Monday, October 15, 2012

Coppernickel Goes Mondrian: A Picture-Book Homage to the Iconic Artist


From Brain Pickings Weekly

A vibrant story of curiosity and optimism by Dutch illustrator Wouter van Reek.
Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) began as a landscape artist, but eventually arrived at the bleeding edge of abstraction. Shortly after his death, during the 1950s and 1960s, his work went on to influence everything from graphic design to architecture to fashion, and is even said to have inspired this classic 1934 dust jacket of Ulysses. And, now, it can shape the way little ones think about the future, life, and the boundless limits of the possible.
Coppernickel Goes Mondrian (public library) by Dutch artist Wouter van Reek is an absolute treasure from my friends at Enchanted Lion Books, who previously gave us Albertine's Little Bird, Blexbolex's gems, and the charming Bear Despair. The story introduces Van Reek's famous Coppernickel character – a quirky and endearing flightless bird in a red cape – and his dog Tungsten to Mr. Quickstep and his dog Foxtrot. Together, they embark upon a quest for the future, navigating Mondrian's signature grids of primary colors as they make sense of the portal from reality to abstraction and back again, teaching young readers – and reminding those of us who have grown out of believing – that the road between what we dream up to what we actually experience is paved with nothing more and nothing less than self-transformation.



Full piece and much more at Brain Pickings Weekly

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