Printmaking Given Unlikely Endorsement
Thanks to an anonymous tipster for this bit… apparently Urban Outfitters, the über-hipster youth-culture lifestyle emporium, is carrying The Printmaking Bible! Wow. You’ll find it along side such other classic reference texts as The Official High Times Pot Smoker’s Handbook, The Guide to Doing Me!, and Creative Cursing. Quite a prestigious line-up! Needless to say, exposure like this is just the kind of break printmaking has been waiting for.
No doubt, it raises some pretty serious (not to mention superficial) questions. Namely, has printmaking found itself in the unlikely position of being hip? If so, how long will it last? And if the purveyors of mainstream counterculture (try that on for an oxymoron) have concluded that Printmaking is a product worth stocking, how long before the mainstream mainstream catches on? It’s only a matter of time, right?
So what does it mean that the Printmaking bible is listed between tow tattoo books??
Funny. I bought the book at Atomic Books, which is the coolest bookstore in Baltimore. I’ll have to ask the owners how this got on the hipster reading list. I think it’s probably the eye-catching cover.
Now, I previously expressed my distaste for the artwork included in this book. And a student who received the book as a gift recently remarked to me (unprompted) that she was “shocked that work like that could get into a book.”
I don’t mean to slam the included artists, but I really hope casual buyers of this book don’t think the work is representative of the print world as a whole…
BTW Jason, I don’t know if you should use Printeresting to advertise your family business.
I expect more from the heir to the Urban Outfitters fortune.
No kidding, you don’t see me posting about Amze Outfitters.
But I do have sympathy for a business like Urban Outfitters in this economy, I mean what if youngsters start going back to thrift stores and cut out the middleman?
i am surprised to learn about the print bible being carried at urban outfitters. i do agree it has a very hipster like cover, and calling itself a bible seems like it is picking up on a trend when any book on any subject can/will offering technical information refer to itself as a bible.
i agree the art is book is bad, but so is the information. i own a copy, and have found that every instance i try to look something up, it has next to nothing to offer. it doesn’t even come close to the complete printmaker in that respect. so, given what’s actually inside the book, should we be surprised that it is being carried by urban outfitters?
Ben, I must agree that it’s not a good reference book.
Despite that, I initially thought the book might be useful as an instructional manual for beginners. But the more I look at it, I’m not even sure about that. The instructional photos are a strength, but the text, as you imply, lacks detail.
But I do really like the cover.