Launch
Picture Books
In December 2021, Gagosian will launch Picture Books, an imprint dedicated to publishing fiction by leading authors alongside contributions by celebrated contemporary artists. The series, conceived by Emma Cline, author of Daddy (2020), pairs each writer with an artist, who is given carte blanche to produce an image in conversation with the text. Book and image—in the form of a printed poster—are packaged together in limited hardcover editions designed by Peter Mendelsund, author, designer, and creative director of The Atlantic.
Picture Books will begin with two publications—Ottessa Moshfegh’s My New Novel (2021), matched with an artwork by Issy Wood; and Percival Everett’s Grand Canyon, Inc. (2021), accompanied by a Richard Prince artwork. Wood’s contribution is The down payment (2021), a new oil-on-linen painting; Prince presents a color photograph from his Original Cowboys series (2013). “Wood and Moshfegh share a gothic, spiky humor,” observes Cline, “and an attunement to the darker currents of the world; Prince and Everett are both tricksters who take a sideways look at the mythology of the West.”
Each book in the series will be available for purchase for $30 in the recently relaunched online Gagosian Shop as well as at the physical location on Madison Avenue in New York and at select bookstores. Future authors in the series will include Mary Gaitskill and Elif Batuman.
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Left: Percival Everett, Grand Canyon, Inc. / Richard Prince, Untitled (Original Cowboy) (New York: Picture Books | Gagosian, 2021). Right: Ottessa Moshfegh, My New Novel / Issy Wood, The down payment (New York: Picture Books | Gagosian, 2021)
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Emma Cline and Picture Books Present
Claire-Louise Bennett, Megan Nolan, Vanessa Onwuemezi, and Max Porter
Thursday, June 8, 2023, 7pm
Burlington Arcade, London
Join Gagosian for an evening of fiction readings presented by Emma Cline and Picture Books and featuring authors Claire-Louise Bennett, Megan Nolan, Vanessa Onwuemezi, and Max Porter. To celebrate the latest Picture Books release—Lydia Millet’s novella Lyrebird, which is paired with a new painting by Genieve Figgis—Cline has invited some of the most exciting contemporary fiction writers working in the United Kingdom and Ireland to share their recent and upcoming work.
Picture Books, an imprint founded by Cline and Gagosian, is dedicated to publishing fiction by leading authors alongside contributions by contemporary artists. Past collaborations include Ottessa Moshfegh and Issy Wood, Percival Everett and Richard Prince, and Sam Lipsyte and Jordan Wolfson. The Picture Books titles and recent publications by the invited authors will be available for purchase at the event, which is free to attend.
Pictures Books series with covers designed by Peter Mendelsund
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Piero Golia, The Best Is Yet to Come, 2020 © Piero Golia
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Richard Prince, Jeff Koons, Peter Halley
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Park Avenue Armory, New York
www.tefaf.com
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Gagosian’s booth at TEFAF New York 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Jeff Koons, © Peter Halley. Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
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