Field Guide

I found Field Guide, by Derek Stroup, at OK in Los Angeles, an excellent design store that has a well curated art book collection. I knew nothing about it, and after a little research I know not much more. All I really need to know is that I like it, visually, and I think I "get" it, conceptually. It is simply a collection of black and white photographs of television antennae on the tops of homes and buildings. 

As a huge fan of antiquated objects (I think I'll call them antiquations), I am growing to love artwork that deals with these things that have had there original purposes disappear or lose enough popularity to have them be discontinued. Viewmaster 3-D viewers, Super8 film, mimeograph prints, even now Polaroids (although these may be coming back). Without their popular qualities or original purposes these objects take on new aesthetic qualities, either in the aesthetics they create (like rub-on letraset lettering), or in the look of the objects themselves (like old cabinet arcade games). I can hardly bring myself to think of it, but soon enough things as common as newspapers and 35mm film negatives might only be found amongst artists and nostalgic purists. And don't even get me started on vinyl records and analog video. 

The television antenna fit along these artistc lines perfectly when the book was first published in 2002, and even more so now that the final switch to 100% digital broadcasting has rendered these objects completely without purpose. The context of this book being a "field guide" gives an even bigger impression of these objects becoming rare and hard to identify, perhaps even verging on extinction. 

Derek Stroup has published other books from bodies of artworks, some of which are available at Printed Matter online. I purchased Field Guide for $16, but it looks like the price can get into the $24 range. It is 4 x 6 inches in size, with 164 pages, including a good essay, "The Antenna in Architecture", by Eric Fredericksen. It is a first edition (edition size unknown), signed by the artist. My particular copy has some pages of the essay bound out of order, but I don't know if that is just my copy or for all of them.

You can find contact info and other art projects from Derek Stroup on his website: www.derekstroup.com. 

Now get out there and enjoy looking at the television antennae in your neighborhood, or even things like telephone poles and hand-painted signs, cause they just might not be around for much longer.