Tirzo Martha. I Wonder if They’ll Laugh When I’m Dead

Book coverTirzo Martha. I Wonder if They’ll Laugh When I’m Dead
Book coverTirzo Martha. I Wonder if They’ll Laugh When I’m Dead
Book coverTirzo Martha. I Wonder if They’ll Laugh When I’m Dead
Book coverTirzo Martha. I Wonder if They’ll Laugh When I’m Dead

An artist’s monograph with a slightly bitter title, for which the typography on the attractive cover is based on conceptual lines so that it constitutes an abstract rendering of the main matter. There, in the manner of a zooming-in close-up, we examine the work of Curaçao artist Tirzo Martha, whose oeuvre comprises large installations composed of many different components.

The book’s layout mirrors the way the visitor to an exhibition wanders through it: first you observe the artwork as a whole and then you go in closer, practically pushing your nose onto it, to examine the details. On the photo pages the unprinted white area runs as a kind of track leading between and through the images and carrying their titles, which sometimes appear as part of the image. Incidentally an Otastar binding would have allowed the book to lie open rather better.

The use of two different paper stocks injects a sense of calm, the text pages, seemingly inserted at random, have been printed on expensive Cairn Natural kraft paper, and the images – this is quite unusual – on MC My Sol mechanical paper. As this is paper that eventually fades and discolours, the makers have clearly elected to make this book more than a snapshot. Here we see a graphic concept carried to perfection.

 

Edition: 2017
Author: Rob Perrée (ed.)
Language: English, translated by Jane Hall, Michael Meert
Publisher: Jap Sam Books, Heijningen
Graphic designer: Mainstudio, Amsterdam (Edwin van Gelder, Patrick Sanders)
Lithographer: Graphius, Ghent (BE)
Printer: Graphius, Ghent (BE)
Binder: Graphius, Ghent (BE)
Size book block (w x h x d in mm): 165 x 230 x 17
Number of pages: 304 p.
Print run: 1,000
Price: € 29.50
ISBN: 978 94 90322 88 5
Font and foundry: Agipo (RP Digital Type Foundry)
Binding style: sewn soft cover with dust jacket glued to the spine
Material: 90gsm Cairn Eco, Kraft (Christiaan Janssen), 90gsm UPM Sol Mat (Igepa) (interior), 350gsm Cairn Board, Natural Kraft (Christiaan Janssen) (cover), 120gsm Cairn Eco, Natural White (Christiaan Janssen) (dust jacket)