Huge congrats to Doctor Kelsey P. Norman's first book release, RELUCTANT RECEPTION from Cambridge University Press, for which I happily provided cover art and design.

Let's face it; academic books are notoriously fugly, even those put out by top university presses. A quick skim through any academic press's catalogue will aptly demonstrate such.

And if you zero in on any press's “middle eastern studies” department, you'll see that they are far from exempt of the clichés of American mass media; women in niqab abound, a close-up on an exotic Arab face, or perhaps crowds of angry or miserable looking brown people, or maybe... a photo of Islamic architecture, even if the subject matter has nothing whatsoever to do with architecture.

Honestly, clichés and stereotypes aside, it still wouldn't be so bad if the designs were actually good. Terrible typographic treatments and horrendous compositions are aplenty with academic books.

Not on my watch (Humblebrag without the humble 😎).

#Work #Design #Publication

In fact, my plan entailed the exact opposite: fully chronicling the tour with Ramy Essam (which ended up being more of an eye opening experience than I ever could have imagined), followed by the detailed chronicling of getting the newly acquired house (and studio) in order. The latter is something I thought wouldn't need more than two weeks at most.

I've been back in Houston since January 27th, and I shit you not all I've been doing since has been attempting to get the newly acquired house (and studio) in order, and I am still so not there yet.

One more week, I think. One more week and then everything should at least be in just about enough order that I can maintain a level of equilibrium that would allow for getting actual work done and back into a steady stream of online updates (not to mention reading, exercise, socializing, and y'know... life).

By the by, I'll be in New York again next month. March 26th to be precise, for the official launch (and signing) of WE ARE ALL THINGS at Printed Matter (231 11th Avenue, New York, NY 10001) together with Elliott Colla in a discussion moderated by none other than Molly Crabapple.

The book (or chapbook rather) is available for pre-order right now, by the way, directly from our admirably print-obsessed publishers Radix Media.

The great Seth Tobocman had this to say about it: “We Are All Things is the perfect collaboration between an artist and a writer. Words and pictures combine to show us what cannot be seen and to tell us what must remain unspoken. A tiny room in a contemporary Arab city becomes the gateway to an infinite horizon. The universal experience of desire and loss. A small, but stunning, work of art.”

#journal #houston #nyc #work #publication