In this overview of portraits by Dutch painter Jasper Krabbé it is the works that come first, cost what it may. Often Krabbé uses existing material such as envelopes, wrapping paper and book pages. The images are arranged one after another, each with a facing page that is blank save for the image number at the edge, and with the exception of a section about halfway through where the works face each other. The numbers refer to the list of titles and technical details – date, dimensions and technique – at the end of the book.
Graphic design duo Haller Brun have here opted for soberness: the portraits speak for themselves and there is no further explanatory text. The spine is glued off, the pink endpapers are sewn in and there is a loose cloth dust jacket that looks slightly messy – but that is the nature of the material.
As it happens the panel were not particularly enamoured of the artist’s work, but they took the view that they would simply have to ‘get over it’. What’s important is that the designers have perfectly fulfilled their task as intermediaries: the concept works, and it’s functional. They have resisted the temptation to blow the whole thing up into a glossy. The canvases are allowed to speak for themselves – and that is an achievement.