Rex Ray
Written by Griff Williams, published by Chronicle Books
Essays by Rebecca Solnit and Christian L. Frock
Hardcover, 11.25 x 8.5"
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7678
2020
Lushly illustrated with the artist’s paintings, collage, and graphic design; this book chronicles Ray’s life and work in San Francisco beginning in 1990 through to his untimely death in 2015.
Rex Ray established a distinct abstract vocabulary, drawing inspiration from the Arts and Crafts Movement, organic and hard edge abstraction, as well as pattern and textile design. His recognizable hand and acclaimed abstraction made him a staple in the international art and design scene. Rex Ray celebrates life, work, and legacy of iconic San Francisco fine artist Rex Ray (1956–2015).
This comprehensive volume features more than 100 of his works on canvas, wood, and paper—including never-before-seen pieces courtesy of the Rex Ray estate. His playful painted-paper-collages and organic, abstract forms have earned him comparisons to artists like Paul Klee and Henri Matisse.
Rex Ray was an influential and prolific fine artist whose art has been shown at major museums and galleries throughout the United States. Now, longtime collectors and new fans alike can revel in the beauty of Ray's inimitable body of work.
Rex Ray | The Paper Collages
This monograph is the only book focused on the paper collage of of the late artist Rex Ray. Rex Ray: The Paper Collages. Rex Ray’s work extends across mediums, from graphic design to paintings. But it’s his series of paper collages that are most easily identifiable, and, arguably, his most beloved. Rex Ray: The Paper Collages is a sold out limited-edition volume that features a full selection of the works and presents them in full color. The work spans from 1995-2001.
Published by Gallery 16 Editions
Alice Shaw: People Who Look Like Me
This is the first book in the 1 Artist 1 Concept series, Alice Shaw's People Who Look Like Me. This book series was a project between myself and artist Rob Craigie designed to support conceptual artists on the West Coast. This project by Alice Shaw involved having herself photographed with friends, family, and other bystanders whom she feels she shares common traits with.
Her project is a conceptual act in which Alice, as Director, creates an enlightening scene. It is not about the photographic document as much as it is about the activity of uniting people in a search for identity. She reveals the beauty in our shared connections. In this body of work she has taken the theory that sometimes when we photograph, we are pointing the camera at something we see reflected in ourselves. What she has done is come out from behind the camera and posed for the photographs with a subject she sees mirrored in herself.
The difficulty in placing Alice's work in a context reminds us that the search for identity is an unwelcome pursuit in contemporary culture. Behind all the impulses to be like someone else, all the marquees and loud speakers urging us to ignore our own identity, Alice reminds us, one person at a time, that we have more in common than we think.
63 pages, hardbound
11.25 x 8.25 inches
Rex Ray | The Paper Collages
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Rex Ray | The Paper Collages
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Bill: Bill Berkson and Colter Jacobsen
I invited Bill Berkson to publish a book of his choosing in 2006. Bill had been a huge inspriation and a graduate advisor to me at the San Francisco Art Institute. This collaboration between he and artist Colter Jacobsen is a classic.
In the back of BILL, Bill Berkson writes, "The words and title for BILL popped out of a juvenile detective novel Tom Veitch gave me around 1980. Instantly, just flipping through this little illustrated book occasioned an emergency. The editorial imagination went to work. Soon, having typed a series of short sentences, paragraphs and stray phrases towards the bottom edge of unusually thin 8 1/2" by 11" sheets... I set aside the twenty-or-so pages and forgot about them."
The story was then shelved in a manila folder for 25 years. Berkson revisited the story in 2006 and decided the blank pages needed artwork. With the help of Mac McGinnes, it was decided that artist Colter Jacobsen would be a perfect fit. Jacobsen found inspiration for the project in a collection of postcards dating from early the 1900s through the 1980s. With a slow and deliberate attentiveness he began a series of drawings. He says, "I felt I was responding to another time, nearer to when I was born, a time thirty years before I was born, and recontextualizing these times into images for today." Within a year, the new BILL emerged, a fresh creation, in its present splendor.
Designed by Griff Williams and Troy Peters. Published by Gallery 16 Editions
Dean Byington
As the first monograph of his work, it details the arc and span of Byington's prolific career. The book features an original short story and poem by the acclaimed author and essayist Rick Moody with additional writing by Griff Williams, owner of Gallery 16. The book is published in conjunction with the artist s solo show Dean Byington: Buildings Without Shadows at the American University's Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, DC. Curated by Museum Director Jack Rasmussen, the exhibition includes fifteen paintings and three works on paper created between 2002 and 2015. It is the first presentation of the Byington s work in Washington, DC. Carter Foster, Curator of Drawings at the Whitney Museum of American Art, has likened Byington s involvement with surface and production to an earlier generation of California-based artists: One also thinks of the finish-fetish work of John McCracken or the ceramist/sculptor Ken Price, both obsessive in their use of surface density to create optically captivating art... Byingtons method has parallels to theirs in that the final product is a summation of many layers of production. Flexi-bound with vellum jacket; 155 pages, 90 pages in color, 4 double-page vellum inserts.
