S.Z.T.U.K.A.
English title: A.R.T.
Text: Sebastian Cichocki
Illustrations, layout and texts on the illustrations: Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielińscy
Publisher: Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry
Dimensions: 20 × 20 cm
Hardcover 216 p.
ISBN: 978-83-608-5082-4
Since 2022 also available as stitched paperback
Dimensions: 19 × 19 cm
Hardcover 216 p.
ISBN: 978-83-8150-351-8
This book is a part of the S.E.R.I.E.S.
The third volume of the educational series initiated by “D.O.M.E.K." (H.O.U.S.E.) and followed by “D.E.S.I.G.N.”. “D.O.M.E.K.” was our debut and the only book in the series that we both wrote and illustrated. After “S.Z.T.U.K.A.”, in 2018 we also published “M.U.Z.Y.K.A.” (“M.U.S.I.C.”).
A book on art that does not reproduce traditional paintings or sculptures, but displays strolling, forest planting, talking to animals, cutting buildings, explosions, rafting and many more curious activities instead. By showing young readers 50 artistic creations by eminent contemporary artists, A.R.T. proves that art can be fun, and an artist — a magician, who enchants the reality.
The process of creating this installment in the S.E.R.I.E.S. was as smooth as it could possibly be. By definition we prefer to work with our own text. It’s just easier to tell a coherent story when you control both languages: words and images. Working with Ewa Solarz on “D.E.S.I.G.N.” was hard, because we have different definitions of what good design can be. In the case of the “Impossible Inventions” the problem was that Małgorzata Mycielska didn’t write a text for picture book, but for a regular book without any pictures.
Working with Sebastian Cichocki it was a totally different story. We had instant understanding and similar ideas about the subjects. I also think that his text is the best written and most interesting one in the whole S.E.R.I.E.S.. Just think about it. How impossible it is to describe an essence of Joseph Beuys art to an 11 year olds using just a few paragraphs.
In this book we used Scala Sans Pro for the body text with Pradell for italics, Urbana Black Italic, Light, and Bold for headers, FF Providence Sans Bold for dialogues in the speech balloons, and Dieselis Economic for image descriptions.
All of the illustrations were drawn on paper. We started with typesetting the book, then we printed the layout, pencilled rough sketches on these prints, and finally, inked the illustration. Next step was to scan it, place it in InDesign layout and make some last corrections if necessary. The colours were later added in Photoshop.
Foreign editions
Chinese Simplified, 艺术之书, Tsinghua University Press, 2017, ISBN: 978-7-302-45979-8
Korean, 꿈꾸는 현대 미술, Pulbit Publishing Co., 2015, ISBN: 978-89-7474-488-5
German, Sommerschnee und Wurstmaschine, Moritz Verlag, 2013, ISBN: 978-3-89565-260-8
Lithuanian, M.E.N.A.S., Modernaus Meno Centras, 2013, ISBN: 978-609-95406-5-8
You can find a Google Sheet with a list of all our foreign editions here.
