This book was published to accompany the exhibition at Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London, of A Dark and Quiet Place – David Noonan’s first moving-image-based work in over a decade. The film juxtaposes imagery from Noonan’s extensive archive to explore the tensions between figuration and abstraction, drawing upon disparate visual sources from the twentieth century to the present day.
For the design of the publication, we drew upon Noonan’s own collection of rare art books and Japanese publications; one particular example featured an embossed graphic pattern on white paper, which had dirtied over time to reveal its design. The cover of A Dark and Quiet Place inverts this conceit: a spiral pattern that features within the film is embossed onto black printed board, so over time the ink will wear away to reveal more of the pattern. The landscape format of the book matches format of the film and, within, the layout of the image stills aims to demonstrate their movement and speed within the work itself. Dusty pink paper provides a contrast for the accompanying essay.
