Stockmans Art Books – serie

Baracoa, cradle of Cuban cocoa, is a necessary book. After all, cocoa is an indigenous product whose importance is not yet sufficiently emphasised. The book explores the characteristics that distinguish Baracoa as the Cuban and perhaps even Latin American and Caribbean city where cocoa has left its strongest traces and where, compared to other producing countries, long-gone traditions have been preserved. Baracoa, capital of Cuban cocoa, is a complex and rich cultural space where a centuries-old agricultural activity has specific cultural characteristics that determine the identity of that place. Baracoa, cradle of Cuban cocoa is made in collaboration with chocolatiers Pierre Marcolini and Jitsk Heyninck, Cuban visual artist Maria Cienfuegos and Chocolate World.Text in English and Spanish.

Scent in Context is a unique document that witnesses the olfactory artist Peter de Cupere’s research, the origins and context of his work and practice, and that offers a view and presentation of more than 500 artworks. 7 authors, 472 pages, more than 1500 illustrations and images, 22 images with 11 different scratch and sniff hidden smells, all make this 3kg book a complete guide to discover the world of olfactory art. The publication will surprise and interact with the reader with soft and beautiful smells but in contrast might also shock while presenting intense or mind-teasing smells. Refine your nostrils when reading this book.By exploiting the subjective, associative impact of smells, in combination with visual images, Peter de Cupere generates a kind of meta-sensory experience that goes beyond purely seeing or smelling. Plastic artist De Cupere paints with scents, produces olfactory objects, soap paintings and sculptures, creates video and live performances, makes three-dimensional drawings and builds poetic smell installations.Text in English and Dutch.

Antwerp-based and internationally lauded hairdresser Pascal van Loenhout is back with a second monograph: UN/CUT. For this 185-plus-pager brimming with arresting images, Pascal van Loenhout created dozens of lobs, bobs, bangs and blunt cuts, leaving it all out there for everyone to see and draw inspiration from. Photographed by acclaimed fashion and music photographer Charlie De Keersmaecker, UN/CUT packs a punch as it seamlessly combines a distinctly recalcitrant mood with timeless but off-kilter beauty. Though capturing a specific moment in time, it’s set to continue to enthrall both hair aficionados as well as anyone with a penchant for art, fashion, minimalism or beauty in general for a long time to come. The book design as done by internationally revered graphic designer Paul Boudens. UN/CUT begins with an uncensored version of Pascal’s life story.

This book is not about Iran. This book is a photographic perception of Iran. A book about Iran would imply the conveyance of ideas and notions about it. Yet within these pages, you will find nothing of the historic, linguistic, political, cultural, or any of the broader context necessary to obtain substantial and deeper insight into a place as rich, as diverse, and as old as Iran. There are many different perceptions of Iran and, depending upon the reader of this book, the photographic representations of people and places in the following three chapters can be interpreted as adhering to any one of these. Yet unless you have spent time in Iran yourself you have only ever been exposed to others’ perceptions of it. These generally offer little understanding of what Iran is, as a culture in its own right, because they tend to narrow it down into single defining elements through a distinct visual language of symbols. Text in English and Farsi.

What Denis Rouvre admires about Sâdhus is the way they are in the world, the way they respond to the world, and the way they carry the burden of parallel paths. In non-identity toward extinction, they resist the necessity of their birth. They are born to die, to no longer exist. Every day, individuals defy their common destiny. Among the people whose portraits are exhibited by photographers, we are referring to those who, by their own will and courage, place themselves among the gods.

Paul Ibou designed during his career more than 350 logos & symbols and is one of the important pioneers in modern graphic design. Next to his design activities he published numerous books on symbols and logo's. In 1991 he built the foundations of the book Letters As Symbols: the concept, the cover and the basic layout. The book was never released and remained untouched for decades until young graphic designer Christophe De Pelsemaker and Paul Ibou established a collaboration in 2017. Paul Ibou acquired an enormous amount of logos through submission forms that were sent to him by the leading logo and brand identity designers of that time like Saul Bass, Burton Kramer, Anton Stankowski, Yasaburo Kuwayama, Ken Cato, Wim Crouwel and many more. Letters As Symbols, contains logos from these submissions and was completed with contemporary work. Each logo is based on a letter of the Latin alphabet (A-Z) and forms an excellent source of inspiration for designers, artists, agencies, teachers, typographers, students, and many others.

Introducing Karel Fonteyne, one of Belgium’s foremost contemporary and fashion photographers. Since 1968 the artist has created an extensive oeuvre that has its place in the history of photography. His timeless visual storytelling relates to nature, darkness and loneliness, the inner world, and esotericism, while touching uncovered dimensions. For more than 15 years Fonteyne was active as a fashion photographer, breaking boundaries by introducing his narrative approach as a contemporary artist in the traditional fashion world. He had early collaborations with Martin Margiela, Dries Van Noten, Walter Van Beirendonck and Dirk Bikkembergs, and internationally he collaborated with Vogue, Interview, Bazaar, Marie-Claire and Brutus Magazine in Japan.Text in English and French.

