox Ghost; the German National caricatures one of the era's more ominous political types. An introductory essay tracks the work's links to other avant-garde puppetry and to Klee's sculptural works, and notes his connections to the theater. For their part, Klee's son Felix and his grandson Alexander tell the story of how the figures were created.

PUBLISHER
Hatje Cantz

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 8.75 x 10.25 in. / 128 pgs / 70 color and 30 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 10/15/2006
Out of print

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2006 p. 56   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9783775717403 TRADE
List Price: $40.00 CAD $54.00

AVAILABILITY
Not available

Mike Kelley: Arenas

Published by Skarsdedt.
Text by Cary Levine.

Mike Kelley’s Arenas series of the late 80s and early 90s mark a shift away from the artist’s performance-oriented activity and towards a new sculptural dexterity, in which cultural resonance is elicited from an eerie reframing of everyday objects. First exhibited in 1990 at Metro Pictures, the Arenas are comprised of stuffed animals arranged around the edges of blankets (or occasionally posed isolate in their center). Ten or twenty such toys in such groupings might convey a cheery childhood picnic scenario, but Kelley rarely selects more than five or six, and places them carefully so that their cuddliness and their capacity to comfort is entirely canceled out. Instead, we encounter the toy as a commodity entity—a mass-manufactured product positioned to enter into play but far from inviting it. Skarstedt’s exhibition of seven of the eleven Arenas is here recorded in superb installation shots and with critical commentary.

PUBLISHER
Skarsdedt

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 8.75 x 11.25 in. / 44 pgs / 32 color.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 5/31/2011
Out of print

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2011 p. 130   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9781616237189 TRADE
List Price: $30.00 CAD $35.00

AVAILABILITY
Not available

Chewed

Published by Ideal World Books.
Photographs by Arne Svenson & Ron Warren. Texts by Augusten Burroughs, Todd Oldham, William Wegman, Roz Chast, Maira Kalman, Rick Meyerowitz, Isaac Mizrahi, Andrew Zimmern.

Photographers Arne Svenson and Ron Warren--co-authors of the popular Sock Monkeys--here turn their attention to those masses of slobbered-over yarn, remnants and stuffing that ordinarily go the way of all pet toy casualties and get discarded without a second glance. Before their lenses, once-plush cuddly creatures and formerly bouncy rubber toys are transformed into intriguing eyeless, armless, one-legged sculptures--snatched, from the jaws, so to speak, of oblivion. A headless bunny rabbit, mutated plastic rat, masticated rubber hotdog or donut--each is a beloved pet's dream companion, transfigured by the sharp teeth and powerful jaws of the overinfatuated animal. Svenson and Warren have photographed the chewed victims in a formal yet irreverent style appropriate to the perspective of the pet; the result is a humorous appraisal of beauty, devotion and contentment. With more than 130 full-color photographs, Chewed includes delightful, twisted and poignant short stories by a variety of contributors writing about their favorite chewed creature, including writer Augusten Burroughs; artists Roz Chast, Maira Kalman, Rick Meyerowitz and William Wegman; designers Isaac Mizrahi and Todd Oldham; and food-world personality Andrew Zimmern.

PUBLISHER

BOOK FORMAT
Paperback, 8.25 x 10.25 in. / 160 pgs / 138 color.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 8/31/2011
Out of print

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2011 p. 178   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9780972211178 TRADE
List Price: $24.95 CAD $33.95 GBP £22.00

AVAILABILITY
Not available

Ute Behrend: Fairy Tales

Published by Walther König, Köln.
Photographs by Ute Behrend.

Following her Girls, Some Boys and Other Cookies, which looked into contemporary childhood and adolescence, Ute Behrend articulates what those images suggested--that the archetypal folk and fairy tales for which her native Germany is known still speak to contemporary kids. And adults. Wolves, grandmas, straw, gold, Fairy Tales has them all, acted by a cast of dogs, grannies and kids with props including shredded brown paper and glimmering tinsel.

PUBLISHER
Walther König, Köln

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 6.75 x 9.5 in. / 116 pgs / 112 color.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 3/1/2006
Out of print

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2006 p. 144   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9783883759524 SDNR30
List Price: $38.00 CAD $45.00

AVAILABILITY
Not available

Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz: Travelers

Published by Aperture.
Fiction by Jonathan Lethem.

