Published October 26, 2009 by aanews
onestar press / Three Star Books
49, rue Albert Paris 75013 France
By appointment only.
Published October 24, 2009 by aanews
arie Le Mounier’s publication ‘LEADERS’ (Onestar Press 2009) is at first glance a straightforward project, culling from the internet images of ‘world leaders’ in gestures of public acknowledgement. Le Mounier’s own description of the project is succinct, but repeated ‘readings’ of this text-free book yield complexities that are not. The moment ‘frozen’ in printed in a neutral gray is simultaneously a greeting, salute, vote, signal, and reminder of the militaristic origins of the same. To paraphrase Robert Smithson-‘Must we always look back to back to Rome?’ In the case of the political personality in public, we must.
Like any archive, we measure our own knowledge of ‘current events’ against ‘LEADERS’-and my own, good American that I am, falls way short. How many of these people can I name? How many are women? How many wear uniforms? How many raise fists? And how do I keep from reading this sequence of double-paged images as a goose-stepping parade witnessed from a concrete balcony? Le Mounier’s decision to present the images in frosty gray, as opposed to factual black and white, alienates each subject from ‘events’ and bleeds away the personal transforming the document into pictogram. Andy Warhol’s choice of the silkscreen (a medium Warhol would introduce to Robert Rauschenberg) to reproduce photography similarly transformed gritty fact into iconic fiction through the mechanical elimination of pictorial detail. Something morbid develops here for Le Mounier (as it did for Warhol); upon each image included in LEADER may be projected the telescopic TARGET- think Charles De Gaulle in the 1973 film ‘Day of the Jackal’ or simply review the Zapruder footage of the JFK assassination. But let us not forget that Warhol the devout Catholic confused the aura of fame with the Christian eternal, so perhaps every raised hand and exposed palm located by Le Mournier is not a gladiator ‘about to die’ but the benediction or tantric ’mudra’ of an enlightened one. But to do this we must again look back to Rome.
Tim Maul, New York
Published October 15, 2009 by aanews
Tim Maul (Holding the umbrella) was the co-president (along with Marcy Peltier) of the Philosophy Club in 1968.
Published October 14, 2009 by aanews
onestar press · Three Star Books
would like to welcome you
in their new Paris offices with a show by
HAIM STEINBACH
Friday, October 23rd 2009 (from 11am to 9pm)
49, rue Albert, 75013 Paris France
Métro: Bibliothèque or Olympiades
WWW.ONESTARPRESS.COM · WWW.THREESTARBOOKS.COM
Published October 9, 2009 by aanews
Tobias Rehberger has created the PARADISE BOOKSHELF for onestar press.
Edition of 12 copies + 2 AP’s
Based on an old piece of furniture that T. Rehberger found in the abandonned hotel PARADISO in Val Martello - Switzerland - (designed in 1935 by Gio Ponti), the PARADISE BOOKSHELF is painted with the distintive colors used by the artist. Originally designed to carry onestar press’s books, this finely crafted piece of furniture is aged as if it was left in an attic for more that 50 years. The 12 copies (all unique because of the aging process) are accompanied by a numbered certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
Price on demand at onestar press.
Click here to see more images of the PARADISE BOOKSHELF by Tobias Rehberger.
