Moyna Flannigan: MATTER
Artist’s book published to coincide with the exhibition MATTER at Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, 2021
Photography by John McKenzie (except page 19 by Peter Tijhuis)
Designed by James Brook
Soft cover with dust jacket | 210 x 155 mm | 48 pages | Printed by Gomer, Wales,
on UPM Offset
This is MATTER, a publication that I designed for the artist Moyna Flannigan. MATTER formed part of the artist’s exhibition, MATTER, at Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, which ran from 2 October to 18 December 2021. Supported with a grant from Creative Scotland, the book is largely composed of a series of paintings on paper and canvas – some of which appear in the exhibition – that have been arranged on the page in various combinations, sometimes as complete works and sometimes as fragments, to create a narrative that, through repetition and other visual techniques, makes links between different works.
As well as featuring Moyna’s paintings and collages, the book includes texts written especially for the publication by the artist, combining words and images to form a collage of interconnected ideas. The book is typeset in Azo Sans and is laid out on a subtle underlying grid that gives structure to the typography but doesn’t detract from the artist’s work. For the titles, I created an outline version of Azo Sans that reflected a preliminary sketch by the artist of how she wanted the book to look.
The book has a wraparound dust jacket; the cover of the book and the inside cover are printed in Pantone 226UP, a luscious pink. Reversed out lettering on the front cover echoes the text on the dust jacket. MATTER is printed on UPM Offset, an economical white paper that takes ink well and that has a pleasing texture – we printed a subtle tint of yellow on every page that softens the whiteness of the paper and is more sympathetic to Moyna’s work (it also gives the feel of a more expensive paper!). It was a pleasure to work on the book with Moyna and we are both delighted with how it has turned out: this is one of those projects – evolving from a series of discussions with the artist – that came together easily and feels just right.
Moyna Flannigan: Making a book, especially one about your own work, can be a stressful experience, but not if you’re working with James. He is in complete command of what he’s doing. He designed and produced my artist’s book MATTER on time and on budget using an excellent printer, and, at the same time, was thoughtful and respectful of my work and how I wanted to see it on the page.