OTRA LITERATURA, JORGE MÉNDEZ BLAKE

Published by: Ediciones MP, First Edition, 2016                                                      Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 408
Size: 24.3 x 17.0 cms
Language: ENG 
Publication year: 2016

Design: Estudio Herrera

ISBN: 978-84-16282-60-9

Otra Literatura (Other Literature) by artist Jorge Méndez Blake is a publication that approaches the subject of the book itself from within the complex field of writing. It is an edition that deals with books, libraries and literature, using its own medium to refer back to itself, forcing the reader to enter—necessarily—into a critical meta-level regarding the letter and the word. Its vision on text and literature is eccentric, operating outside the frameworks of meaning commonly found in books and libraries.

The book is structured across short episodes that tell one or several stories, with an invisible scaffolding holding together the entire narrative and visual discourse; it unfolds under the direction and as the obsession of a perfectionist librarian (Méndez Blake) who, as well as enjoying books and reading, also focuses on the endless classification of shelves where these live and creates whimsical, unattainable libraries.

The challenge was making a text that didn’t seem like an art piece, and an art piece that didn’t seem like text. In response to this challenge we had each piece of content take up its corresponding place, not necessarily in dialogue, but inhabiting this succession of spaces in an orderly way.
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50 Books / 50 Covers

Price to the best book, 2016

AIGA Design Archives

Juror Notes

Dynamic, enchanting, full of shifting scales, paper finishes, and fonts that literally cascade over its pages—this book is a celebration of all that a book can be.

—Jessica Helfand