The book was designed by Griff Williams and Troy Peters, published by Gallery 16 Editions.
Good Times Bad Trips
Cliff Hengst and Scott Hewicker's book, "Good Times: Bad Trips," is a collection of first person accounts exploring an under-recognized rite of passage: The Bad Trip.
Pairing individual stories with paintings, collages, and photographs by Hengst and Hewicker, the book delves deeply into the romantic pathos of psychedelic crisis.
Contributors include over fifty luminaries from the art, music, and literary world including Devendra Banhart, Griff Williams, Andy Cabic, Enrique Chagoya, Kota Ezawa, Chris Johanson, John Dwyer, Lars Bang Larsen, Shaun O'Dell, Keegan McHargue, Kevin Killian, Dodie Bellamy, Leslie Shows, Tony Labat, and Larry Rinder.
56 pages, hardbound
9.25 x 6.5 inches
Inez Storer: Allow Nothing To Worry You
Inez Storer’s new book Inez Storer: Allow Nothing To Worry You, a monograph of the artist’s career designed by Griff Williams and Troy Peters.
The book includes text by the late Bill Berkson, Timothy Anglin Burgard, Bonnie Gangelhoff, Barbara Morris, Maria Porges, and Inez Storer.
Inez Storer’s work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions consistently throughout the United States since 1971. Her work has been presented at institutions such as the San Jose Museum of Art, the Monterey Museum of Art, the Fresno Art Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and The National Museum of Jewish History in Philadelphia. Storer taught at the San Francisco Art Institute (1981- 1999), Sonoma State University (1976 - 1988), San Francisco State University (1970 - 1973), and the College of Marin (1968 - 1979).
105 pages, hardbound
8.25 x 8.25 inches
James F Miles Is A Boyfriend And A Girlfriend with Harrell Fletcher
When I invited Harrell Fletcher to produce the third book of the 1 Artist, 1 Concept book series, he chose to shine a light on the work of James F Miles, an artist with developmental disabilities.
Fletcher encountered Miles' work in the early 1990s as a volunteer at Creativity Explored (CE). During his time there, Fletcher started a zine that highlighted individual artists called Whipper Snapper Nerd (so named by another CE artist, John Patrick McKenzie). James Miles was the subject of one of the issues (which is reproduced in this book.)
Says Fletcher of Miles' art, "His work stood out from the moment I saw it, and has been compelling to me ever since. James' drawings are both very everyday and incredibly mysterious at the same time. He is operating on another level from anyone else I've ever encountered -- almost as if he is physically in this universe but perceiving several others that are undetectable to other people. The results are poignant, funny, disturbing, and generally stunning."
Published by Gallery 16 Editions and The Expanding Color System
Victory Gardens 2007+ | Amy Franceschini
Victory Gardens 2007 chronicles Amy Franceschini's inspired re-imagining of the original wartime Victory Garden program. The book features essays by Lucy Lippard and Mike Davis along with historical photos and context, and project documentation and insight. Franceschini's Victory Gardens 2007+ was presented as a series of actions, sculptural icons, and ephemera during the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art SECA Award show in January of 2007. The project was initially a small pilot program designed to evolve into a larger plan for a city supported food system.
Designed by Griff Williams and Troy Peters. Published by Gallery 16 Editions and The Expanding Color System.
The Boy Who Would Be Tsar: The Art of Prince Andrew Romanoff
Prince Andrew Romanoff is the grandnephew of the late Tsar Nicholas Romanoff. Had the Bolshevik Revolution not intervened, Andrew himself was in line to become Tsar of Russia. Instead, he grew up in exile on the grounds at Windsor Castle in London. Andrew, now over 90 years old, chronicles his remarkable childhood in The Boy Who Would Be Tsar: The Art of Prince Andrew Romanoff.
Andrew works in a folk art tradition in an unlikely medium of Shrink Dink. Romanoff's drawings of daily life are executed on Shrinky Dink material, a plastic which shrinks when heated in the oven. His decidedly original works are rooted in the realm of Folk Art. He uses these drawings to illustrate the story of his childhood at Frogmore Cottage, a thirty six room mansion on the grounds of Windsor where Andrew was raised with his parents and grandmother Grand Duchess Xenia.
The book contains historical photos and ephemera from Andrew's collection along with his descriptions of his life by Prince Andrew Romanoff.
67 pages, hardbound, 8.25 x 7.25 in.
Deborah Oropallo: POMP
POMP is a book that I designed and published with Deborah Oropallo. I covers two bodies of the acclaimed artists work. It includes the Guise series of prints, published by Gallery 16 Editions and premiered at the DeYoung Museum in 2007 along with a newer group of images titled Wild Wild West.
POMP contains 64 pages of beautiful color reproductions of the artist's work along with an essay by Nick Stone and an interview with the artist.
