Shanti's Full Review: Black Dog Publishing - The Cutting Edge of Wallpap...
I grew up in a wild kind of 1970s decorated house. My mom loved wallpaper -- still does -- but I think I have a mild aversion to it because I grew up thinking wallpaper meant the "pancake style" stuff we had in our living room (you know, with all the colorful little detailed Pennsylvania Dutch icons all over it), dark purple furry stuff I think they called flock on a background of lilac paper in our sitting room, and black "flock" over metallic gold for my Asian-style bathroom.
But, if you, like me, think wallpaper is all flock and floral, you haven’t seen “The Cutting Edge of Wallpaper.”
The book jacket itself smacks of artistic orginality, with strips of birds, black squiggly snakes, colorful geometric prisms and blue florals. The publisher, Black Dog Publishing, is out of London, so when the writers claim that wallpaper is experiencing a revival, I'm not sure if that's just across the pond, or if it's stateside, as well; they never really say. Nevertheless, the book is fascinating, and the photos of emerging wallpaper are stunning.
These days, wallpaper can transform before your very eyes; in 2002, Dutch designer Simon Heijdens invented “moving wallpaper.” Created with Thermochrome Inks, patterns on the wallpaper alter, disappear, then reappear. The book talks all about it, and shows it!
Christopher Pearson took the idea of moving wallpaper one step further with digital wallpaper, in which images move as they are projected onto walls.
Like I said, according to the book, wallpaper is making a comeback; writers say that not since the 1950s has the medium garnered so much media attention. In the late 1990s, designers entered “a new phase of creativity” as they experimented with different styles, applications and materials. Now, wallpaper can capture an image from anywhere — computer design, natural products, artistic representations — and homeowners can transfer it onto their walls.
The 175-page illustrated book showcases about 75 top designers through photos of their wallpaper and descriptions of their style. It also talks about wallpaper's history throughout the centuries, how it has evolved to its modern form and how wallpaper and fine art are very similar.
Categories include wallpaper that is: decorative (florals and repeat patterns, not unlike that pancake wallpaper on my childhood home),
figurative (tells a story, lately with Japanese cartoon-like imagery aimed at the younger generation, if you can imagine),
abstract and geometric (which are trippy looking and often computer generated)
and architectural (which means it gives a sense of structure to rooms).
There’s even outdoor wallpaper and interactive wallpaper, where homeowners can color in black-and-white designs or order magnetic wallpaper, complete with matching magnetic cutouts that kids and adults can place and replace (and reposition) on the wall.
The book showcases highly stylized, eye-popping wall art that, while not for everybody, will give readers a new perspective on wallpaper for the 21st century. It's worth a peruse.
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