Date: Sat, 19 Aug 1995 16:39:43 +0100 From: "Andrew W." (G.S.Walker@DURHAM.AC.UK) Subject: Simon Larbalestier/v23 Okay, something of interest to all of you who are at least partially=20 attracted to the covers of all those 4AD tracks you possess. =20 * * * The Art and Craft of Montage by Simon Larbalestier * * * publisher: Mitchell Beazley 1993 ISBN 1 85732 099 9 This costs =A316.99 Sterling in the UK, and has taken me a while to track= =20 down myself, alerted by an artist friend who contributed to the book... Simon has contributed lots of photograph and montage work ideas to=20 v23/Vaughan Oliver, and many of the 4AD covers bare his work and credits.= =20 For example, the dog on the Pixies' Here Comes Your Man was one of his=20 earlier pieces. =20 Here is a snip from the dust jacket; "Contemporary artists are exploiting innovative collage techniques and=20 materials to advance the art of montage beyond simple cut-and-paste=20 methods to encompass photocopier art and photographic manipulations. The=20 stimulating results can be seen on pop-music packaging, advertising=20 posters and magazine covers. An inspiring guide to this fascinating medium, The Art and Craft of=20 Montage offers practical information on a wealth of modern and=20 traditional collage techniques from a leading practitioner in the field..." This means it generally gets dumped in the "Craft" section in bookshops,=20 rather than in "Art" where I've been looking...... I'm telling you all this because I reckon this is a good buy. It has some= =20 144 pages and the book is a little wider than A4, in full colour. There=20 are easily more colour plates than text, which is still informative and=20 gives all the secrets away as to how the covers always look so ethereal. If you've ever looked in detail at the 4AD calenders, you'll see plenty of names like Terry Dowling (lectures at Newcastle Poly, where Vaughan did =20 his degree), Russell Mills (another lecturer), Shinro Ohtake (whose work Kristen Hersh adores, and was given some original pieces as a present from Vaughan) and Simon Larbalestier himself. The book contains loads of work by= =20 Simon, as well as contributions from the above artists, and others in the= =20 field. You'll recognise a few of the designs, and be introduced to the=20 work of equally impressive artists such as Danusia Schejbal, Jon Boatfield = and=20 Andrew Hirniak. I personally bought the book for an insight into the techniques Simon=20 has developed, such as his use of colour and varnishes, and his montages of= =20 printed scraps of paper and found images (remember the 'eyes' he used=20 in the Pixies albums?, see p112 for details!) But it's also an extention=20 of my 4AD collection, with plenty of pictures to compliment the covers.=20 The text (which includes the history of montage and collage, as well as=20 information on use of paper and mechanical reproduction) gives the book=20 perhaps more depth and detail than the otherwise excellent "This Rimy=20 River" by v23 that some of us (myself included) have shelled out for. I suspect the print run was fairly limited, but if you can't get the book= =20 from book stores in the US, you could try the publishers; Mitchell Beazley International Ltd Michelin House 81 Fulham Road London SW3 6RB Or maybe from Simon himself... Simon Larbalestier 12 Longstone Road London SW17 9BN Hope this is of interest. I'm sorry if this isn't philosophical enough=20 *kelli* but I left my adjectives at home...I agree with your comments=20 about the lack of such things on the list recently. Ah well. Andrew Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 11:31:18 -0800 From: Jorge Rafael Subject: Simon Larbalestier I found a great book at my local art store yesterday. It features step-by-step instructions to various techniques on the art of collage. Compiled by Simon Larbalestier (Heidi Berry/Red House Painters photography) it is called "The art and craft of collage" it is published by Chronicle books out of San Francisco and it was published back in 1995. It sells for $20.00. There is a spread done by Vaughn Oliver in the book. A great guide for anyone interested in this medium.