When I'm looking for inspiration (or just for a cool gift) I always find myself wandering over to the MoMA giftshop here in Soho, New York. This is always a dangerous activity as in their basement they have an amazing mini-book store which is crammed with all sorts of goodies — which are mostly oversized expensive art books. However I was recently pleased to come across this cute little book put out by Spanish publisher (or maybe they're a design firm?) Pepe Gimeno:
Las Chicas son Raras / Girls are Weird by Vane
I did some searching on the net, but sadly I couldn't find out anything more about the illustrator of the book who is just credited as Vane. I wish I could find out more becuse while the artwork had that typical hipster feel on the surface, the sense of surrealism reminded me of a Fellini film:
The book is in both English and Spanish, although the hand drawn text seemed to be intended to be more of a design element rather than tell a linear story. There are tons of captions with odd quotes like "setting up a picnic in a pain forest" or "do you really think a lot of people draw their dreams in a notebook?" After a few pages you get the feeling that you're looking at a twisted fashion designer's sketch book:
What I liked about this book was that it didn't fit into any neat category — it's not really a graphic novel, it's too small to be a coffee table book, and it's too sophisticated to be a fanzine. The publication itself feels more like a mini work of art, so I'd recommend it to anyone who wants something entertaining to provoke their guests or as a clever gift for your more inspired friends.