I once read a book called "Why Are There No Great Female Artists?" The original work was written in the 70s of the 20th century, and after reading it, I felt that the discourse power of art history has been controlled by men for a long time, and "greatness" has been defined by the filter of long-term power relations, but since this problem was issued more than 50 years ago, many female artists are building a spiritual fortress of artistic language with practice, and feminist literary criticism is also speeding forward at an unpredictable speed, piercing prejudice and barriers.
Seeing the title of "Face, Edge", it is inevitable to think of the famous film "Face, Villa", a work by the female director of the "New Wave Grandmother" Agnès Varda, which is essentially a tribute to the author. As a collaborator with the famous performance artist Marina Abramovich, Huerta Marín interviewed 25 women engaged in literary and artistic creation, including Añez, and sketched spiritual "portraits" for them in the form of dialogues.
One of the highlights is the sympathetic resonance between artists. Each interview is preceded by a quotation from the author to the interviewed artist, which is a personal essay with aesthetic consciousness and critical awareness, which is different from the usual cold personal introduction. For example, he writes about his encounter with Muse Prada: "Although this is a fashion designer who is committed to cultivating a rebellious spirit, I am glad to realize that her extraordinaryness lies first and foremost in her kindness. "Describing Jenny Holzer" Jenny projects words on the surface of objects such as mountains, waves, and rocks...... Challenge ignorance and violence with humor, kindness and courage. ”
The second highlight is that the interviewer's attitude is humble and sincere, never eager for quick success, and never aggressive, Marin appears in the dialogue as a small friend, and quickly integrates into the life, creation and thoughts of the interviewed artists. When interviewing Agnès Varda, Agnès first pointed to the large orchid on the table, thus telling Marin that everyone in the world is beautiful, and everyone has the desire to find beauty, and Marin also sincerely describes his feelings.
The third highlight is that from the interviewer to the interviewee, from the translator to the design, from the team to the style, "Face, Edge" undoubtedly implements the "female power" to the end. The most intuitive is the binding, the casual and simple and comfortable typography, the Polaroid portrait that is just right and not noisy, the line binding with high cost and experience, the blue book mouth that harmoniously contrasts with the cover, and the volume and paper feel at hand all implement the aesthetic experience for its reading process, so that the precious content can be delivered by relying on the careful physical book bearing.
The slight fly in the ointment is that because of the thicker thickness of the thread binding process, the outer cover will inevitably be warped when turning the page, and the outer cover is a thick cardboard with a pasting process, and after flipping through the book, the back cover will inevitably leave a crease - the reader changes the appearance of the book through reading, but this flaw is not concealed, and even adds a kind of participation experience in artistic practice. As the Belgian fashion designer Dimuramiste puts it in the book:
"In order to get a complete feeling, you need to face opposites and contradictions, and find a balance between the two poles to create beauty."
（2024.06）