Orange Monochrome / Monocromo Naranja (2016) by Luis Molina-Pantin (signed & numbered)
Publisher: Self-published, in collaboration with Henrique Faria, New York, 2016
Book Design & Layout: Ricardo Báez
Size: 5.5 × 21 × 1.1 cm
Pages: 80
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st edition, 170 (signed & numbered) + 30 (out of commerce)
Printing: Intenso Offset, Caracas (Indigo), Ex Libris (Offset), Caracas
In Orange Monochrome / Monocromo Naranja, Luis Molina-Pantin transforms forty covers from Salvat’s Biblioteca Básica series—each marked by a signature orange square—into a thought-provoking artist’s book. Using secondhand copies bearing signs of wear like moisture stains and scuffs, Molina-Pantin reinterprets these mass-produced, low-cost books as artistic objects, capturing the passage of time through their imperfections.
The Biblioteca Básica Salvat collection, published in Spain between 1969 and 1971, included affordable editions of world literary classics by authors like Cervantes, Poe, and Borges. These books, distributed widely across Spanish-speaking countries, became iconic for their accessibility.
Molina-Pantin’s Orange Monochrome uses the orange square—an emblem of modernist painting—to subvert high art’s values of uniqueness and elitism, instead celebrating the accessible and popular. This structured yet varied collection invites readers to explore 40 different stories unified by a single design, blending high and low culture in a playful critique of modernism.
Publisher: Self-published, in collaboration with Henrique Faria, New York, 2016
Book Design & Layout: Ricardo Báez
Size: 5.5 × 21 × 1.1 cm
Pages: 80
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st edition, 170 (signed & numbered) + 30 (out of commerce)
Printing: Intenso Offset, Caracas (Indigo), Ex Libris (Offset), Caracas
In Orange Monochrome / Monocromo Naranja, Luis Molina-Pantin transforms forty covers from Salvat’s Biblioteca Básica series—each marked by a signature orange square—into a thought-provoking artist’s book. Using secondhand copies bearing signs of wear like moisture stains and scuffs, Molina-Pantin reinterprets these mass-produced, low-cost books as artistic objects, capturing the passage of time through their imperfections.
The Biblioteca Básica Salvat collection, published in Spain between 1969 and 1971, included affordable editions of world literary classics by authors like Cervantes, Poe, and Borges. These books, distributed widely across Spanish-speaking countries, became iconic for their accessibility.
Molina-Pantin’s Orange Monochrome uses the orange square—an emblem of modernist painting—to subvert high art’s values of uniqueness and elitism, instead celebrating the accessible and popular. This structured yet varied collection invites readers to explore 40 different stories unified by a single design, blending high and low culture in a playful critique of modernism.
Publisher: Self-published, in collaboration with Henrique Faria, New York, 2016
Book Design & Layout: Ricardo Báez
Size: 5.5 × 21 × 1.1 cm
Pages: 80
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st edition, 170 (signed & numbered) + 30 (out of commerce)
Printing: Intenso Offset, Caracas (Indigo), Ex Libris (Offset), Caracas
In Orange Monochrome / Monocromo Naranja, Luis Molina-Pantin transforms forty covers from Salvat’s Biblioteca Básica series—each marked by a signature orange square—into a thought-provoking artist’s book. Using secondhand copies bearing signs of wear like moisture stains and scuffs, Molina-Pantin reinterprets these mass-produced, low-cost books as artistic objects, capturing the passage of time through their imperfections.
The Biblioteca Básica Salvat collection, published in Spain between 1969 and 1971, included affordable editions of world literary classics by authors like Cervantes, Poe, and Borges. These books, distributed widely across Spanish-speaking countries, became iconic for their accessibility.
Molina-Pantin’s Orange Monochrome uses the orange square—an emblem of modernist painting—to subvert high art’s values of uniqueness and elitism, instead celebrating the accessible and popular. This structured yet varied collection invites readers to explore 40 different stories unified by a single design, blending high and low culture in a playful critique of modernism.
