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Ballpoint Art
This stunning book is the first compendium of art made with ballpoint pens.
Ballpoint drawing has evolved into a thriving art form since the pen emerged as a writing tool in the 1940s, when the Hungarian journalist and inventor László Bíró fled war-torn Europe and began manufacturing the pens in Argentina. Throughout the 1950s and '60s, as the ballpoint became cheaper and more accessible, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Dubuffet, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, Nam June Paik, Louise Bourgeois, and many others, sketched with the pens.
Today, those who make art with ballpoint pen are no longer confined by size or style. They draw on sculpture, wallpaper, canvas, architecture, and 50-foot sheets of paper, depicting a wide range of subjects – from psychologically charged portraits to mutant animals to abstract scribbles. This book features 30 artists from around the world who are currently creating masterpieces with ballpoint, and discusses their methods, the messages in their work, and their personal connections to the pen.
Ballpoint drawing has evolved into a thriving art form since the pen emerged as a writing tool in the 1940s, when the Hungarian journalist and inventor László Bíró fled war-torn Europe and began manufacturing the pens in Argentina. Throughout the 1950s and '60s, as the ballpoint became cheaper and more accessible, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Dubuffet, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, Nam June Paik, Louise Bourgeois, and many others, sketched with the pens.
Today, those who make art with ballpoint pen are no longer confined by size or style. They draw on sculpture, wallpaper, canvas, architecture, and 50-foot sheets of paper, depicting a wide range of subjects – from psychologically charged portraits to mutant animals to abstract scribbles. This book features 30 artists from around the world who are currently creating masterpieces with ballpoint, and discusses their methods, the messages in their work, and their personal connections to the pen.
- GenresArt
176 pages, Paperback
Published August 30, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 13, 2016
I really like the fact that this book included work from both a schizophrenic and a down syndrome artists.
September 21, 2017
Fun and beautiful. Love the breadth and variety, and that this lowly pen is the thread. Any collection tied by a media is likely to be uneven, which this is, but who cares. In fact, that makes it even funner. The whole book is anchored by the genius of Ignacio Uriarte (sez me), along with Il Lee, Bill Adams, and Riiko Sakkinen. The cover captivates. The texts are amateur and awkward and I wish there was some way to make it so that reading about process or artistic history could not be as useless as it is here and in so many catalogs such as this. I read because I am curious but wish I hadn't. Nevertheless.
September 6, 2019
TWR: absolutely completely phenomenal
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews