The One that is the 100th

This is my 100^th blog post and so on this auspicious occasion I have selected a quite different but thoroughly beautiful book. I came across Olaf Hajek’s first book Flowerhead in the Artwords Bookshop in Shoreditch. Mr Muse and I go in there quite often, but while he always finds something to buy, I’ve never bought more than those Moleskin diaries or notebooks. You won’t be surprised to know that I prefer books with words that are stories, and this particular bookshop specialises almost entirely in books that are about images. I was however struck by the striking cover image (below) of Flowerhead. I could find out no more about it at the time as the book was sealed in shrink-wrap. As I knew I had no inclination to buy, I did not pursue it. I thought no more about it until I saw the Granta 115: The F word edition, which as I mentioned here when it was published, has contributions only by women, that is apart from this one. Olaf’s image (above) illustrates Taiye Selasi’s The Sex Lives of African Girls. She mentioned that she loved the image because it included a mango, and that she had tracked him down online and he’d happily agreed for it to be included in The F Word Granta. I love these images because they are so crazily sumptuous, gorgeous drawings. A little more ‘Googling’ and I found out that Olaf, who is now based in Berlin, is one of the most sought after graphic designers/illustrators in the world. The Amazon post about Flowerhead, states that he is influenced by ‘West African and Latin American art’ and that ‘he creates surreal juxtapositions of fairy tale fantasies and disordered realities…' but I cannot find out anymore about these particular images. No matter, they are so lovely. Enjoy.

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