The traditional meaning of “ekphrasis” is the literary portrayal of visual art. One of the earliest forms of writing, it originated in ancient Greece as a way of presenting visual art through vivid, highly detailed accounts. Nowadays, “ekphrasis” is more commonly understood as an art form that describes and defines another art form in order to convey the subject’s emotional and physical impact. The Ekphrasis Series is part of David Zwirner’s ongoing effort to publish subversive writing on visual culture, a commitment by Zwirner to make the rarest, out-of-print, or newly commissioned texts accessible in paper-back format. Two of the recent additions; Blue by Derek Jarman and Mad about Painting by Katsushika Hokusai. 

A visionary artist, filmmaker, set designer and author, Derek Jarman’s Blue was his last feature film and a call to action in response to the lack of political attention being paid to the AIDS epidemic. Blue, an audacious and valiant piece, premiered at the Biennale Arte, Venice in June of 1993 just seven months before his death–which came at the hands of an AIDS-related illness. The script is reproduced in this volume, with an introduction from Michael Charlesworth that correlates the film with Jarman’s paintings and provides context for the creation. Blue moves through the boring and mundane with the same pace as the wild and out-of-place. Staring the grim reaper in the eyes, being buried under a swarm of prescription pills, Jarman successfully expresses his illness through metaphors and lyrical prose that allow you to feel what he’s trying to say rather than just hear what he’s trying to say. The story is grounded in its constant return to its’ namesake–blue, a color but also a feeling. 

Katsushika Hokusai was an artist born in 1760 in Edo, Japan-referred to nowadays as Tokyo. Known by at least thirty different names, he officially adopted the name ‘Hokusai’ in 1798. After adopting his new name, he worked in three defined mediums: single-sheet prints, book illustrations, and multi-color paintings. Best known for his print Under the Wave off Kanagawa, Hokusai’s revolutionary mastery of ukiyo-e has inspired artists for generations. Mad about Painting compiles exquisite, recently translated versions of Hokusai’s painting tutorials and essays written by the artist and his contemporaries. This selection, made accessible in English for the first time, includes an introduction from scholar Ryoko Matsuba connecting art from the Edo period to contemporary Japanese art today, and expounding on the effect Hosukai had on Japanese creative expression. 

The Ekphrasis collection is available here, while stand-alone copies of Blue and Mad about Painting are available here and here.