Enrique Martinez Celaya: Collected Writings and Interviews, 1990-2010 by Enrique Martinez Celaya
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Now that I read so much on the iPad, books themselves mean all the more to me.  This book feels good. I like the way the cover is elongated, then folded inside to the size of the book. The paper is creamy and has a tooth to it. The whole thing feels like a project, both intimate and austere.  Martínez Celaya himself autographed the title page with a narrow, slanted scratch.

And that's kind of the way he writes: it's more an incision than a view.  Simple and serious -- smart!  Lots of layers here.  Some people think visual artists can't use words, but this one can. Okay -- sometimes he's deeper than I like to delve. After all, he was getting his PhD in physics  when he abruptly (his parents thought!) chose art instead. Then he was a successful art professor at the fancy Pomona College in California, but eventually turned his back on that too

Now he has a slick studio (He would loathe the word slick -- but a recent video shows it is smooth and spare.)  in Miami's Wynwood district. I bought the book at Books & Books in Coral Gables -- mostly because C & I agree never to leave a bookstore without buying a book. I am glad.


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