Mark Batty Publisher » Press Releases

Animal Shelter Portraits

adynah — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:24:34 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Deeply compassionate and haunting portraits of our furred friends.

“I hope this book furthers my mission to not only save animals, but raise awareness about the realities of kill shelters. To see up close and personal what these precious creatures look like and evoke what they must feel like as they await their uncertain fates.”

Every week thousands of dogs and cats are picked up from city streets and put into shelters, where they wait for people to adopt them. Those lucky enough to find a home leave the kennels within a couple of days; those who do not are euthanized. In Animal Shelter Portraits, photographer Mark Ross turns an unflinching eye on these helpless animals abandoned at kill shelters. His compelling photographs capture a snapshot glimpse of our animal companions in their moment of greatest need, acting as a reminder that our decision to adopt them is the difference between life and death. Each picture is paired with the subject’s name and story, making Animal Shelter Portraits an important book for animal lovers everywhere.

Mark Ross is a New York based photographer whose works centers on animals. His photographs have been used by groups promoting animal welfare and he has exhibited in New York City. A former volunteer with New York City Animal Care and Control, Ross has had unparalleled access to behind-the-scenes operations at New York’s shelters. Proceeds from this book will be donated to the No Kill Advocacy Center.

Mark Batty Publisher (markbattypublisher.com) is an independent publisher dedicated to making distinctive books on the visual art of communicating, showcasing the visual power and innovation of contemporary culture in all of its varied poses. Today, the visual comes at us from more places than ever, and its dissemination is faster and more advanced every year. Books from Mark Batty Publisher capture this acceleration on the pages of every book. Affordable, well designed, thoughtfully created, and produced to last, MBP books are artful products that readers want to hold onto forever.

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Arabic for Designers Second Edition

adynah — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:12:52 +0000

Arabic for Designers, Second Edition updates MBP’s classic work for English-speaking designers working with the cultural and design complexities of Arabic.

Since the release of the first edition, the need for companies in the West and Asia to utilize Arabic has increased exponentially, and Arabic for Designers, Second Edition gives them the tools to do so proficiently. The new edition presents examples of contemporary advertising and marketing campaigns to highlight recent changes in design trends building on the rich store of design successes—and failures—cataloged in the original.

Author Mourad Boutros draws from his visually astounding portfolio to provide heavily illustrated case studies of redesigns and logotype conversions for European and Middle Eastern television networks, websites, and printed media. The second edition includes an expanded chapter on “The Value of Cultural Knowledge,” which displays more examples of advertising campaigns that failed due to their misunderstanding and narrow grasp of Arabic’s many cultural and typographic nuances. The book’s “Gallery” section features designs that incorporate Arabic successfully, artfully, and with innovation.

Mourad Boutros and Arlette Boutros head Boutros International, which has led the field of Arabic creativity, typography, calligraphy, and design for more than 40 years. Since 1966, Boutros International has focused on meeting the latest technological requirements and the creative needs of the Arabic-speaking world. Its designers and technical experts are consistently at the forefront of developments within the field. Working globally, they have completed projects ranging from the creation of Arabic typeface collections for internationally renowned software and design houses to designing corporate Arabic logotypes and private commissions.

Mark Batty Publisher (www.markbattypublisher.com) is an independent publisher dedicated to making distinctive books on the visual art of communicating, showcasing the visual power and innovation of contemporary culture in all of its varied poses. Today, the visual comes at us from more places than ever, and its dissemination is faster and more advanced every year. Books from Mark Batty Publisher capture this acceleration on the pages of every book. Affordable, well designed, thoughtfully created, and produced to last, MBP books are artful products that readers want to hold onto forever.

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Drawing Autism

adynah — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:57:39 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Drawing Autism

Celebrates the artistry and self-expression found in the drawings, paintings and collages created by people diagnosed with autism.

Now in Paperback Edition, Drawing Autism is the first book to use visual arts as a point of entry into understanding the autism spectrum. Knowing no racial, ethnic, or social barriers, today autism is diagnosed in 1 in every 150 children. The book divides the artwork into thematic chapters that demonstrate characteristics of the disorder, like “repetition” and “interaction.”

