cover of The Luzhin Defense | PAUL SAHRE, JOHN GALL
I’ll let the designer of this cover (and the rest of the 18 covers in the series) speak for himself:
Nabokov was a passionate butterfly collector, a theme that has cropped up on some of his past covers. My idea was also a play on this concept. Each cover consists of a photograph of a specimen box, the kind used by collectors like Nabokov to display insects. Each box would be filled with paper, ephemera, and insect pins, selected to somehow evoke the book’s content.
Read the rest/See the rest here.
I’ve long believed that our behind-the-scenes dvd-extras culture is placing more and more importance on the artist behind the art. This series of Nabokov covers exemplifies that idea.
it looks as though the specimen case has been placed into the hands of an intentionally minded boggle champion. the disorganization is so natural it leads me to think that the content is even more creative. maybe i’m biased.
i think this works great as a book cover. and just as well as stand alone art. here i am biased. but i do love text art. i think a venture into the literal world can be just as esthetically exciting. whether it happens within a book, a poem, on the cover, or is a stand alone piece of art based around, or including text.
also, it’s like the “when i was your age” predecessor to magnetic poetry, and that’s just cool.
i think it’s inspired me to create something, but now i can’t because i’d just be ripping off this idea.