Another Stone

Another Stone was the second monographic exhibition held at Kappa-Nöun space and organised by collector Marco Ghigi as part of Art City Bologna Fair.

The catalogue was designed for the vernissage of the solo show of Jimmie Durham (1940–2021), one of the most influential American contemporary artists, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale of Art 2019.

The Layout

The layout is based on that developed for the catalogue ‘Cromoracconto’ (see here), that was previously designed for Kappa-Nöun space, so that the two publications look at the same time different but consistent with each other.

Full-page detail images alternate with smaller photographs, generating a contrast that rhythmically marks the layout of the catalogue and creates visual articulation.

The entire composition is structured on a modular, double-texture typographic grid, that allowed to better calibrate the details and to respect the original proportions of the photographs in a faithful way.

The Expression of Stone

Durham started working with stones in Japan when, in prison in Yokohama, he was ordered to crush rocks as part of the prisoner’s sentence. That moment took on mythic importance as the striking of a pact between stone and the artist.

 “In his attempt to construct a different history of thought than the one taught throughout the Western world’s evolution, Durham uses stone to release expressive energies and suggest narration” (Denis Isaia).

Stone thus becomes the apparent essence of which the title on the cover of the catalogue is made—looking not to be printed but carved into stone—the same stone that is reproduced on the inside cover and revealed once opening the catalogue itself.

Subtraction

An unexpected game of forms and counterforms is produced between the outside and inside of the cover. Just as a traditional sculpture is obtained by subtraction from the material, the title appears to have been obtained by subtraction from the cover paper, allowing the texture of the stone behind it to literally emerge.

The sculptural style is also emphasised by the typographic composition—made of squared letters with monumental shapes—all aligned with lapidary compactness and finished with a thick, rough, transparent ink.

Being a bilingual catalogue, a further game is made on the front and back cover, this one looking apparently identical to the first one—thus gaining an unexpected importance—but actually reproducing the title in a different language.

The Last Stone

The graphic design of the catalogue—widely appreciated by artists and gallerists—offers a ‘literal’ interpretation of the very material of which the artworks of Durham are made—stone—thus suggesting a dialogue between the work of art and its representation.

In this way, the cover of the catalogue represents one last stone for what is perhaps the catalogue of Durham’s last solo show, before his passing.

—Nicola-Matteo Munari