Cat / Pigeons.

I've written on a couple of occasions that it was a wee bit ironic that Ed Ruscha's iconic artists' books, originally made as affordable, 'democratic' editions, were now so expensive. Well, now Joachim Schmid has produced a book entitled :

Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Every Building on the

Sunset Strip, Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Nine Swimming

Pools, A Few Palm Trees, No Small Fires

Which the interested purchaser can order inexpensively from Blurb. Schmid says of this work,

Between 1963 and 1972, Edward Ruscha published fifteen artist's books, his first being "Twentysix Gasoline Stations"; a book which is considered to be the first modern artist's book, and has become the iconic precursor and a major influence on the emerging international artists' books culture.
"Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Nine Swimming Pools, A Few Palm Trees, No Small Fires" is a modern remake of some of Ruscha's famous books, all grouped in one volume. Unlike the original books it relates to, this work was made entirely at my Berlin studio. I didn't visit Los Angeles to make the book and I didn't use a camera either. The camera is out there.

So Schmid is reworking Ruscha's by now iconic works, re-presenting them both through his own recreation of their subject, and a revivification of their distribution model.

Schmid has a whole bunch of other photobooks on Blurb too. I enjoyed some of Scmid's work at Edinburgh Stills gallery some years back. It's nice to see him making books.