Art books tend to be heavy both in weight and in visual content. They're often expensive and show work by artists you'll never meet, ever. Then there's those by [
Name] Publications, which feature Miami artists such as Daniel Newman and Beatriz Monteavaro. They may still be heavier than your average John Grisham paperback, but
they're affordable, and you might actually bump into one of the artists
in the meat section at Publix.
Gean Moreno, after receiving a Knight Arts Challenge grant in 2009, pursued his idea for Miami-based art books and made it a reality. The result, [Name] Publications, is a platform for book-based projects featuring talented 305-ers.
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Each tome is a generic container with hardcover binding, standard
dimensions, and the same number of pages.
Within that space, artists and designers make all formatting and content
decisions, and each is a limited edition as only 1,000 are published. Beatriz Monteavaro's book even contained a CD of local band Beings.
According to Moreno, formerly of Locust Projects and current contributing editor for
Art Papers, "the goal is to create these complex conceptual structures."
Nick Lobo is the creator of the third book,
Album Graphics, to be published in the Miami series. The artist became intimately involved in the go-go subculture, a musical genre developed from funk, jazz, and disco that is not well-known outside of D.C. Using go-go message boards, Lobo made connections in the scene, offering to design show flyers, record covers, and T-shirts.
Album Graphics compiles his go-go designs, other graphics from the go-go scene, and selections from his chats on those message boards.
According to Moreno, "Nick's interested in how invisible structures are formed and constrained by an invisible history." Given the go-go genre's
local unpopularity, performing in the D.C. area is the most financially lucrative option for go-go musicians, and thus it remains largely unknown elsewhere.
[Name]'s books are affordable at $15 and can be purchased on
their web site, at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Miami Art Museum's gift shop, Sweat Records, and Printed Matter in New York. Lobo's
Album Graphics will be available in early January.
Lobo will present a free workshop at New World School of the Arts' gallery and studio space ArtSeen (2215
NW Second Ave., Miami), highlighting strategies in creating and
informing people about one's art on January 17 at 7 p.m. The book launch
party will take place at Dimensions Variable (171 NE 38th St., Miami) on January 20 at 7 p.m.
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Liz Tracy has written for publications such as the New York Times, the Atlantic, Refinery29, W, Glamour, and, of course, Miami New Times. She was New Times Broward-Palm Beach's music editor for three years. Now she plays one mean monster with her 2-year-old son and obsessively watches British mysteries.
