By Marcus D. Niski
A love of books and a love of creating art have inspired Salzburg book artist Markus Kircher to bring together a major selection of his book art works currently on display in the glorious traditional framed window of the Raiffeisen Bank located at the corner of Alter Markt 8 and Residenzplatz in the centre of Salzburg’s Altstadt.
Drawing upon a selection of 50 hand-painted and collaged books that began as blank books found in such eclectic places as India, Thailand and the local flea markets of Salzburg – as well as many hand-bound books made by the artist himself – the collection represents a form of retrospective of 25 years of Markus’ work as a book artist.
Indeed, one of Markus’ personal favorites also on display is a Goa travel book that was created on his first half-year journey to India; a book that takes him back to his imagination and artistic reflections of his encounters and impressions of India.
Recently, Markus also completed a major book art masterwork known as THE FAT BOOK – a stunning 756 page collection of unique images hand painted over the course of 3 years into an enormous beautifully bound old leather ledger book that he came across by accident in a second hand store in Vienna.
While Markus’ inspirations for his book art images have come from far and wide, his love of New York and his own hometown of Salzburg have provided much artistic resonance in the various images he creates in his painting and collaging. Like all artists, it’s difficult to pin down the inspirations given by exact locations and vistas; it more about impressions and “new views of old known places”, as Markus explains.
As an art form, Markus continues to explore and push new boundaries in his love of book art and the types and forms of books that he makes use of to paint and collage in.
While his book art collection is currently on display in Salzburg’s Altstadt, images of THE FAT BOOK will also be published as a 100-page catalogue by Salzburg’s Artbook Verlag http://www.artbook.at/ in November 2018.
Having visited Markus’ Salzburg atelier on many occasions and viewed the progress of THE FAT BOOK to its final fruition, it is very exciting to anticipate the publication of images from THE FAT BOOK that will no doubt delight and impress lovers of book art not just in Salzburg, Austria but in many parts of the world where book art and book artists continue to pursue this most passionate form of creative endeavor.
Visit Markus’ website at: www.markuskircher.net
Interview and Story by Marcus D. Niski © 2018
Book Art Images as Created by Markus Kircher © 2018
Photography by Marcus D. Niski © 2018
Naked Cities Journal 
You must be logged in to post a comment.