Hard-to-find collectibles meet social commentary at this sprawling art book fair
Your pulse may not normally quicken at the prospect of a book fair, but Offprint is one that demands attention; the art-and-fashion-minded show, split between London and Paris, doubles as a summit for forward-thinking longform. And with backing by juggernaut arts foundation Luma Arles (whose sprawling, soon-to-open campus is worthy of a book in itself) the fair’s mega-watt line-up ranges from blue-chip to underground.
Starting today, the ninth Offprint fair will be unfolding at Beaux-Arts in Paris. Focusing on new titles for late 2019, the future-focused fair’s offerings range from a photography godfather’s take on the selfie, to Jamie Hawkesworth’s Joan Didion collab. Here, we flip through Offprint Paris’s must-browse tomes.
Campaign Child by Xiaopeng Yuan
After clocking clients’ fixations on Caucasian child models, Yuan decided to reexamine the rise of corporate fashion culture in his native China. The result is Campaign Child, published by Loose Joints, the Shanghai-born photographer’s quiet revolt against consumerism, equally awash in household-denim-blues and childlike melancholy.
“L’incroyable Nicole Eisenman”
With its worshipful title roughly translating to “the Incredible insert-big-deal-artist-here,” each issue of this roving publication is dedicated to excavating a chosen artist’s adolescent years. The second in an American-artist trilogy, the well-timed “L’incroyable Nicole Eisenman” captures the gleeful abandon behind the Brooklyn-based artist’s figurative, sometimes comically grotesque work – which stole the show at this year’s Whitney Biennial.
COP by Christopher Anderson
As advertised, this book points a clear-eyed lens at real-life authority figures. Anderson’s warmly lit portraits, which he began in the wake of 9/11, lend his city-servant subjects a timeless quality.
Animals by Sage Sohier
Man’s best friend comes in all shapes and sizes, as this book illustrates in wholesomely uncomplicated fashion. Well known for her black and white family portraits, Sohier takes just as tender an approach when it comes to dogs, cats, snakes, and pigs. Oh my.
Death By Selfie by Martin Parr
Street photography pioneer Martin Parr, famous for his unvarnished beach-scapes, is just the sort to entrust with a trope as pummeled to death as the selfie. But despite its loaded title, Parr’s newest book is a lighthearted study in endemic self-absorption, finding humor in selfie methodology.
On Keeping a Notebook by Jamie Hawkesworth
Shot between Japan, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, United States, and the United Kingdom, this labour of love exposes the fashion photographer’s wanderlust as well as his taste for mundane yet elegant landscapes. Swapping world-class models for solitary trees and barns, the diaristic travelogue gets extra points for its inclusion of an essay by OG fashion-minded diarist Joan Didion.
Preston is my Paris 2009-2019 by Adam Murray & Robert Parkinson
Founded by Adam Murray and Robert Parkinson, Preston is my Paris is, according to Murray, “a photocopied zine with the intention of encouraging the exploration of Preston as a subject for creative practice.” The duo’s seminal work included Preston Bus Station, a limited-edition newsprint publication created with Jamie Hawkesworth at the very start of his career. Published by Dashwood Books, this book toasts ten years of the project with over 100 photographs from the Preston is my Paris archive.
Kerry James Marshall: History of Painting
In 2018, P Diddy purchased Past Times by Kerry James Marshall – setting a record for highest sum paid for the work of a living African-American artist, and thereby lending this monograph’s coffee-table clout a boost by association. The book, a survey of Marshall’s vibrant historicism, comes as part of mega gallery David Zwirner’s first Offprint appearance.
Glimpse by Joel Meyerowitz
This rare find, courtesy of Tokyo-based publishing house Super Labo, puts Meyerowitz’s silver-gelatin sharpness at the fore, with black and white urban noir supplanting the warm vacationlands of his better-known Cape Cod-set work.
Cherryboy #4
A lovable weirdo’s digest, Cherryboy’s fourth issue offers a bizarre yet safe space for experimentation, from photographer Jan Hoek’s homage to scooter travel to new imagery by model and burgeoning behind-camera talent Maude Van Dievoet.