Dickens and the artists: edited by Mark Bills
- Yale University Press, 2012
So much of the way we think about Victorian England is, I suspect, imagined through the prism of the novels of Charles Dickens, and this terrific book reveals the relationship that Dickens had with art, as well as examining the ways in which artists of the day imagined the world of Dickens. He lived through interesting times in the art world and was not averse to putting the boot in when something displeased him, as John Everett Millais found out in no uncertain terms! He was also uncommonly interested in which artists were chosen to illustrate his own work, and how that work should be represented, all of which makes this uncommonly interesting.
Supergods : what masked vigilantes, miraculous mutants, and a sun god from Smallville can teach us about being human by Grant Morrison
- Spiegel & Grau, 2011
Grant Morrison is one of a select band of comic book writers whose work is considered so extraordinary as to be worthy of serious literary study on its own terms. He also happens to be one of the genres most probing and influential historians and interpreters, and this book sees him radically recontextualising the history of the comic book in the 20th and 21st centuries via a discussion of his own work and life, as well as a more personal appraisal of his own relationship with these iconic characters.
Interviews with artists, 1966-2012 by Michael Peppiatt
- Yale University Press, 2012
Writer and curator Michael Peppiatt has put his relationship with many of the most notable artists of the 20th century to good use with a series of interviews and discussions held over many years. Over 40 of these revealing chats have been brought together here, and it’s always interesting to read the thought processes behind the work.
Dean Sunshine’s land of sun-shine : a snapshot of Melbourne street art 2010-2012 by Dean Sunshine
- DS Tech, 2012
Author/compiler Dean Sunshine has been obsessed with street-art since the 1980s, and with his trusty camera set out to capture as much of the passing parade as he could. This book really is a labour-of-love to a highly contested form of visual art, but you only need flick through a few pages to recognise the author’s devotion, as well as the (at times) astonishing and confronting vision and talent of the artists he is so keen to document.