One Artist One Concept | Expanding Color System
A series of books published by Gallery 16 Editions. The book series was conceived by Griff Williams and artist Rob Craigie. Artist included Amy Franceschini, Harrell Fletcher with James Miles, Alice Shaw, Tucker Nichols.
Postcards From Vermont | Tucker Nichols
The second book in the 1 Artist 1 Concept series is Postcards from Vermont by Tucker Nichols. It documents some of the stream of postcards he sent to Gallery 16 from Vermont where he was getting married in the summer of 2006.
In the introduction Tucker lays the groundwork of the book:
"I spent the month of June with my wife at her late grandmother's farmhouse in Vermont preparing for our wedding. We spent our days painting the house and raking muck from the pond in the company of an old blind dog.
"Before I left San Francisco, I told Griff I'd send him a few postcards from the country. I made these drawings in a small studio beside the pond using whatever materials I could find in the desk up at the house."
Designed by Griff Williams and Troy Peters. Published by Gallery 16 Editions and The Expanding Color System.
These Are The People In Your Neighborhood | the first 16 years of Gallery 16
I produced this monograph to document the first sixteen years of my gallery and print workshop, Gallery 16. These Are The People In Your Neighborhood celebrates and chronicles the artists, writers and musicians that contributed to Gallery 16 projects.
Artist include:
Elliot Anderson, Bill Berkson, Libby Black, Rebeca Bollinger, Ann Chamberlain, Adriane Colburn, Lowell Darling, Lauren Davies, Amy Ellingson, Emigre, Harrell Fletcher, Amy Franceschini, Michelle Grabner, Mark Grotjahn, Maya Hayuk, Cliff Hengst, Arturo Herrera, Lynn Hershman, Scott Hewicker, Jim Isermann, Colter Jacobsen, Xylor Jane, William Kentridge, Margaret Kilgallen, Brad Killam, Charles Linder, Adam Lowe, Kara Maria, Martin McMurray, Tucker Nichols, Shaun O'Dell, Geof Oppenheimer, Deborah Oropallo, Gay Outlaw, Rex Ray, Phil Ross, Carol Selter, Paul Sietsema, Alice Shaw, Sonny Smith, Wayne Smith, Darren Waterston, Griff Williams, and Alex Zecca.
Essays by: Glen Helfand, Maria Porges and Mark Van Proyen
Text by Griff Williams. Designed by Griff Williams and Troy Peters.
Rex Ray: Information
A stream of consciousness artist book, Information visually chronicles Rex Ray's work, inspirations, and observations. Rather that follow a typical artist book system of artist and text describing the artwork. This, was intended to be a visual diary of sorts, that follows almost dreamlike sequence. Rex selected hundreds of snapshots, drawings, sketches and imagery to include. There is no narrative elements, just imagery that was created by the celebrated artist , organized in a non linear method. The book gives one a glimpse into his inspirations, despair and joys during his all to brief life.
480 pages, hardbound
7.75 x 5.75 inches
Tucker Nichols | Patio Music
This books cover shows a handshake between artist Tucker Nichols and myself. It is representative of a commitment I feel to Tucker and his work. Patio Music is an Artist book containing photographs taken by the artist. The 92 page book was designed by McFadden & Thorpe for his Gallery 16 show in 2017. It was published by Gallery 16 Editions.
Bill | Bill Berkson and Colter Jacobsen
Detail
Dean Byington
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Good Times Bad Trips (detail)
Inez Storer: Allow Nothing To Worry You (detail)
James F Miles Is A Boyfriend And A Girlfriend with Harrell Fletcher
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Victory Gardens 2007+ | Amy Franceschini
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The Boy Who Would Be Tsar: The Art of Prince Andrew Romanoff (detail)
Deborah Oropallo: POMP (detail)
Hal Fischer: The Gay Seventies
Edited by Griff Williams, Troy Peters. Essay by Hal Fischer.
At once humorous, conceptually brilliant and visually enthralling, the photography of Hal Fischer is gathered here for the first time
Hal Fischer: The Gay Seventies is the first monograph to feature the complete set of photo-text works that Hal Fischer produced between 1977 and 1979 in San Francisco’s Haight and Castro neighborhoods. In addition to Gay Semiotics, Fischer’s best-known work (its recent facsimile edition now out of print), Hal Fischer: The Gay Seventies includes 18th Near Castro Street x 24, which was published as an artist’s book, Boy-Friends, A Salesman and two other series—Civic Center and Cheap Chic Homo.
Hal Fischer: The Gay Seventies brings together, for the first time in nearly four decades, Fischer’s major photo-text investigations of gay life in late 1970s San Francisco. Unapologetic, humorous, periodically subversive and conceptually driven, Fischer’s photo-text investigations continue to engage and amuse audiences. As the work demonstrates, the late 1970s—after Stonewall and before AIDS—was a magical moment to be young and gay in San Francisco.
Postcards From Vermont | Tucker Nichols
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These Are The People In Your Neighborhood | the first 16 years of Gallery 16
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Rex Ray: Information (detail)