Books by Jonathan Berger
Michael Stipe: Volume 1
by Michael Stipe, Jonathan Berger
“Volume 1 focuses on my timeline, on the work I've done all along, parallel to the band and back to my early 20s.” ―Michael Stipe
Volume 1 is the first in a series of publications presenting different aspects of Michael Stipe’s multifaceted artistic practice.
Volume 1 includes a focused presentation of 35 images, bringing together 37 years of Stipe’s practice of creating and collecting photographic materials, in addition to posing as a subject in the photographs of others. The book centers around his unconventional and deeply personal understanding of queerness, conflating figures in his own life with those in American history and popular culture. Throughout the book, the formal qualities of images often relate in a poetic or lyrical way, allowing for unlikely juxtapositions and connections to emerge between subjects. These relationships transcend logical associations between time, place and social structures.
Volume 1 is produced in collaboration with artist Jonathan Berger and designer Julian Bittiner.
As an undergraduate studio art major at the University of Georgia, Michael Stipe (born 1960) studied photography and painting before leaving school upon the formation of R.E.M., the band for which he served as frontman and singer/songwriter until its dissolution in 2011. The sensibility that he began to develop during his time as an art student transferred to the spectrum of his work for R.E.M., from art directing all graphic, video and stage design, to writing, composing and performance, and his iconoclastic personal style. Stipe’s visibility as a media figure in the popular culture of the 1980s and ‘90s left an indelible mark on the aesthetic trends of the time, many of which have trickled down to contemporary culture.
Copies
No copies available.
James 'Son Ford' Thomas: The Devil and His Blues
by William Ferris, Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Thomas Lax, Jonathan Berger, David Serlin, Velma Allen
James ‘Son Ford’ Thomas: The Devil and His Blues accompanies the eponymous show at Studio Museum and New York University’s 80WSE Gallery, the largest ever devoted to Thomas’ work. Thomas (1926–1993)―a self-taught African-American artist and musician who lived in severe poverty for most of his life―created small, often painted clay busts of friends and family and people he met. "When I do my sculpturing work things just roll across my mind. I lay down and dream about the sculpture," he wrote. "That gives you in your head what to do. If you can’t hold it in your head, you can’t do it in your hand." Nearly 100 of these sculptures are displayed alongside full-bleed installation shots and text contributions by David Serlin, William Ferris, Thomas J. Lax and Kinshasha Holman Conwill, among others.
Copies
No copies available.