Marcel van Eeden

Dutch artist Marcel van Eeden uses Nero pencil and gouache to create sombre, often black-and-white images which loosely combine to form an extended narrative touching upon the themes of art, forgery and sex in the period from 1890 to 1965. For each exhibition he develops new plot lines, and the works have now been arranged in a large retrospective volume, for the first time giving one a sense of the progression of the overall story. The design is reminiscent of a graphic novel. Each double-page spread shows between 1 and 16 images, which are reproduced in four fixed formats. All images are set without space one next to the other and bled off at the edges, so there is no empty space, and the whole book consists of artwork - including the cover, endpapers and half-titles. A text booklet on very thin paper is inserted at the back. This unusual form of presentation for artwork responds perfectly to the material, and the extremely dense volume is challenging in a positive sense. The printing of the black tones is outstanding. Every detail of the volume's fabrication is precise and functional.

Videos: Körner Union & Maximage, Lausanne / Zürich
Jury reviews: Tan Wälchli, Berlin/Zürich

Autor(en)/Auteur(s)/Author(s)
Marcel van Eeden
Gestaltung/Graphisme/Design
Elektrosmog, Marco Walser, Selina Bütler, Zürich
Druck/Impression/Printing
DZA Druckerei zu Altenburg, Altenburg
Verlag/Publication/Publisher
Stroom, Den Haag
ISBN
978-9-07379-977-6