Within the simple constraints of a glass globe, the captivating images in Travelers conjure up entire sequences of imaginary worlds and events. Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz collaboratively create mesmerizing miniature snowbound environments, then record them in chilly color photographs. At first glance the work is playful; on closer observation, it often reveals darker narratives: Lone wanderers survey the frigid landscape, people and creatures exhibit unnatural tendencies and ill-defined crimes are committed. Martin & Muñoz create the figures--either adapting ready-mades or shaping them out of clay--then paint and position them within the environments they also construct. The final compositions are then captured in photographs that are meticulously stitched and adjusted digitally for the final effect.
This new book, featuring an original short story by acclaimed author Jonathan Lethem, contains the very best of Martin & Muñoz's most notable work, along with their newest series of panoramic narratives, for which they are already receiving accolades from the press--including a recent feature in The New York Times. Curator Dan Cameron has complimented the artists on their ability to juggle both visual and psychological charges: "At the same time that they produce riddle-like parables about modern existence, they do not shirk the artist's obligation to invent a new formulation of tactile and even sensual pleasure."
Walter Martin, born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1953 and Paloma Muñoz, born in Madrid in 1965, have been professional and personal partners since 1993. They live in Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania and maintain a studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Their work is in the collections of many prominent institutions, including the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Miami Art Museum. The artists are represented by P.P.O.W. Gallery in New York.

PUBLISHER
Aperture

BOOK FORMAT
Hardback, 7.5 x 8.5 in. / 96 pgs / 40 color.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 10/1/2008
No longer our product

DISTRIBUTION
Contact Publisher
Catalog:

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9781597110730 TRADE
List Price: $35.00 CAD $40.00

AVAILABILITY
Not Available

Phyllis Galembo: Maske

Published by Chris Boot.
Introduction by Chika Okeke-Agulu.

The clothes we wear invariably telegraph information about our identity, our place in society and the stories we wish to convey about ourselves. The fantastically colorful costumes specific to African and Caribbean rituals and celebrations go several steps further, transforming ordinary people into mythic figures and magicians, tricksters and gods, and symbolizing the roles their wearers play in the ancient dramas that form the cornerstones of their cultural heritage. Phyllis Galembo began photographing the characters and costumes of African masquerade in Nigeria in 1985, and since then she has continued developing her theme throughout Africa and the Caribbean. This volume collects 108 thrilling carnival photographs from Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Zambia and Haiti. In magnificent color shots, Galembo's subjects pose in striped bodysuits that cover the entire body, including the face; or outfits made entirely of bunched greenery; or a lacquered wooden mask topped with a headdress featuring full-body models of other characters; or an oversize misshapen animal head and plywood wings. The carnival characters, rooted in African religion and spirituality, are presented in chapters organized by tribal or carnival tradition and are accompanied by Galembo's personal commentary, shedding light on the characters and costumes portrayed, and on the events in which they play a pivotal role. Maske is a serious contribution to ethnographic study, a photo-essay about fashion and an assembly of superb images.

PUBLISHER

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 8.75 x 9.5 in. / 208 pgs / 108 color.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 9/30/2010
Out of print

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2010 p. 33   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9781905712175 TRADE
List Price: $45.00 CAD $55.00

AVAILABILITY
Not available

Maria Roosen: My Friends, Mis Amigos, Mes Amis, I Miei Amici, Meine Freunde, Mijn Vrienden

Published by Valiz.
Fiction by Hanne Hagenaars.

Dutch artist Maria Roosen loves magic. Not so much witchcraft as the small everyday wonders--like the way a drop of oil in a puddle of water suddenly reflects the world in 1,000 colors. Glass is one of Roosen's primary materials, and she is best known for her little glass carrots; her glass eyes; her glass penises dangling from a cord, somehow at once sweet and sorrowful, and calling to mind the work of Eva Hesse or Louise Bourgeois. Roosen also makes big white papier-mÇche spheres that she gives to her friends, asking them to make alter-ego faces on them and to wear them over their heads, or to share them with others at public events. In this sturdy accordion-folded book we are introduced to Maria's friends--in their masks--via a series of photographic portraits, while Hanne Hagenaars tells us about their adventures.

PUBLISHER
Valiz

BOOK FORMAT
Paperback, 5 x 6.5 in. / 32 pgs / 32 color.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 8/15/2006
Out of print

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2006 p. 122   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9789078088073 TRADE
List Price: $15.00 CAD $21.50

AVAILABILITY
Not available