“In an age of soulless, cookie-cutter computer illustrations, Matt Kish’s intense and obsessive drawings, paintings, and montages are a riotous delight. Kish’s artwork renews our age-old love of expressive handmade imagery. He humanizes his material in a way that has all but disappeared from the design scene. It’s great to see that passion again.” —Paula Scher
PHILADELPHIA — The Rosenbach Museum & Library will present a talk and book signing with Ohio artist Matt Kish, author of Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page on Wednesday, November 30th at 6 p.m.
Inspired by one of the world’s greatest novels, Matt Kish set out on an epic journey of his own one day in August 2009. More than one hundred and fifty years following the original publication of Moby-Dick, Kish began illustrating Herman Melville’s classic, creating images based on the text selected from every page of the 552-page Signet Classics paperback edition.
The Rosenbach Museum & Library holds a number of Melville related objects in the museum’s collection and invites attendees to talk with Kish and explore his personal and artistic voyage through Moby-Dick.
The museum islocated at 2008-2010 Delancey Place. The program is free with museum admission: $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for students. RSVP strongly recommended. Please call (215) 732-1600, ext. 123, email rsvp [at] rosenbach [dot] org or visit www.rosenbach.org for additional information.
Completely self-taught, Kish refused to set any boundaries for the artwork and employed a deliberately low-tech approach in response to the increasing popularity of born-digital art and literature. He used found pages torn from old, discarded books, as well as a variety of mediums, including ballpoint pen, marker, paint, crayon, ink, and watercolor. By layering images on top of existing words and images, Kish has crafted a visual masterpiece that echoes the layers of meaning in Melville’s narrative. In retrospect, Kish says he feels as foolhardy as Ishmael and as obsessed as Captain Ahab in his quest for the great white whale.
“I see now that the project was an attempt to fully understand this magnificent novel, to walk through every sun-drenched word, to lift up all the hatches and open all the barrels, to smell, taste, hear, and see every seabird, every shark, every sailor, every harpoon, and every whale,” he says. “It was a hard thing, a very painful thing, but the novel now lives inside me in a way it could never have before.”
Kish spent nearly every day for eighteen months toiling away in a small closet he converted into an art studio. In order to share the work with family and friends, he started the blog “One Drawing for Every Page of Moby-Dick,” where he posts art and brief descriptions about his process on a daily basis. Visit www.spudd64.com/odfepomd.html to view images from the book.
Matt Kish was born in 1969 and lives in the middle of Ohio. Moby-Dick is his favorite novel.
Praise for Moby-Dick in Pictures
“Not so much honored as reimagined, Moby-Dick in Kish’s hands is the vertiginous immersive experience Melville intended.”—Bookforum
“Kish has done something really fascinating [in Moby-Dick in Pictures]. He has not only re-imagined Moby Dick for a modern audience. He has also slyly, almost imperceptibly, yanked this nineteenth century novel into the twenty-first century, underlining its relevance for the post-post-modern world. These illustrations are not simply a sideshow to the novel: they are a well-thought out pleasure that enhances the enjoyment and understanding of Melville’s work.”—The Rumpus
“[A] wondrous compendium … sometimes vibrant, sometimes somber, Kish’s images are relentlessly fresh and eye-catching … Even the least visual readers will feel energized by Kish’s artistry and his obvious passion for Melville’s work.”
—Library Journal
“Conjuring the frenetic energy of tempest-tossed waves so integral to Moby-Dick’s setting, the artist’s bold, full-page drawings in highly saturated colors illustrate passages he’s called out, but also extend the narrative to suggest that modern-day man hungers to fulfill his self-proclaimed destiny every bit as much as the legendary whalers did….clearly infused with an intense joy that only comes from following one’s heart.”—ForeWord Book Reviews
Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page* 600 pages * October 2011 * 552 color illustrations
Trade Paper * 978-1-935639-13-8 * $39.95 * Trade Cloth with Slipcase * 978-1-935639-12-1 * $69.95
About Tin House Books: Tin House Books is an offshoot of the award-winning literary magazine Tin House. The editorial office of Tin House Books is located in Portland, Oregon. Publishers Group West distributes its titles.
