Where a book is on a shelf
and then on another shelf
Hi there. This week the newsletter will rotate around a book that I have read recently.
I am a comics collector and enthusiast. I still have gaps in my collection, but I can affirm that is a pretty solid collection. One of the biggest gaps was Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. I fixed this hole buying the book around November.
I have this rule: No matter the condition of the book, I will always buy the cheapest option possible. That means that a lot of my books and comics are second-hand copies, with inscriptions, greasy hands marks, folded pages and yellow smoky ones. I really don’t care about all this things as long as there are all the pages and the book is still readable. I don’t care about these silly flaws and I value this kind of books even more, because they have a story to tell.
For example Asterios Polyp (my copy) has a nice story, it was sold for 7€ by a second-hand online shop, and it was shipped from the USA to Italy. Its travel was almost 3 months long. Once arrived to Rome I discovered that it was a former Library book.
I imagine how many hands have handled the book. Baltimore kids and adults reading it on their beds or sofas. And then one day it is too damaged to be hosted by the Baltimore County Public Library and it is sold for 1 $ as a part of a stock. Then it’s placed on a dark shelf into a warehouse. Then I click on Buy Now and 3 months later it is on a bright shelf into a Roman bedroom. That’s nice.
My name is Federico and welcome to Representations of Architecture #6.
Insights
This is one of the first shot of the graphic novel. When I saw this interior I already knew that I was reading something meaningful. I instantly spotted LeCorbusier LC2 Sofa, Mies’ Barcelona Chair and Marcel Breuer’s Wassily arm-chair (currently in the living room of my parents). What other design objects can you find?
David Macaulay is an english illustrator. I drew multiple books, every one of them diving into different topics as Castles, Cities, Mills, Ships, you name it! I love his hatchwork and his crisp line. He’s always able to choose the best view possible to represent the concepts that he’s trying to convey. This image is taken from his book Underground, where he explores the world that lies beneath us. You can find all his books on AbeBooks for pennies.
Very beautiful links
Have you seen the very first image of the newsletter? When I saw it I instantly reminded of two great images where the perspective is used in a super smart way. The first , and obviously the main reference for Mazzucchelli’s image, is this one:
One of the most iconic covers of The New Yorker. The author: Saul Steinberg. From 9th Ave to Japan isn’t so far after all. A really clever way to use perspective to achieve a total image. We will have the chance to see Steinberg’s work in detail, but not now.
The second image that came to my mind is this other perspective from Andrea Pazienza’s Pertini (humoristic comics strip on Sandro Pertini, Italian President of the Republic during the late 70s to mid 80s). In the vignette Pertini looks at the whole italian peninsula from the alps. He says: “Mah! Let’s hope for the best!”
Coming back to Steinberg here some great links:
American comic artist Chris Ware talks about Saul Steinberg. To read the full article is necessary to register, but it’s free and you don’t even need to confirm the e-mail, so please do it.
In the last Pixar movie Soul, I (and a thousand of other persons) found a hint of Steinberg in the characters of Jerry. You can have a look in this video below:
Talking about total images, the Getty Museum released a browsable Every Building in Sunset Strip by Ed Ruscha. You can find it a this link (better from desktop).
Sweet IG pages
Carlo Stanga is an italian illustrator and former architect. During his illustration course on Domestika, Stanga says that his 3 main references where Paul Hogarth, David Hockney and obviously Saul Steinberg (that was an architect too). It seems clear from his illustrations.
In last week’s newsletter I briefly talked about Richard McGuire’s Here. This is his IG page, where he shares a bit of his work but mostly a lot of incredible and forgotten artworks and references like this one on top.
Misc
Yeah but what is Asterios Polyp about?
It’s the story of two brothers and a big and deep love, but I really don’t want to spoil you the experience of reading this majestic book. So I will just leave some images down here:
And now some spam: with one my friends (Fabio) we decided to partecipate to a contest called Zine Quest hosted by the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. Our RPG-Zine (a playable small book) is called Procrastination Day, and it’s the story of Mario: a serial procrastinator stucked in a temporal loop.
End of spam: if you wish to know more click here and read all about it.
RepsOfArch #6 is over. Wow, time flies.
See you next week, enjoy your week-end.
Ciao,
Federico
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