the 770 show • paul schiek

when paul schiek was asked to be a part of the 770 show, he immediately thought of his friend, artist ofer wolberger's latest project, called "covers". ofer xeroxed old, cloth-bound book covers creating a complete black and white book. by isolating each book title and removing it from its literary context, ofer allowed the simplicity of the word, the font, and the design to reveal itself. inspired by the poetic purity of "covers", paul explicitly sought out books in the adobe stacks with unique titles and through a sort-of xerox collage, created three phrases that, in a sense, describe paul's thinking about his artistic and professional practice (making both pictures and books): "follow this fanny-to the bitter end", "american labor-to the bitter end," and "the old glory-to the bitter end".

for more information on ofer wolberger's "covers" book (which we highly recommend), please visit: http://horsesthink.com/?p=4834


image 1: paul's chosen books on the shelf at adobe books backroom gallery
image 2: paul schiek, "american labor-to the bitter end," 2011
image 3: paul schiek, "the old glory-to the bitter end," 2011
image 4: paul schiek, "follow this fanny-to the bitter end," 2011

guest blogger • arden sherman • the 770 show

from san francisco's sunny mission district, this week's posts are from curator arden sherman's current project, the 770 show, where seven artists were invited to spend time in an iconic bookshop's stacks, discovering the wealth of ideas that present themselves when organization does not follow tradition. from the huge quantity of subject matter on hand, the artists mined the bookstore for images and responded to the found pictures through photography. taking up the complicated idea of order and organization through the simple act of selection and interpretation, the site acted as an integral part of staging the exhibition. throughout the week, arden will be posting the artists' work and projects from the 770 show in this online installment.

5 things • paul schiek

paul schiek must be an incredibly busy guy. he takes cool pictures, is the man behind the great subscription book series over at these birds walk, and rumor has it is even starting up his own photo magazine. he revealed the following 5 things as some of his favorite in the whole wide world.

you can take a look at the books he publishes here. see a previous post about a book that's part of his subscription series here. take a peek at paul's photos here. and check out his blog right here.

1/ self service magazine

this is a great magazine. i look forward to self service at all times. it has the best interviews with people who sometimes i've never heard of but are super culturally influential. purple is a good one too, but this i think is my favorite...


2/ 'this photograph is my proof' and 'the illuminated man' by duane michaels


not sure which one i love more. and for the record i don't love duane michaels just these two images. i don't know and don't care why. they are just my favorites.

3/ boys life - departures and landfalls lp

i'm not really going to say i listen to this record any more but there was a time in my life when i thought i would every day for the rest of my life. despite loving the music at the time, the band was dealing with a style and aesthetic that i think will forever inform me.

4/ my boots

i'm not ashamed to say this is only a sampling of my boots/shoes. i take them seriously. none of them are favorites. they are all equals.

5/ stumptown coffee

this is the best coffee i have ever had and the location in the lobby of the ace hotel is pretty great. the hotel is cool but almost over the top...its got a vintage record player and a photo booth in the lobby. if you're in portland, you can chill here and not feel like you're totally in portland.