Hello bloggy friends. I was recently invited by the lovely team at Chronicle Books to be part of a blogger tour for an exciting new book they've just released: The Exquisite Book. Of course I said "yes."
The Exquisite Book is a project based a Surrealist game called the Exquisite Corpse. The book follows a modified version of the game, and is played throughout its pages by one hundred contributing contemporary fine artists, illustrators, designers and comic artists. In exquisite corpse form, each contributed page connects to the adjoining pages by a shared horizon. Authors Julia Rothman, Jenny Volvovski and Matt Lamothe have done a phenomenal job orchestrating the whole thing and if you haven't already clicked the little video link above for a preview, then by all means please do so now!
The exquisite book blog tour just kicked off Monday over on Erin's blog (Design for Mankind), was on Meighan's blog (My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses) yesterday, is here today (woohoo) - and will then be making its merry way to a selection of fabulous blogs over the coming weeks. The schedule can be found right here if you are interested in following along:
10/21 Oh Joy!
10/22 Pikaland
10/25 Print & Pattern
10/26 ReadyMade
10/28 The Post Family
10/29 Decor8
11/1 UPPERCASE
11/2 Mint
11/3 Grain Edit
11/5 7×7 Magazine
Anyhow, what makes this tour unique (in my humble opinion) is that each blogger has been asked to share their own take on this book - maybe a book review, giveaway, interview - or in my case I would love to quickly teach you a simple version of an exquisite corpse game that I've been playing with my family for years (I just only now found out that there was a name for it - how fun). Here's how it works:
- Take a blank piece of paper and fold it in half.
- Shielding your side so the other person cannot see, begin at the fold and draw the top half or head of an object or living thing. You don't have to consider yourself an artist to play this game. I promise.
- Make sure that your shape (you might have something like the top half of a vase of flowers) has two ending lines that stop at the fold.
- Open the paper for just a moment (the other person is still looking away at this point) and extend the ends of your two lines just slightly over to the blank side of the folded page.
- Now with your illustration face-down (it's your turn to look away) invite your friend to draw the bottom half of an object or living thing starting and ending where you placed your connecting lines.
- When your friend is finished with their sketch it's time to reveal your masterpiece!
- Let laughter ensue.
Here's an example of an "exquisite" creation my daughter and I made just yesterday:
Isn't that fun! We always name our pieces using some sort of goofy combination of the two halves — in this case we settled on "Healthy-Bones." I've played this game with children and adults and everyone has a blast with it. You can also play different variations by folding the paper additional times, inviting more players to contribute, and more.
So in the spirit of The Exquisite Book I want to invite you to put aside any pre-conceived notions you might have about your artistic abilities, grab a friend and just have a blast for a second with this delightful game. It won't take more than a minute or two — you might even have a tough time stopping once you've begun! Don't say I didn't warn you.
Check out more from The Exquisite Book right here, and if you'd like to pick up a copy of your own, please be sure to use the coupon code from the button here and save 25%. Enjoy! xo Ez