linn meyers: Works 2004-2018

This long-awaited reprint of a sold-out first edition, Wired is the first book to document the development of telephone wire weaving in African art.

With 260 full-color images, Wired showcases the works of the most renowned contemporary weavers, including Dudu Cele, Bheki Dlamini, Alice Gcaba, Zama Khanyile, Mboniseni Khanyile, Ntombifuthi Magwasa, Robert Majola, Zodwa Maphumulo, Simon Mavundla, Elliot Mkhize, Jaheni Mkhize, Alfred Ntuli, Bheki Sibiya, and Vincent Sithole, many of whom have passed away since the publication of the first edition in 2004.

The decorative use of wire has been a feature of African art for centuries. With advancements in telecommunications in the 1960s, a new type of wire became available: multi-colored, plastic-coated copper, referred to as telephone wire. At the time, Zulu night watchmen began to weave scraps of this wire around their traditional sticks. The practice soon became popular among Zulu communities; today, there is great innovation and creativity in the use of the medium. Artists produce objects ranging from soft wire bowls and plates to glass bottle covers, tea sets, isikhetho (beer strainers), and pots, all created in a variety of complex patterns.

Wired includes texts by David Arment, Marisa Fick-Jordaan, and Karel Nel—early enthusiasts and collectors of this art form who have worked not only to expand the market for the artists’ work, but also to provide scholarship and context for the role of telephone wire weaving in traditional and contemporary South African art and craft.

Learn about the limited edition here.

I think we’ve fallen into an elaborate but beneficent trap that Agnes Martin has set for us. She gives the paintings these titles so that when you speak of them, you can say something like, “I love Happiness” or “I’m very moved by Innocence” or “I came around a corner and saw Friendship.” She’s giving us language in an unembarrassed way, so that things can happen to us when we actually say those words.

— Teju Cole

This is a re-envisioned, fresh look at Agnes Martin, the enigmatic, influential, highly independent painter whose life (1912–2004) spanned much of the twentieth century and extended into the twenty-first. Martin’s abstract, deceptively simple paintings continue to resonate with contemporary artists and writers. In a series of essays commissioned especially for this volume, the contributors write about Martin’s influence on their creative lives and work, and offer new interpretations that defy stereotyped notions about Martin’s life. The result is a varied tapestry of voices, proving that Martin’s art still influences the contemporary world, and offering glimpses into modes of being and making that are still relevant nearly two decades after her death.

In these paintings, marked by their somber palette... and exquisite mass of detail, only lengthy observation leads one to anything resembling a complete understanding of the deceptively simple compositions.

–Angela Madesani, Artforum

The painter Max Cole has refined her visual language into a series of vertical and horizontal lines, and a restrained palette of gray, black, and white. Her works often comprise up to 80 layers of paint and areas of unpainted linen, subtly interchanging the texture of paint with the texture of fabric. Further looking reveals tiny, imperfect, hatch marks that oscillate when seen from afar. As Cole says, “The result is quiet, inward and meditative, transcending the physical.” This book presents work from Cole’s career over the past half-century, a complete chronology of her life, and excerpts from sixteen compelling texts. 

Limited Edition Slipcase Set

This debut monograph from painter Marcelyn McNeil places her work within a critical context and embodies the artist’s aesthetic principles and intuitive, considered practice. Resisting categorization, McNeil synthesizes different modes of abstraction while focusing on process. Her recent works celebrate the evocative power of color and simple, clear gestures. With an accompanying interview and essay that provide a framework for engaging with the work, this volume suggests new ways to view, question, and appreciate contemporary painting.