Posting some #books I’ve read over the past few months. This one I picked up at the @sacredbones anniversary show @knockdowncenter back last spring, but didn’t get around to #reading it until the fall. First off, flat out GORGEOUS book. Worth the price for the #endpapers alone by @lucylordcampana , who also writes a lovely preface & endnote. Likewise, there are two excellent #historical & #arthistorical #essays by Mitch Horowitz & Dr Victoria Ferentinou (there’s also a 3rd essay that name checks Terrence McKenna, which if you didn’t read McKenna as teenager as I did, in nutshell he believed all of his psychoactive trips & hallucinations were real – so that’s nice for him). So beyond that what is this book? It was a turn of the century #occult book produced by a group called The Theosophical Society, who believed that thoughts (& music) created forms that were visual by #mediums – though no names or event documentation is given. This book reverberated in the #art community & apparently was influential in the #abstractart movement. And once again the images are stunning! But having read it cover to cover, the original text is pure #hokum . Now on its face with what we know about the human brain & #synesthesia the content contained wouldn’t be to far fetched. But see above about zero documentation or testing methodologies. It reads like something that isn’t scientific, but they’re throwing just enough terminology in there to make it seem scientific (see Scientology, astrology, homeopathy, etc). Btw, believe what you want – we just collectively celebrated the birth of a man that supposedly rose from the dead 2K years ago, so [shrug]. Regardless, beautiful book, fantastic art historical document, so glad Sacred Bones took the time & care to reproduce it properly. Take everything else the original authors claim with a giant shovelful of salt. #arthistory #design #typography #art #bookdesign (at Bedford-Stuyvesant) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnfA1eAuQJB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