The unique nature of how autism affects individuals in a myriad of ways makes the disorder a challenge for those who have and have children with it or work with those living with the diagnosis. Drawing Autism features the work of over fifty contributors exhibiting an array of exceptional perspectives truly demonstrating how dynamic individuals see the world and their distinctive place in it.

Jill Mullin is a New York City based behavioral analyst and educator working as a clinical supervisor, training teachers and social workers to use a behavioral approach when working with individuals diagnosed with autism and their families.

Temple Grandin is a doctor of animal science and professor at Colorado State University, bestselling author and consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. As a person with high-functioning autism, Grandin is widely noted for her work in autism advocacy.

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MBP Presents- Schematics: A Love Story

adynah — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:48:32 +0000

Schematics- MBP _Press release

A sparse, meditative, and enigmatic narrative embroidered with schematic diagrams.

“One encounter taught me about gravity, another about majesty. One encounter taught me what it means to set something free, another about what I could hear but couldn’t see. “- Julian Hibbard, Act 1, Schematics: A Love Story.

In Schematics: A Love Story, Hibbard recalls poignant moments and thoughts in his life and conveys them in Acts. This contemporary prose is paired with idiosyncratic, found diagrams, each giving a revolutionized meaning to the concept of storytelling and power of memory. Told through a language of juxtaposition, the schematic drawings are used in conjunction with Hibbard’s original accounts to help unlock meaning and express feelings on the subjects of love, loss, memory and the way time links them.

Whether it is a diagram of magnetism that explores a sense of attraction, or a cross section of a lens to examine a way of seeing, each illustration plays off the text, coaxing out new hints of meaning from what at first glance appears a simple rendering. As the story unfolds, the schematics pull readers in, revealing more and more of the paradoxes and existential qualities that shape love, and life. Schematics, includes an appendix explaining the sources of the original diagrams, adding another layer of intrigue to this short but memorable fiction.

Julian Hibbard is an English photographer living in New York City. His profound and enigmatic images are expressed through his interest and curiosity in storytelling, memory, dreams, film and unique photographic depiction. He has exhibited his work in London, Scotland, Santiago de Chile, New York City, and Los Angeles; Hibbard is also the author of The Noir A-Z, also a Mark Batty published title.

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Julian Hibbard

Pub Date: November 29, 2011

Page Count: 80

Size: 6.7 x 5.1 x 2 inches

Format: Hardcover

Price: $24.95

ISBN: 978-1-935613275

MBP Presents – The Art of Todd Bratrud

Melissa — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:01:35 +0000

“No one is more prolific, more hard working, more distinct in his style than Todd Bratrud.” —Chris Nierkato, ESPN

“Bratrud is a mastermind that hasn’t stumbled in years … All killer, no filler.” —Bradley Carbone, Complex

New York, NY – Nov. 4, 2011 - “I started skateboarding around ’89, and then basically started making art at the same time,” Todd Bratrud said, and he’s been working feverishly on his shockingly fresh skate graphics and personal art ever since. The Art of Todd Bratrud: Seen Unknown collects everything from iconic board designs to magazine covers, Nike shoes to skeleton finger puppets.

Todd Bratrud’s work runs the gamut from cute to crude, but each piece is visually arresting, with bold lines and eye-popping colors. Bratrud’s wild imagination gives us tattooed babies wrestling, a skateboarding lawn gnome, sexy lizard ladies, grisly dismemberment, and plenty of blood and skulls. But even the most gruesome illustration is light-hearted, and the illustrations in The Art of Todd Bratrud are full of Bratrud’s signature humor and passion for skating.

Todd Bratrud has his own skateboard companies, The High 5 and Teenage Runaway. He has designed and illustrated for the best in the business, including The Skateboard Mag, Consolidated Skateboards, Flip Skateboards, Enjoi, Familia Skateshop, Burlesque Design, Volcom, Nike SB, Burton Snowboards, and Creature Skateboards. In 2010, he was named Complex’s #1 Skateboard Artist Right Now.

The Art of Todd Bratrud is the second installment in Mark Batty Publisher’s Seen Unknown series, edited by Winston Tseng. As art director for Enjoi Skateboards, Tseng has worked with some of today’s most genre-defying visual artists and designers whose work extends well beyond skateboard culture. From sneaker and apparel design to product packaging, posters, high-profile ad campaigns, and fine art galleries, the work of Seen Unknown artists is often recognizable, though their creators’ names remain unknown—until now. The Art of Marc McKee is the first title in the Seen Unknown series.

