This month we highlight the creative world of music videos and its wild, creative and experimental production design.
THIRTY FRAMES PER SECOND: the visionary art of the music video (Steven Reiss, 2000)
A showcase of the music video as an art form, this book explores the worldwide cultural impact of music videos. With an intro by REM frontman Michel Stipe, the book features hundreds of images and examines the artistic visions of such directors as Spike Jonze, Peter Care, and Mark Romanek, discussing their iconoclastic and trend-setting work.
Buy the book here.
BRIAN ENO: Visual Music (Christopher Scoats, 2019)
The book documents Brian Eno's installation, light, and video artwork over decades of his ever-evolving, ground-breaking career. In addition to page after page of full-color art, the book features Eno's personal notebook pages, his essays and an interview with the artist.
Buy the book here.
IMMUNE (Floria Sigismondi, 2005)
This mid-career retrospective presents a spectrum of Floria Sigismondi’s groundbreaking images, reflecting the evolution and diversity of her work (it is preceded by "Redemption" and followed by "Eat The Sun").
The volume features images from her prize-winning videos created for musicians including Christina Aguilera, The Cure, Sigur Ros, Incubus, Björk, Leonard Cohen and The Living Things. These are complimented by personal projects and self-portraits.
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MARK ROMANEK: Music Video Stills (Mark Romanek, 1999)
Mark Romanek has established himself as one of the most innovative music video directors, creating music videos for such artists as Nine Inch Nails, Fiona Apple, David Bowie, Madonna, R.E.M., Janet Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, k.d. lang and Sonic Youth. Capturing high-quality stills from video, this book is a collection of over 250 images from some of the most acclaimed videos ever produced.
Buy the book here.
M.I.A (M.I.A, 2012)
A groundbreaking and always controversial musician, M.I.A. is an influential artist and an important cultural figure of the last decade. This is a documentation of her entire visual output and a telling of her story in collages, photos, and prints from her early years in art school through to her successful albums, mixtapes, live performances installations and music video shoots.
The artwork is comprised of a wide variety of materials and media: video stills turned to stencils pieced back together to make animated installations; spray-painted canvasses scanned then made into digital collages; photographs videotaped, then run through bad computer connections to create graphic prints; artwork on nails, walls, prints for T-shirts, handmade stage costumes—anything she could find while she was touring.
Buy the book here.
ANTON CORBIJN 1-2-3-4 (Anton Corbijn, Wim van Sinderen, 2015)
Representing the ultimate publication on the music photography of Anton Corbijn, one of the most important photographers and directors working today, this collection of images focuses on Corbijn’s evolving fascination with the music industry, from the 1970s to the present day.
This illustrated, oversized book pays homage to Corbijn’s obsession with rock and roll—an interest that has led to lifelong friendships with Bono, Michael Stipe, Dave Gahan, and other iconic musicians. Looking back over three decades, it features hundreds of creative, offbeat images that Corbijn was able to capture largely as a result of his close relationships with his subjects. Many of the portraits are accompanied by their subjects’ own take on Corbijn’s distinct style and approach.
Buy the book here.