We’re pleased to announce the publication of A Flock of Signs, a new artists’ book by artist Kim Beck. The book presents a series of charcoal-smudged drawings by Beck which show a tangled mess of arrows pointing everywhere and nowhere at once. As the signs accumulate, clutter and disperse over the course of the book, they achieve both moments of communication and confusion, and create a landscape where place feels provisional and evolving. Please join us for a launch with the artist on Friday, April 25, 6-8 PM at the Printed Matter storefront.

A Flock of Signs was inspired by Beck’s installation commissioned this past summer by the Indianapolis Museum of Art for 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park. On view through 2014, the work is a Dr. Seuss-like landscape comprised of witty and informative arrow signs installed throughout the park. On occasion of the book launch, Beck will install a collection of newly-created arrow signs in the Printed Matter storefront window and throughout the shop.

In addition to the publication of A Flock of Signs, we are pleased to release the third edition of Beck’s A Field Guide to Weeds. Initially published in 2007, the work masquerades as a 19th century pocket guide, but a guide in which the weeds themselves have taken over. This project uses the physical form of the book as a metaphor for a crack in the city sidewalk: the dandelion, pigweed, and poison ivy—the very plants we step over, ignore, dig up, or scrupulously avoid—creep out of the gutter, up pages, and overrun the book. Multiple silhouettes overlap and repeat, drawing the reader’s attention to the overlooked. The 3rd edition is printed with a new brown cloth cover.