Book Recommendations
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| Book Cover Illustration done by Matt Sundstrom |
PDX 100 by Matt Sundstrom - Wanting to expand my collection of art books and zines, I happened upon this small book at a comic book shop. It contains 100 ink drawings of Portland, Oregon, all illustrated by Matt Sundstrom; an illustrator and designer.
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| Illustration done by Matt Sundstrom |
The illustrations depict quaint settings, the varying thicknesses in line work orienting the reader in a specific space. Some drawings are left with no indicators of what location is being shown, and this allows the reader to place a story of their own on the unmarked location, especially if they aren't familiar with Portland. In this way, the illustration and reader share information. It becomes more of an interactive experience than just peering at a collection of drawings.
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| Illustration done by Matt Sundstrom |
The absence of human life is what drew me to this book. Even though the touch of humanity echoes throughout the deserted buildings and empty cars, there's a kind of quiet contemplation I feel when studying each page uncluttered by bodies. As a result, I don't think of this book as a mapping of a location (even though its intentions ring loud and clear that its exactly just that), it feels more like a meditative piece to me, a practice to orientate the self.
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| Book cover illustration done by Maryanna Hoggatt |
Adult Babysitting Volume One by Maryanna Hoggatt - On to something more light-hearted. Maryanna Hoggat is a freelance illustrator who wrote and illustrated a small autobiographical zine of her times as a bartender.
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| Illustration & story done by Maryanna Hoggatt |
It's a pretty quick read. This piece felt more relatable than humorous.
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| Illustration & story done by Maryanna Hoggatt |
This is my favorite page because of how 'The Basic Materials and Tools' kind of pretends to be a table of contents. There's no page numbers and no real title references for chapters. It reminds me of a drunkard's state of mind where information just floats, order is lost, and playfulness abounds.
You can click on each of the artists' names to find more information on them.
Happy Monday everyone!
You can click on each of the artists' names to find more information on them.
Happy Monday everyone!
2 comments:
A few years ago I moved across country from Brooklyn to Portland. Along the way I began to document the journey in drawings. That turned into www.driveintothesun.com When I reached Portland I still had a lot of paper left so I used the rest to explore my new home. I'm glad that you found it interesting, thanks for your review!
Matt: Your very welcome! Thank you for the back story and for drawing this book.
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