London-based Dutch visual artist Magali Reus's monograph.
A book that embodies the artist's thoughts on "objecthood." The design is by Amsterdam-based designer Irma Boom, and based on the artist's three new series, "Dearest" (2018), "Empty Every Night" (2019), and "Settings" (2019-2021), three books are taped together, various types of paper are used in the text, and the layered effect of particularly transparent paper is utilized to create a playful and effective visual impact, resulting in an extremely sophisticated construction that can be considered a must-have for collectors and an immersive experience for the reader.
Renowned for her unique perspective on the nature and expression of contemporary sculpture, the artist creates works that accumulate and layer visual details derived from a wide range of forms and contexts—from domestic to industrial, and from functionality to decoration—developing them into compelling objects.
Designed by Irma Boom, one of today's most highly acclaimed graphic designers, this book presents a unique approach to creation by revealing the sources, visual imagery, and connections that led to the expression of the three emblematic series mentioned above. The form of a "book" was conceived as a space that allows the reader to connect more closely and intimately with the artist's work, presenting various materials such as 3D technical renderings, production plans, full-scale models, samples, and research photographs, as well as close-up details, while the works themselves are introduced in alternating views. By making her works, production processes, and research materials public, the artist allows the reader to decipher her unique perspective on the circulation of motifs from one medium to another, as well as on hierarchy, representation, and production systems, and to explore the balance between nature and technology, and the impact of human activity in post-industrial society.
This book gives full credit to the artist's ongoing thinking on "objecthood" and the strange, defiant agency of the objects and forms she creates. Comprising three separate volumes bound together using various types of paper, this book is itself a powerful object.
It includes three contributions analyzing the artist's work from art-historical and literary perspectives: "Leather and Logistics" by art critic and curator Anthony Huberman, "The Other Hour" by artist and art historian Philomena Epps, and "A Love Affair" by artist and writer Sean Burns.
Edited by Frederik Pesch of "Irma Boom Office" and Irma Boom.
A collectible publication on Magali Reus' thinking of objecthood (an immersive and highly refined artist's book—three assembled volumes, different types of paper, transparency play on layers—based on three new series by the Dutch artist).
Renowned for her particular take on what contemporary sculpture can be and express, Magali Reus draws on a vast range of formal influences and references, from the domestic to the industrial, the functional to the decorative, creating works that evolve as a fascinating accumulation and layering of visual details.
Designed by Irma Boom, one of the most prestigious graphic designers active today, this artist's book offers a unique approach to art making through the unveiling of the sources, visual imagery, and connections that gave birth to the realization of three emblematic series by Magali Reus: "Dearest," 2018; "Empty Every Night," 2019; and "Settings," 2019–2021. Conceived as a space where the viewer can take their time to get a closer, more intimate connection to her work, the publication alternates views of the works, close–up details, and various materials—from a 3D technical rendering and production calculations to mock ups, samples, and research photography. Sharing her production, process, and research archive, Reus allows the reader to decipher the circulation of motifs from one medium to another, her specific take on the ideas of hierarchy, representation, and systems of production, and how she explores the tensions between nature, technology, and the impact of postindustrial human activity. The book gives full credit to her ongoing thinking on objecthood and how the objects and forms she creates take on a strange, disobedient agency. Made of three separate volumes, featuring different paper and taped together, this collectible publication is itself a powerful object.
Three contributions by art critic and curator Anthony Huberman ("Leather and Logistics"), writer and art historian Philomena Epps ("The Other Hour"), and artist and writer Sean Burns ("A Love Affair") analyze the artist's practice through art historical and literary perspectives.
Born in 1981 in The Hague, London-based artist Magali Reus is one of the most acclaimed new voices in contemporary sculpture. Renowned for her interest in the relationship between mass-produced articles and the human body in the context of today's digital society, Magali Reus draws on a vast range of formal influences and references, from the domestic to the industrial, the functional to decorative, creating pieces that evolve as an accumulation and layering of sculptural details. Taking everyday objects as starting points, her work operates on a visual register as a formal configuration, but also as a choreography of emotional and physical experience. For her, objects like fridges, padlocks, seating, and street curbs are not seen only as facilitators of our everyday actions, but also as physical receptacles for our bodies. She is thus interested in positioning them not only as shells or providers, but as objects imbued with their own sense of personality. Detached from their surroundings and translated into immaculate, abstract forms they become uncanny and perplexing, acquiring a very different life, which is almost theatrical. Colliding the macro logic of daily architecture with the more metaphorical projections of a body inhabiting space, Magali Reus' practice focuses on the physical and psychic space of objecthood.