Mark Batty Publisher (markbattypublisher.com) is an independent publisher dedicated to making distinctive books on the visual art of communicating, showcasing the visual power and innovation of contemporary culture in all of its varied poses. Today, the visual comes at us from more places than ever, and its dissemination is faster and more advanced every year. Books from Mark Batty Publisher capture this acceleration on the pages of every book. Affordable, well designed, thoughtfully created, and produced to last, MBP books are artful products that readers want to hold onto forever.

The Art of Todd Bratrud: Seen Unknown
Winston Tseng and Todd Bratrud
Pub Date: November 2011
Page Count: 96
Size: 6.5 x 8.5 inches
Format: Paperback
Price: $19.95
ISBN: 978-1-935613-22-0

MBP Presents – Kill, Marry, Fuc

Melissa — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:46:10 +0000

New York, NY – Nov 4, 2011 – Part party game, part celebrity trivia, part voyage of self-discovery, and all laugh-riot scintillation, Kill, Marry, Fuc presents readers with trios of celebrities and objects, asking, Who would you kill, Who would you marry, and Who would you fuc? On each page you have the addicting power to take home your favorite star and kill off your least, with cameos from the sexiest starlet to the most repulsive reality TV personality.

Each trio of photos in KMF highlights a different quirk of stardom and popular culture. Author Sarah Huber makes electrically funny connections, from putting together a group of has-been gingers like Carrot Top to probing readers’ reactions to bombshells from cinema’s golden age. Each page is full of Huber’s witty commentary and little-known facts that will appeal to snark lovers anywhere. A bit crude, very fun and funny, and completely irreverent, KMF will find a place in the homes of pop-culture connoisseurs the world over.

Give it a whirl! Who would you kill, marry, and fuc of…

The Kardashians: Khloe, Kim, and Kourtney
The Dictators: Stalin, Hitler, and Mao
The Talk Titans: Ellen Degeneres, Oprah Winfrey, and Tyra Banks
The Guidos: Vinny, Ronnie, and Paulie D

Invite friends to play along with the book, and continue the fun with the KMF companion app, free at www.kmfapp.com, which includes global rankings so you can see how your choices stack up.

Sarah Huber graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Television Production and went straight to work for Entertainment Tonight. For the past five years she has worked as the voice over coordinator for ET’s sister show, The Insider.

Kill, Marry, Fuc
Sarah Huber
Pub Date: November 2011
Page Count: 128
Size: 7 x 9 inches
Format: Hardcover
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 978-1-935613-37-4

MBP Presents – Dogs in Books

Melissa — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:30:20 +0000

New York, NY – Nov 2, 2011- As the saying goes, dogs are man’s best friend. It’s no wonder, then, that the written evidence of the relationship between dogs and humans is almost as old as literature itself. Since the Stone Age, our canine companions have been illustrated, described, dramatized, and eulogized in one form or another. Dogs in Books celebrates the role of dogs in literature throughout the centuries, from Pliny’s description of domestic dogs in the sixth century BC to Toto, Lassie, and Snoopy.

Culled from the British Library’s incomparable archives, Dogs in Books features illustrations from rare editions of classic literature and contemporary renderings from popular books. Dogs appear in works by Shakespeare, Jack London, Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, and many more well-known authors. From narrating an entire story to rescuing the hero, dogs are key characters: Odysseus had his faithful dog Argos and King Lear’s pack of dogs barked away at him to warn him.

With everything from illuminated manuscripts to comics, Dogs in Books demonstrate the timelessness of our undying love and respect for dogs and proving that they have always been more than just a pet. Illustrated in color throughout, this is an ideal gift for every dog lover.

Catherine Britton is a former senior editor at the British Library and is currently senior editor at ACC Publishing. This is her first book with Mark Batty Publisher.

