{"title":"Printed Matter, Incorporated","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780894390999","title":"Depreciating Assets","description":"Depreciating Assets is a new artists’ book by Jessica Vaughn investigating labor, diversity politics, and the material environment of the American workplace.  With a new lens to the artist’s multidisciplinary practice, the project examines how affirmative action and other office equity measures are intersected by corporate infrastructure and, specifically, the physical layout of office space. Across four interwoven sections and related appendices, Vaughn assembles her photographs and critical writings alongside xeroxed images, diversity training video stills, and manipulated open source documents of the US Government.  The project considers and distills the symptoms of late 20th and 21st century work culture produced by open office plans and modular architecture’s promise of malleability, compliance, and universality — provisions that bid for increased efficiency and productivity at the expense of visibility for Black workers and workers of color.  Vaughn looks at how minimalist design gestures of the modern office (as envisioned by Rem Koolhaas’ formative essay “Typical Plan,” and Herman Miller’s Ethospace brochures) cannot exist outside the conditions of race, class and labor. The project also includes an interview between Vaughn and curator Magdalyn Asimakis, in which the two discuss the structural failings of arts and cultural institutions to practice equitable inclusion of artists of color, or to develop a language and praxis in support of diverse programming that extends beyond compliance, optics, and concerns of the market.  Vaughn draws connections between the operations of these institutions to that of the corporate environment, and discusses the ways in which she manipulates their commonalities through the material of her work. In its design, Depreciating Assets intentionally replicates the style, materials, and colors outlined by the US Government Publishing Office—standards set to ensure design efficiency and the economical production of their internal documents.  The book draws from the familiar copyshop palette of Venetian blue, tan pink, salmon, green and brown, and uses varied paper stocks in accordance with Paper Standard specifications.  In doing so the project takes on and examines the homogeneity imposed by so-called ‘corporate efficiency measures,’ and the fundamental tension between diversity initiatives and one-size-fits-all approaches to office resources. The publication concludes with an afterword by the author contextualizing the project’s themes within the contemporary reality of global pandemic, economic precarity, and protests against racist state violence.  Here Vaughn explores how in the absence of an adequate governmental response to structural problems, workplaces implement ad-hoc solutions (such as plexi-dividers) that still leave workers vulnerable and at risk — most acutely, Black workers who are often underinsured.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295421641077,"sku":"9780894390999","price":18.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780894390999_7741b45b-f4c8-444f-9d0a-d24e55360ae1.jpg?v=1786015973"},{"product_id":"9780894391033","title":"Jason Polan: The Post Office","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA collection of whimsical mail art sent to and from the late illustrator known for his playful sketches and line drawings, with contributions from Marcel Dzama, Stefan Marx and more\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis volume engages with the broader artistic practice of artist and illustrator Jason Polan, famous for his ink sketches of the city's people and places, as collected in the cult favorite tome \u003ci\u003eEvery Person in New York\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eThe Post Office\u003c\/i\u003e collects a body of materials Polan exchanged through the mail with friends, fans and penpals, as well as the artwork that he in turn received, often whimsical drawings and short text works. In gathering the material, the project reflects on Polan's affinity for the US Postal Service and his commitment to mail art as a means to build networks and make connections—a practice he maintained over many years with both friends and strangers alike. The result is a new perspective on Polan's legacy, highlighted through an exchange that is playful and often touching, the contours of which offer an expanded portrait of the artist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJason Polan\u003c\/b\u003e (1982–2020) was a Michigan-born, New York City–based artist and illustrator known for his humorous and prolific output, sketching strangers, art-world figures, celebrities, friends, objects and the things he spotted on his many museum visits. His illustrations have appeared in \u003ci\u003eMetropolis Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eARTnews\u003c\/i\u003e and his books have generated wide acclaim. His work also appeared in a regular column in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, and on apparel in a collaboration with Uniqlo. His books include \u003ci\u003eEvery Person in New York\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eEvery Piece of Art in the Museum of Modern Art\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295536263541,"sku":"9780894391033","price":28.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780894391033_e2da0224-16c4-4f16-9f84-88ede8a7dd11.jpg?v=1786015976"},{"product_id":"9780894390852","title":"A Book About Colab (and Related Activities)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn archival history of New York City’s most prolific artist collective, including Jimmy DeSana, Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith and more\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book traces the output of Collaborative Projects Inc. (aka Colab), the highly energetic gathering of young downtown New York City artists active from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s. Advocating a form of cultural activism that was purely artist-driven, the group created artworks, curated shows and engaged in discourse that responded to the political themes and predicaments of its time. With extensive documentation of the printed material and media steadily produced in the course of its collaborative undertakings, as well as many firsthand accounts, the book displays the diverse aesthetics and concerns of the group as it embarked on \u003ci\u003eThe Real Estate Show\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Times Square Show\u003c\/i\u003e and other projects.\u003cbr\u003eEdited by Printed Matter’s former executive director Max Schumann, the full-color publication presents a detailed view of Colab—both through the work created and in the artists’ own voices—and represents the fullest account of Colab’s output to date. This second printing comes at a time of renewed and heightened interest in a bygone era of New York City’s vibrant arts culture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eArtists include:\u003c\/b\u003e Liza Béar, Jimmy DeSana, Jane Dickson, Bradley Eros, Barbara Ess, Coleen Fitzgibbon, Jenny Holzer, Ann Messner, Alan W. Moore, James Nares, Marcia Resnick, Judy Rifka, Christy Rupp, Kiki Smith, Reese Williams, Robin Winters.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295543112053,"sku":"9780894390852","price":34.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780894390852_b6733527-baad-4c13-8520-e6e7afebdf2d.jpg?v=1786015973"},{"product_id":"9780894391026","title":"Five Stories for Philip Guston","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFive contemporary writers respond to Guston’s work through imaginative fiction that proves his continual influence on today’s creative culture\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the short story collection \u003ci\u003eFive Stories for Philip Guston\u003c\/i\u003e, edited by Emmie Francis and Mark Godfrey, contemporary writers Christopher Alessandrini, Ben Okri, Thessaly La Force, Lou Stoppard and Audrey Wollen have created new fiction in conversation with Philip Guston (1913–80) and his painting. Christopher Alessandrini’s queer, drily witty “Maverick Road” brings us to the contemporary environs of Guston’s upstate haven. Ben Okri’s “Bloodymindedness” is a stark portrait of violence and subversion. In “Looking,” Thessaly La Force writes of the lingering power of painting and reputation with a tribute to Guston’s exhibition in Venice’s Gallerie dell’Accademia. Lou Stoppard’s courtroom crucible “A Verdict” is a study in Kafkaesque atmosphere. Audrey Wollen works deftly with a kind of Oulipo constraint exercise—Giotto is there, but is Guston himself in “The Line”? Look for him, and he is everywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312000971125,"sku":"9780894391026","price":27.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780894391026.jpg?v=1786015975"},{"product_id":"the-baader-meinhof-affair","title":"The Baader-Meinhof Affair","description":"The first publication from Printed Matter's Publishing Program for Emerging Artists sees Erin Cosgrove taking the romance novel for a ride; producing a tempestuous tale of terrorism and true love.  In the cloistered environment of an exclusive East Coast college, the young and the restless fall in love while romancing the ghosts of the '70s Germany's Baader-Meinhof gang.  This send up of the romance genre comes complete with tongue-in-cheek cliff notes and commentary for the confused. A page-turning tour de force of the dangerous passions and politics of the privileged.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57483452875125,"sku":"9780894390104","price":10.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780894390104.jpg?v=1786178619"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/publisher-printed-matter-incorporated.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}