Shallow Books was founded in 2010 in NYC by poet Max Blagg and creative collaborator Janice Huminska in response to strong "underground" demand for his writing which was otherwise unavailable. Shallow's lovingly produced books, booklets and ephemera have quickly become collectors' items esteemed by both artists and bibliophiles.
In 2023, Shallow Books has produced a 7 volume series of limited edition booklets featuring the word and image collaborations between Max Blagg and 21 other visual artists, entitled Late Start For Mardi Gras.
The project began in 2019 with a couple hundred page printout of one of Blagg’s 2011 poetry manuscripts, that Janice Huminska randomly began sewing onto canvases, and tacking to his studio walls. This resourceful tool made the words visible and tangible to the writer, facilitating his further edit and redaction, while convalescing from a tickborne illness. These ‘text-canvases’, stitched by hand and machine, range in size from 1’ x 5’ to 4’ x 5’, each comprising anywhere from 3 to 16 pages of text.
The project’s development was also spontaneous. With a couple dozen of these canvases in process, Blagg began inviting artists to collaborate. They chose their ready-made canvas by title or text, and worked directly on the canvas or created an entirely new piece. The project’s culmination is a limited edition set of hand assembled and bound booklets.
Each slim tome spotlights 3 of these artists: Golnar Adili, Ellen Berkenblit, Ernesto Caivano, Michael Combs, Peter Dayton, Sally Egbert, Eric Fischl, James Gilroy, Nan Goldin, Michael Halsband, Curtis Kulig, Justen Ladda, Ruth Marten, Jamie Nares, Walter Robinson, Nicolas Rule, Will Ryman, Walter Schrank, Ken Tisa, Ryan Wallace, Lucy Winton.
Shallow Books has created several other limited edition hand made chapbooks, as well as Slow Dazzle, a 'retrospective' of Max's collaborations with 21 artists (2017), catalogues for solo exhibitions of his 'lid' series (2013 & 2014) that went into 2nd and 3rd printings, as well as Walkabout, a collaboration with artist Barney Kulok, originally for Aperture magazine (2010), re-published by Shallow (2016, 2nd printing 2017).
Please direct LATE START inquiries to [email protected]
In an effort to liberate the Word from the pages of books and make it more accessible, since the 1970's Blagg has typed, Sharpied, scrawled and stenciled fragments of his poetry onto objects, garments, walls. In 2011 Blagg began stencilling fragments of his poetry on vinatge typewriter lids, sculptural objects that could hang on a wall. These limited edition artworks continue to be exhibited in and outside of NYC, and are included in the private art collections of Larry Clark, Nate Lowman, Renate Aller, Jamie Nares, Elena Alexander, Sophie Matisse, Adam McEwen, and several others. In 2019 Blagg began making photographic reproductions of these 'lids' (on canvas on wood frame), which are also available through Shallow Books. For inquiries regarding the acquisition of an original 'lid', please email [email protected]
Shallow Books productions are designed, published and printed in limited editions in the USA. Please direct any inquiries to: [email protected]