Dogs in Books: A Celebration of Dog Illustration Through the Ages
Catherine Britton
Pub Date: November 2011
Page Count: 112
Size: 5 x 8 inches
Format: Paperback
Price: $19.95
ISBN: 978-1-935613-40-4

MPB Presents – Balace: European Hardcore

Melissa — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:09:27 +0000

New York, NY – Nov 4, 2011 – Borne out of the American punk scene of the late 1970s, hardcore music raged through the 1980s, spreading to towns and cities across the globe. The hardcore network spans all of Europe, and Balance visits every major node of it, opening the doors of the bars and dives that host Europe’s hardcore bands. Capturing the chaos of the mosh pit, the monotony of the office, and the sheer energy of the music, Balance pays homage to the bands, promoters, designers, and supporters who have made the decision to live a hardcore life.

Balance: European Hardcore features striking photography of shows and portraits of influential musicians. Alongside these images, the authors provide insights into the informal rules that give order to the international movement—for example, all lyrics are written and performed in English—allowing readers an insider’s perspective on the enduring but underdocumented music scene.

Balance focuses on the current European scene, documenting the lives of musicians who strike a balance between their day jobs and this vital musical force. From tattooists in Portugal to miners in Poland, Balance uncovers the twin lives of those working to support their passion. Hardcore has always been more than just music and although the performers and fans across the continent speak different languages and live in different places, they are tied to each other through a communal music scene that transcends borders.

Tom Barry is the drummer for London hardcore band Kartel and has been a fixture of the city’s hardcore music scene since the 1990s. He began covering alternative and underground music as a staff writer with Big Cheese magazine before moving into youth work and continuing to contribute to community-focused publications. His writing has covered a variety of subjects, from interviews with Slayer to the content of local school meals.

Sophia Schorr-Kon is a freelance photographer who took up photography at the London College of Communication. She has covered a large range of UK music festivals such as Glastonbury and Bestival. She has also worked with many bands and musicians, shooting for labels such as Sony. Schorr-Kon also works within the political sphere and regularly contributes to the New Statesman.

Balance: European Hardcore
Tom Barry and Sophia Schorr-Kon
Pub Date: November 2011
Page Count: 160
Size: 10 x 8 inches
Format: Hardcover
Price: $40.00
ISBN: 978-1-935613-36-7

MBP Presents – Polish Cold War Neon

Melissa — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:09:25 +0000

“Ilona Karwińksa’s images of communist-era neon preserve a unique and significant moment in Poland’s history.”
—David Crowley, Royal College of Art, London

New York, NY – Nov 01, 2011 - In 1929, the first neon sign in Poland went up in Warsaw. Popular from the start, the earliest neon signs were made to order—free in design, shape, and color, and significantly influencing other forms of advertising like poster design and typography. Polish Cold War Neon tells the fascinating story of neon in Poland by preserving and celebrating the remnants of this rich and influential history.

Designed and built by prominent architects, graphic designers, and artists, and overseen by a chief graphic designer in the state-run company Reklama, Polish neon signage was renowned for its outstanding technical and artistic qualities. During its peak, Reklama maintained over 1,000 neon signs, whose playfulness and folly stood out in dark and oppressed Poland, ornamenting otherwise drab cities and towns.

As David Crowley says in the foreword, “in the very best designs produced in Poland in the 1960s, rippling animation and fluid threads of light brought a kind of nocturnal magic to the city.” Today, most of the neon signs are gone, too expensive and fragile to maintain; belonging to no one, all that remains of them are their ghostly weathered “shadows.”

In Polish Cold War Neon, Ilona Karwińska collects her own stunning photographs, archival images, original neon designs, and interviews with their designers to reveal the untold story of Polish neon.

British photographer Ilona Karwińska specializes in portraiture and world cultures. Based in London, she is a graduate of Goldsmiths College and the London College of Printing. She has been exploring the disappearing world of Cold War Era neon and graphics for more than five years, and has been credited with starting a new “school of neon,” as well as helping to found the Neon Muzeum. Her work has been featured in Creative Review, A4, Icon, The Telegraph, Newsweek, and Time Out. Karwińska regularly exhibits in international galleries.

