Pictoplasma – The Character Encyclopaedia

Author:

Vor kurzem haben wir in Slanted einen Hinweis auf das sehr schöne Nico International Magazin gegeben, in dem ein Interview mit Lars Denicke von Pictoplasma ist. Ich habe volkommen vergessen, das neuste Buch von den Jungs vorzustellen, welches im November 2006 erschienen ist und über Actar vertrieben wird. Das Buch wird dem Titel einer Encyclopedie gerecht. Es zeigt wirklich fast alles aus dem Bereich Character-Design. Eine tolle Sammlung!

Pictoplasma Publishing, Berlin, Peter Thaler, Lars Denicke
396 Seiten, 18,4 cm x 22,3 cm, Hardcover ISBN 3-9810458-3-1

Pictoplasma - The Character Encyclopaedia

The Character Encyclopaedia delivers an in-depth exploration of the latest tendencies in contemporary character design and art, spanning drawing, design and painting to its use in installations and sculpture. Focussing principally on the graphical roots of contemporary character culture, the selection examines the essential qualities that enable these reduced character depictions to hit home with the universal power of anthropomorphic appeal.

The 396-page , leather-bound volume features fresh and surprising work by over 200 international artists, designers and newcomers, including Ana Bagayan, Friends With You, Fons Schiedon, Akinori Oishi, Koralie, Klaus Haapaniemi, Eun-Ha Paek, Nicholas Deakin, Gary Taxali and many more…

While playfully evading the limitations of commercial interests, cultural contexts and narrative intentions, contemporary character design has become the key player of visual communication worldwide. Since the beginning the Pictoplasma project has closely accompanied the character movement with publications, exhibitions, festivals and conferences. With the long awaited follow-up publication, The Character Encyclopaedia, Pictoplasma delivers an in-depth exploration of the latest tendencies in current character design and art, spanning from drawing, design and painting to its use in installations and sculpture.

Pictoplasma not only creates the world’s first Encyclopaedia of figurative design - by cataloguing the characters as independent life-forms of their own right, the compilation enables to examine similarities and permutations of globally recurring motifs and styles. By sorting, clustering, cross-referencing and inter-linking the creations of a disparate scene of artists, the encyclopaedia creates a unique cartography of the latest generations populating the character universe.