Osamu Yokonami – Mizugi

Seasons Series draws inspiration from Kim Ki-Duk’s seminal film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring in which different actors, for each season, play the same character who is abandoned on a lake next to a floating monastery. The film specifically focuses on the shifting nature of the seasons and its effects on the protagonist’s fosterage. The books take their lead from the film in that simple and profound ideas, human passions and spirituality can be perceived differently depending on the season. [spb_text_block title="" animation="none" animation_delay="0" simplified_controls="yes" custom_css_percentage="no" padding_vertical="0" padding_horizontal="0" margin_vertical="0" border_size="0" border_styling_global="default" width="1/1" el_position="first last"][/spb_text_block] [spb_toggle title="READ MORE" open="false" width="1/1" el_position="first last"]

Seasons Series is a quarterly book series, in which a group of artists are brought together under one vision with a focus on each artist’s singular way of seeing. Each of the books in the series will focus on differing subjects and all monographs will showcase the artist’s unique approach to photography. All the books in the series will maintain the same size, dimensions and page count. The first 25 of each will come as a special edition containing a print. [/spb_toggle] [spb_toggle title="PUBLICATION DETAILS" open="false" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] Published in 2018 by Libraryman First edition of 500 copies ISBN 978–91–88113–18–4 21,5 cm x 27,5 cm. 32 pages. 22 color plates. Color offset printed paperbound hardcover. Linen thread bound. Beige headband. Typography on front cover, spine and back cover in white foil. [/spb_toggle]  

Unicorn by Bela Borsodi (b. 1966, Austrian) is comprised of a series of seemingly abstract still life photographs, which upon further inspection reveal themselves to be tautly illustrative photographic rebus puzzles — allusive devices that use pictures to represent words or parts of words. When viewed without context, the photographs contain a seemingly random conflation of imagery and items, but slowly and through observation, patterns emerge through clues laid throughout the frame. Objects appear precisely placed, and letters indicate verbal additions or subtractions. You start to break down the images into sectors, forcing yourself to look at the photographs in a manner unlike your regular ways of seeing. You excoriate the frame, searching for clues. By the time you’ve solved the puzzle, you’ve also luxuriated into a new photographic realm. [spb_text_block title="" animation="none" animation_delay="0" simplified_controls="yes" custom_css_percentage="no" padding_vertical="0" padding_horizontal="0" margin_vertical="0" border_size="0" border_styling_global="default" width="1/1" el_position="first last"][/spb_text_block] [spb_toggle title="READ MORE" open="false" width="1/1" el_position="first last"]

Importantly noted, Borsodi’s images are composed entirely in camera. While from afar they might seem to be abstract collages combining unconnected images and overlaid typography, Borsodi’s control of composition is nothing if not entirely ordered. The seemingly flat typographic clues are in fact three dimensional hand crafted letters placed among the objects. Through these elements, the images do two things at once — they aesthetically compel as visual art must and also work as a thematic device. “They are ruthlessly governed by utmost restriction and inflexibility,” says Borsodi. “Creating a solvable functional puzzle AND a cohesive attractive meaningful photograph with a message was my initiative.” So as not to deny any of us the pleasure of solving Borsodi’s intriguing compositions, too much explanation of any image’s meaning here should be avoided. But it is important to state that each image’s word retains a strong connection to the artist himself, and in some ways can be viewed as a subliminal summary of the artist’s ethos and character. [/spb_toggle] [spb_toggle title="PUBLICATION DETAILS" open="false" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] Published in 2018 by Libraryman First edition of 700 copies. ISBN 978–91–88113–15–3 23,5 cm x 30 cm. 40 pages. 20 color plates. Offset printed clothbound hardcover. Linen thread bound. White headband. Authentic tip-in image on front cover with typography on spine and back cover in gold foil. [/spb_toggle]