Polish Cold War Neon
Ilona Karwińska
Pub Date: November 2011
Page Count: 224
Size: 11 x 9 inches
Format: Hardcover
Price: $55.00
ISBN: 978-1-935613-35-0

MBP Presents – Infinite Instances: Studies and Images of Time

admin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:04:34 +0000

New York, NY – Sept 7, 2011 – In Infinite Instances: Studies and Images of Time, Olga Ast collects original essays and visual meditations on the nature of time. Filmmaker Phillip Adams once said, “Of all the big questions of existence… none impacts our daily lives more than the problem of time.” The notion of time has always mystified and attracted the speculation of societies and civilizations. Where does it come from? Can it be saved, stopped, suspended, or reversed? Will it ever end? In Infinite Instances, eighty contributors seek answers and provide a range of enlightening, multidisciplinary time-related studies.

The unique viewpoints in Infinite Instances come from a staggering number of fields, including architecture, journalism, poetry, physics, visual and media arts, biology, photography, engineering, film, history, music composition, writing, psychiatry, and design. Essays delve into imaginative subjects like the effect of modern technology on the experience of time, cyclical time structures and diatonic rhythms in music, and the disparity between psychological and actual age. It includes a catalog of people’s drawings of the passage of time; devices that capture a drawn record of the daily growth of plants, and a potential “time machine.” With astounding clarity, insight, and original thinking, the contributors in Infinite Instances come together to chip away at the inscrutable nature of time.

Olga Ast is a conceptual interdisciplinary artist whose work investigates the connection between space, time, and information, and their impact on everything around us. In 2009 Ast organized and curated the ArcheTime conference and exhibition dedicated to exploring artistic, academic, and scientific concepts of time. The project is supported by Artspire (a program of the New York Foundation for the Arts), the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Tank Space for Performing & Visual Arts, the NYC Future Salon, EFA Project Space, WIX Lounge, and SET gallery.

Mark Batty Publisher is an independent publisher dedicated to making distinctive books on the visual art of communicating, showcasing the visual power and innovation of contemporary culture in all of its varied poses. Today, the visual comes at us from more places than ever, and its dissemination is faster and more advanced every year. Books from Mark Batty Publisher capture this acceleration on the pages of every book. Affordable, well designed, thoughtfully created, and produced to last, MBP books are artful products that readers want to hold onto forever.

Infinite Instances
Olga Ast
Pub Date: August 2011
Page Count: 240
Size: 8 x 10 inches
Format: Hardcover
Price: $50.00
ISBN: 978-1-935613-21-3

CONTRIBUTORS

David Z. Albert
Vladimir Aristov
Colleen Asper
Olga Ast
Chris Basmajian
Ilya Bernstein
Sarah Bliss
John Boone
David Bowen
Costica Bradatan
Keith Brown
Patrick Calinescu
Sean Carroll
Stephanie Clare
Hallie Cohen
Irina Danilova
Rob David
Katherine Davis
Luba Drozd
Julia Druk
Jennifer Dudley
Ula Einstein
Dan Falk
Nathan Felde
Michael Filimowicz
Christian Friedrich
Matthew Fritze
Evgeny Golovakha
Elizabeth Grachev
Christian Hawkey
Kai-Min Hsiung
Duoling Huang
Ken Jacobs
Edward Johnston
Elliott Kaufman
Aleksander Kronik
Kat Kronick
Eliza Lamb
Helene Lanois
MaryAnne Laurico
Julia Morgan-Leamon
Richard Leslie
Jeremy Levine
Francis Levy
Andrea Liu
Craig Res Morehead
Paul Doru Mugur
George Musser
Edward Nersessian
Michaela Nettell
Gary Nickard
Brandon Neubauer
Mark Norell
Satomi Orita
Eugene Ostachevsky
Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta
Vanessa Place
Buzz Poole
Melissa Potter
Don Relyea
Glen River
Kara Rooney
Daniel Rosenberg
Anje Roosjen
Catherine Rutgers
Michael Shara
Alexie SHarov
Michael Shulman
Jesse Stewart
Linda Stillman
Debra Swack
Lisa Tannenbaum
Catinca Tilea
Camilla Torna
Vladimir Tuchkov
Ellen Wiener
Steve Witham
Peter Whiteley
Courtney Wrenn
Matvei Yankelvich
Jayoung Yoon
Norman J. Zabusky

For a review copy, more information, or to schedule an interview with the author, please contact Kate Abbey-Lambertz at 718.314.8000 or kate@markbattypublisher.com.