BLACK, QUEER, AND UNTOLD: A New Archive of Designers, Artists, and Trailblazers, a beautiful object that's very informative

BLACK, QUEER, AND UNTOLD: A New Archive of Designers, Artists, and Trailblazers
JON KEY
Levine Querido (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$35.00 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Growing up in Seale, Alabama as a Black Queer kid, then attending the Rhode Island School of Design as an undergraduate, Jon Key hungered to see himself in the fields of Art and Design. But in lectures, critiques, and in the books he read, he struggled to see and learn about people who intersected with his identity or who GOT him. So he started asking himself, What did it mean to be a graphic designer with his point of view? What did it mean to be a Black graphic designer? A Queer graphic designer? Someone from the South? Could his identity be communicated through a poster or a book? How could identity be archived in a design canon that has consistently erased contributions by designers who were not white, straight, and male?

In Black, Queer, & Untold , acclaimed designer and artist Jon Key answers these questions and manifests the book he and so many others wish they had when they were coming up. He pays tribute to the incredible designers, artists, and people who came before and provides them an enduring, reverential stage—and in doing so, gifts us a book that immediately takes its place among the creative arts canon.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: A man whose way to view the world is through the lens of visual design is a rare soul, one of a tiny brotherhood who embrace this view.

Now imagine knowing this about yourself, then running into a wall erected to exclude you because you're Black. Overcoming that hurdle, if you do, only now to realize you still must jump the huge hurdles placed in both directions for you because you're Queer.

That's Jon Key's life. In putting his experiences as a Black, Queer, creative man into context, he's offered us beautiful images, lovely descriptive words for them that are both evocative and analytical, and details about them, their creators, and the milieu in which they were created.

No matter where you go, there we are.

An example of the page design.

Text from the period, nineteenth century America; illustration of Mary.

What Author Key does with this beautfully designed and carefully considered book is show and tell us, from our variety of privileges, how far we have—and have not—come as a society.

I cannot imagine this performer's act would be possible to present in the 21st century. Loss, or gain?

I don't know if these images will convey to you the visual and cultural richness of the read. As expected for a book by a very visual author, it is a beautiful object. I'm also deeply glad I now know so much more about Queer, and Black Queer, life through the US's history of multiple oppressions.

A book to have on your shelves for inspiration, edification, and uplift.

ART RULES: How great artists think, create and work, great gift for your blocked-creative giftee

ART RULES: How great artists think, create and work
CASSIE PACKARD
Frances Lincoln Ltd
$24.99 "flexi-bind" (whatever that is), available now

Rating: 4.5* of five (the "Pink Ding" taken off from five)

The Publisher Says: The best thing about rules is that you can break them: here are over 100 mantras for anyone interested in creating great art.

What can we learn from great artists? When we hold their practices up to the light, what do we see – and how might those encounters reshape our own thinking about art?

Delving into the attitudes, working practices and mantras of artists hailing from the eighteenth century to the present day, Art Rules distills over 100 insights into the lives of artists inside the studio and out. This book is animated by questions: How do artists think about creativity? What forms can process take? How might artists craft a personal definition of success?

Drawing upon art historical research and artist interviews, the accessible takeaways on these virtuosos’ varied practices pack a punch. This lively compendium offers up a wealth of perspectives from an international, intergenerational group of artists working across media. Art historical heavyweights including Louise Bourgeois, Marcel Duchamp, Frida Kahlo and Henri Matisse appear alongside relatively newer names such as Kerry James Marshall, Ana Mendieta and Mika Rottenberg, as well as exciting artists on the rise like Emilie Louise Gossiaux and Madeline Hollander.

Some of the insights may seem more practical, while others trend conceptual; some may unearth existing knowledge, while others may come as a surprise; some will stay with you forever, while others you’ll only need to try once. Art Rules allows readers to either dip in at random or read from cover to cover for lessons in how great artists think, make and work.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: There is a lot to be said for listening to the thoughts of experts in their field. In this case, artists talk about the nature and the process of creating art...more broadly applicable to creativity as well. The artworks shown are so beautiful it's easy to see a case for giving it (to self or others) as a browser's book of gorgeous stuff to look at!

My favorite thing about this beauty as a gift is that it doesn't have the "are you blocked? let me help you" vibe that lots of creativity-focued books do. It can sneak in under a resistant recipient's radar. That is no small feat. Author Packard has a deft touch, honed in many of the art world's best wordy venues. A partial list of her credits: Art in America, Artforum, BOMB, frieze, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Quality venues, one and all, and her prose shows it. Here are some sample spreads to show the æsthetic of the object you're gifting:


The Contents page...a clear statement of clarity and quality.


Introduction's part-title. What's the deal with pink this year? Me no likee.


Is there ever a bad time to include a Cézanne image of Mont Sainte-Victoire? I do no think so. The advice to seek inspiration in your surroundings, in nature, in the physical place you live, is timeless and always correct.


Never underestimate the generative power of showing off. You might not have a vernissage...yet, but you can gather some folks and show 'em what you got. Florine Stettheimer's painting is both lovely and inspiring.


The shorter pieces are mostly like this, simple and designed to be absorbed without deep contemplation of the art. They're still both pithy and useful, as the whole book is, while being very clearly designed with the visual person in mind. Absorbing advice is always easier when it comes packaged in your preferred wrappings.

Terrific way to support a fearful or blocked aspiring visual artist or visually-oriented creative soul. Booksgiving never had a clearer winner.