Valentina Stieger presents her first artist book Streamlined for Dispatch, which focuses and expands on her series of works with the same title: a series of 13 continuous paintings, all made out of the formalistic elements of painting such as canvases, wedge frames, and varnish. As canvases, Stieger uses printed fabrics from everyday objects such as bed and pillow covers with colorful patterns, addressing aspects of abstract painting. By bringing these known designs back to their place of origin, the image space of a painting, Stieger creates tension between abstraction and decoration, between intellectual grandeur and appropriation.
In her brittle optics, the publication reminds us of a home order textile catalogue as it ends up in thousands of mailboxes and ultimately in the recycling bin. With the choice of these modalities, a transfer from art to a mass distributed catalog takes place, all in the format of an artist book. 392 pages with images are completed with an essay by the art historian David Misteli (University of Basel/NCCR Iconic Criticism).
Valentina Stieger, Jungle Books and David Misteli invite you to the talk and the presentation of Streamlined for Dispatch in a special setting on Sat, April 22 at 3 pm. Following the presentation, Reto Pulfer will launch his latest book Catalog of States and Conditions, in a performative act entitled Rezfus Refzus Gong, 2017.
Streamlined for Dispatch
Publisher: Jungle Books
Design: Samuel Bänziger, Larissa Kasper and
Rosario Florio