Utopia Centerfolds At Play Limited Edition (Mr B)
For his limited edition of Utopia Centerfolds At Play Brandon Isralsky — aka Mr. B — has created 4 unique, must-have artworks, incorporating his signature mark-making over the books’ fold-out-poster covers. In these covers, as in his series Centerfolds, Isralsky navigates the nature of desire as it has been crafted in 20th century American print media. He treats each of the 4 versions of his covers (white, blue, green and yellow “X”) with a unique color palette and stroke. Isralsky’s covers-cum-paintings call to mind the work of those who have influenced him - including Jean-Michel Basquiat and Pablo Picasso — though the results are quintessentially his, reflecting the artist’s unique perspective as a native New Yorker of Afro-Peruvian descent and as one of the leading artists in today’s New York street scene.
For his limited edition of Utopia Centerfolds At Play Brandon Isralsky — aka Mr. B — has created 4 unique, must-have artworks, incorporating his signature mark-making over the books’ fold-out-poster covers. In these covers, as in his series Centerfolds, Isralsky navigates the nature of desire as it has been crafted in 20th century American print media. He treats each of the 4 versions of his covers (white, blue, green and yellow “X”) with a unique color palette and stroke. Isralsky’s covers-cum-paintings call to mind the work of those who have influenced him - including Jean-Michel Basquiat and Pablo Picasso — though the results are quintessentially his, reflecting the artist’s unique perspective as a native New Yorker of Afro-Peruvian descent and as one of the leading artists in today’s New York street scene.
For his limited edition of Utopia Centerfolds At Play Brandon Isralsky — aka Mr. B — has created 4 unique, must-have artworks, incorporating his signature mark-making over the books’ fold-out-poster covers. In these covers, as in his series Centerfolds, Isralsky navigates the nature of desire as it has been crafted in 20th century American print media. He treats each of the 4 versions of his covers (white, blue, green and yellow “X”) with a unique color palette and stroke. Isralsky’s covers-cum-paintings call to mind the work of those who have influenced him - including Jean-Michel Basquiat and Pablo Picasso — though the results are quintessentially his, reflecting the artist’s unique perspective as a native New Yorker of Afro-Peruvian descent and as one of the leading artists in today’s New York street scene.
Brandon Isralsky , Ina Jang, Dean Sameshima
Saddle stapled book, waxed poster cover
Dimensions: Book — 9 x 12.75 inches, Poster — 36 x 25 inches unfolded
Pages: 64 pages
ISBN: 9780999782125
Utopia Centerfolds At Play brings together three artists' projects - Brandon Isralsky's Centerfolds and Fuckboys, Ina Jang's Utopia, and Dean Sameshima's Young Men At Play - to constellate explorations of censorship, ephemera, and sexuality across gender and social spectrums. While each artist's work employs unique visual strategies, they all begin with culturally specific, appropriated images of the body, which they treat to speak to their current perspectives, connecting geographies, nationalities, and ethnicities. The book features a uniquely designed fold-out cover that doubles as a poster as well as a must-read introduction by Mizz Even.
Other Limited Editions:
Dean SAMESHIMA
Sameshima's masterful hand boldly splashes itself across his Utopia Centerfolds At Play limited edition cover. Silkscreening one of his iconic Young Men At Play images on the book's cover literally brings the marginal spaces of representation for male-male desire in 20th century American print to the forefront.
INA JANG
Jang's playful whimsy strikes again on her Utopia Centerfolds At Play limited edition by inserting five transparencies loosely into the book creating a fun and dynamic intermingling of the nude, representation, art and commerce, and social hierarchies. Four images are taken from the book's edit and the fifth is a never-been-seen image from Jang's project Utopia.