"Sarajevo to Paris, fashion or reportage, deciding on the title of a book is mind-boggling. I call myself a documentary photographer that accidentally ended up doing fashion. The end of the 80s was an interesting and intense time in world history, and a particularly creative time in the world of fashion. As a young female photographer I was interested in both worlds. Thirty years later, when looking back, those two worlds — documentary and fashion — still define my work. Both are equally represented in my archives. This book, of my fashion work, is the first to be published. I called it Sarajevo to Paris because sometimes I would travel directly from one to the other. These two cities had a big impact on my life.”Sarajevo to Paris by Marleen Daniëls captures the set before the fashion show. This robust encyclopaedia is an A-Z of designers preparing for the big moment. Over the course of 30 years she photographed backstage in Paris, London, New York and Milan.

With Borderline, the Belgian photographer Paul D’Haese explores the coastal strip from Bray-Dunes to Le Havre. His photographs of the chaotic built-up landscape with its blind walls, parapets and fences ironically depict this coastline as a new “Atlantic wall”. In this, they form a masterful visual fable about the desert that can become a country that closes itself off. The images question the forms of a heterogeneous building, the sediment of human activity. In particular it offers a beautiful metaphor for an approach that invites in-depth reading rather than surface contemplation. The project obtained ‘Le Prix de la Ministre de la Culture’ - May 2021 - Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi.Text in English and French.

Marylène Madou was established in Belgium early 2017, launching the brand with a successful collection of printed scarves and today print still is the ultimate starting point in each collection. Every textile print is created in-house by the designer herself, exclusively using her own original paintings and digital illustrations.Marylène Madou: Prints & Patterns provides an overview of Marylène’s most distinguishing print designs and patterns, a treat for print admirers and textile enthusiasts worldwide with Italy, the UK, and the Benelux being the largest sourcing countries for the materials. For the manufacturing of her ready-to-wear, she is in a unique position, working with a local atelier in Belgium. A collection of both highly detailed and more stylized prints, highlighting Marylène’s multidisciplinary design process, covering more than 190 pages, divided into 5 chapters. Marylène Madou: Prints & Patterns is printed on high-end paper, with a recognisable print all over the cover. The holographic pink foil makes the title stand out among the crowd.Text in English and French.

In a world where Photoshop creates the stereotype of perfect and flawless images, Steve Dean Mendes decided to row against the tide and do just the opposite as a photographer. By deciding not to retouch his images and to not use makeup for his models, only using natural light in the studio, Steve Dean Mendes created a safe environment for his protagonists, initiating a process of removing all masks. In this series he worked predominantly with women and attempted, through art, to facilitate the experience for self-discovery and acceptance.His aim? To capture raw and unaltered emotions and to present a story of love, joy, but also of pain, suffering and abandonment. Inspired by the great Flemish Old masters and the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Steve Dean Mendes wanted to show the real human beings behind these protagonists, with all their natural fragility and beauty of their soul.Text in English and Dutch.

In 2019, Cuba celebrated the 60th anniversary of the revolution. Against this background, an extensive photography project was set up with four Cuban and four European participants, taking the current reality of the island as a starting point. Text in English and Spanish.

Kasper De Vos' sculptures and installations, often comically referencing food culture and found objects, evoke a playful and colourful uncanny world. Text in English and French

Jutten is about mudlarking and placing the discovered various treasures on a tea towel creating a graphical, curious and intriguing image.

LUCKY / Udachny documents a small diamond mining town in the far East of Russia, a remote region captured in the icy grip of winter most of the year.

William Ludwif Lutgens explores the complexities of the human ego and the relationship between bodies and freedom. Lutgens' works incorporate references to art historical and global events, human behaviours, perversities, fantasies and humour. Text in English and Dutch.

Nasi Per L’Arte was created for the exhibition at the Palazzo Merulana in Rome, Italy, curated by Joanna De Vos and Melania Rossi. The book proposes an intriguing dialogue between Italian and Belgian art at the beginning of the 20th century and with contemporary artists. Text in English and Italian.

Highlights the oeuvre of Man Ray from the perspective of fashion, uniting iconic photography and works of art with silhouettes, contemporary designers & photographers.

Graphic Design of Scheld’Apen is a colourful and punchy poster archive book; a shining star for anyone who loves typography, graphic design, drawing and creative archive material. Two artists / musicians from Antwerp worked together for two years, coordinating the poster archive of a former music and art venue in Antwerp called Scheld’Apen, an underground, rough and raw artist centre where many creatives came together in the late 1990s and early 2000s. For each event, a fantastically cool and experimental poster was made and thanks to Benny and Bent, we have a publication that brings this energetic and legendary archive together.

Please Look in the Basement is a quirky collection of 218 lost animal posters. 35 stories on the fate of these animals are woven in the book. Text in English, French and Dutch.

Drawing First by Peter Jacquemyn shows his sketches, drawings and sculptures from recent years, in which he depicts birds and people: loved ones and the injured, dancers and the dead, rebels and the homeless. Text in English and Dutch.