Niamh O'Malley - Torch

Since we're looking at gorgeous would-be Christmas presents, I suggest for those of you in Ireland (or outside Ireland) to have a look at Niamh O'Malley "Torch", a to-die-for but impossible-to-take-a-good-jpeg-of exhibition catalog for a show she had in April 2008 at Temple Bar Gallery & Studio in Dublin. I don't really know how you can find it outside of here so here's the ISBN: 978-1-903895-99-3.
There's a beautiful essay by Brian Dillon of Cabinet fame, and the pictures inside the book are beautiful. Unfortunately the cover is printed on glossy black paper, and my tiny digital camera as well as my sub-par photography skills prevent me from doing it justice in the pictures above. Trust me, it is an art catalog you want to have, and it's the size of a paperback. It will look very elegant on your coffee table, and you will learn a lot about blind spots and the history of their discovery. In passing, Brian Dillon's essay is also very good because it does something most contemporary art critics neglect to do: it describes the pieces, and with such clarity you can figure out easily how the art must looks like. What it cannot do is make us feel how it is to watch the projections and video described, so if you find yourself in the vicinity of an art space where O'Malley's art is exhibited, do go see it.