Jim Shedden – författare

Previously unseen journals, letters, sketches and more from the vast personal archive of Leonard Cohen Published with Art Gallery of Ontario.Leonard Cohen is renowned the world over for his meditations on beauty, death, loss and the human heart. The objects, papers and artifacts from Cohen’s personal archive provide fresh insight into the artist’s creative pursuits and the arc of his career over six decades. Aware from an early age that he was destined to make a mark on this world, Cohen preserved an expansive collection of letters, journals, manuscripts, sketches and records. Together, they provide a rich visual road map to his evolution as a poet and songwriter.The first publication to present the holdings of the Leonard Cohen Family Trust, Everybody Knows: Inside His Archive immerses readers in the many facets of Cohen’s creative life. Images of rare concert footage and archival materials, including musical instruments, notebooks, lyrics and letters, are featured alongside photographs, drawings and digital art created by Cohen across several decades.Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) was a Canadian poet, singer-songwriter and novelist. Born and educated in Montreal, Cohen began his artistic career in 1956 with the publication of his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies. Over his long and productive career, he published two novels, The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966), and numerous books of poetry, including Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs (1993). He recorded more than a dozen music albums, and numerous tribute albums have celebrated his songs in various languages. He died in Los Angeles in 2016 and was secretly buried in Montreal a few days later.

A lavishly illustrated tour of the methods, process and sources behind the iconic pop artworks of KAWSPublished with Art Gallery of Ontario.American artist KAWS is one of the most famous living contemporary artists today. Renowned for his iconic visual language and larger-than-life sculptures, the artist draws on beloved pop culture icons to create a new and recognizable cast of characters of his own. The broad appeal of KAWS’ style has made his artwork accessible to collectors, museum visitors and the general public alike, and has led to collaborations with coveted global brands and immense commercial success.KAWS: FAMILY, organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, marks the artist’s Canadian institutional exhibition debut with an array of his drawings, paintings, sculptures and selected products. The catalog features over 60 works from the past two decades, including installation photography; essays by Julian Cox, AGO Deputy Director and Chief Curator; and an interview with KAWS by Jim Shedden, AGO Curator of Special Projects and Director of Publishing. Together, this material provides new insights into KAWS’ influences and creative process as well as the impact his work has made across the spheres of fine art, pop culture, product design and fashion.A graffiti artist since adolescence, Brian Donnelly (born 1974), known professionally by his moniker KAWS, received his BFA in illustration from New York’s School of Visual Arts in 1996. He has collaborated with brands such as Supreme, Nike and Comme des Garcons, and his work can be found in the collections of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. KAWS lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.