I got the original Skullz Press zines in the mail the other day.  The Skullz Press was run by Mike Giant in the late 90’s / early 2000’s and produced zines of his blackbook drawings.  Needless to say that I am stoked to have these to thumb through.  Luckily, these issues were also put into The Skullz Press Compendium which you can buy here.  After the jump a visual tour.

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This book describes and defines what ‘Japan style’ is. It explores specific achievements in Japanese art and architecture, but also offers an in-depth analysis of the whole of Japanese culture, its vision of the world and of humankind. ‘Japan style’ is something recognizable to everyone: a beautifully arranged flower, an elegant piece of calligraphy or a simple rock garden, but it is also something that is very difficult to define.

The book is divided into three main sections. In the first one (‘Irregular Beauty’), the author delineates the different aspects of Japanese culture and draws interesting connections between art, architecture, religion, philosophy and mythology.

The second part of the book (‘A Feeling of Nature’) follows a chronological path from ancient times to the present explaining more specifically how to interpret the different forms of Japanese art (literature, painting, sculpture, etc.).

The third part of the book (’Art Masters’) contains short monographs on Japanese masters in the history of Japanese art and culture: Zeami Moto, the creator of No theatre; Hokusai, the master of woodblock printing; Yasunai Kawabata and Mishima Yukio, the writers; and the graphic designer, Tanaka Ikko.

For more info and to buy the book click here.

The new issue of Swindle is out now. Number 15 features Cheryl Dunn, Painters in the Congo, and more.

The new issue of The Journal is out on newsstands now. Issue 21 features Helmut Lang, Miranda July, Juergen Teller, Tomoo Gokita, Mark Borthwick, Beirut, Kenneth Cappello, Kon Trubkovitch, Kazumi Asamura, Julia Burlingham, Andrew Kuo, Tim Barber, Kathy Lo and others. As always it is an entertaining read.

Wallpaper seems to have gotten their act together this month and has delivered a nice little mag with some really amazing photos. They must have read our earlier posts.