BY MARK WIGAN
AVA Publishing 07
ISBN 978-2940373505
£17.95
Review by Nicolette Hamilton
‘Text and Image’ is the most recent publication, number three in a series entitled ‘Basics Illustration’ by artist, Illustrator, educator and writer Mark Wigan. Wigan has a progressive multi-disciplinary approach to illustration and works internationally in a broad range of media and contexts. He has been lecturing for the past decade at such institutions as Camberwell College of Arts and Central St Martins currently he is Programme Leader BA (Hons) Graphic Design at Salford University.Following on from ‘Thinking Visually’ and ‘Sequential Images’, numbers one and two from the series, this makes an essential read for any would be illustrator/designer or visual communication student and should feature on every art college library bookshelf.
Arranged thematically under titles such as ‘Text, Images, Ideas and Messages’ and ‘Illustrative Text’ the book covers a wide range of topics such as, poster design, conceptual image making, book art, handcrafted type, text in motion, installation and intervention.
Each chapter explores contemporary practice in context. Featuring the work of many leading illustrators and image makers, the book is a role call of current talent; John McFaul, Mark Taplin, Andy Pots, Nishant Chokski, Paul Davis and Johnny Hannah to name a few. Dialogue with the featured artists enables a discourse of current issues and debates to form and encourages the reader to think about their own practice as a visual creator. The book also cites historical references such as hieroglyphs and medieval manuscripts providing a background of cultural capital to draw upon. The book is packed with inspiration, and provides suggested avenues of research and further enquiry. Every chapter concludes with projects designed to stimulate ideas and engage the intellect. Where the publication is lacking, sadly is in the design. For a title about visual communication to have such a weak format and poor quality layout is a damning shame. With such rich content that really deserves to be well presented the publisher has not done justice to an otherwise well written book.
