I am breaking free from my red spine streak (my bookshelf is ordered by color because it makes me happy to look at, and I started my blog in the red section) to bring you a book I recently received in the mail. George Byrne’s Post Truth is a gorgeous book. The printing is beautiful and the colors are vibrant candy pastel. Each page is an artwork.
Artist George Byrne was born and raised in Australia, but eventually fell in love with Los Angeles and decided to move there in 2010. His artwork is rooted in documentary photography of the city, but he transforms it through collage into strong colorful, graphic compositions that capture the feeling of LA. Through a combination of tools from his iPhone to his medium format camera, he searches the city for visual pieces that can come together through his collage work to make his ideal scenes.
I love work inspired by the new topographic photographers such as Lewis Baltz, Stephen Shore, Robert Adams and Henry Wessel Jr. You can definitely see that influence here, but the collage work bends reality to abstraction. The graphic compositions are so strong, that the subject matter is more of a medium for creating the art piece rather than the story itself.
I am very happy to add this book to my blue spine shelf.
Post Truth is a limited edition of 1500 copies available through George Byrne’s website for $100. For $280 you can get the book plus a print.
